• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 05 / 14 / 2011

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By:  BARBARA RODRIGUEZ  05/13/11 5:53 PM. Associated Press. Students at a small university in suburban Chicago are testing President Barack Obama's ease on travel restrictions to Cuba with a three-week trip to the island.

Twenty students from Dominican University in River Forest began their trip on Friday. With guidance from three faculty members, they're capping a semester course on the country's history and culture. They return June 3.

The school is of the first universities in the country to send students to Cuba on a short-term program since Obama lifted travel restrictions to the country in January, university officials said. However, the State Department could not confirm this nor provide statistics on other student groups.

For Miguel Aguilera, 21, traveling to Cuba meant his first plane ride, extra shifts at his retail job and selling chocolates on the side to afford it.

"I had to pull off every stop," Aguilera, a junior sociology major from Chicago, said. "Anything that would help pay for the trip, I was 100 percent behind."

Dominican professors Janice Monti and Christina Perez, the trip's main organizers, said planning for a Cuba trip had been going on for years, even before the travel restrictions were lifted. That led to a quick turnaround for the current trip.

Perez's close working relationship with officials at the University of Havana sealed the deal.

"The day we found out, we got straight to work," Monti said.

Monti and Perez prepared a budget proposal and advertised to students by Internet and word-of-mouth. By early February, 20 students from different grades and a range of studies were accepted. Two students even postponed their graduation to take the trip. Participants prepared with months of discussions, readings and cultural films.

The short-term trip had appeal because U.S. students could previously only travel to Cuba if their program lasted more than 10 weeks, Monti said.

"In these crazy economic times, studying abroad is incredibly expensive," she said. "So a three-week program was extraordinarily attractive to students."

Students plan to blog about their experiences on the university's website. Inconsistent Internet access may force them to fax posts to Illinois.

Vanessa Vanderzee, a 19-year-old sophomore studying corporate communication, said she's looking forward to using her Spanish and learning more about the country's health care system. She said she's excited about the trip's symbolism.

"We're not traveling to the country illegally," Vanderzee said. "We're acting as representatives for the United States. It's one of the first steps toward something bigger."

Despite a lack of data about school travels to Cuba, there appears to be interest in the country based on inquiries received at the State Department, spokesman Charles Luoma-Overstreet said.

Aguilera believes there are misperceptions about Cuban residents' freedoms and safety and he hopes to return with a clear picture to share with others.

"We're students and we're here to learn about their culture," Aguilera said. "And hopefully we can open up a stronger relationship between Cuba and America based on those interactions."

Source: washingtonexaminer.com/entertainment/2011/05/ill-students-visit-cuba-after-travel-ban-lifted