A group of 18 Eckerd College students recently returned from Cuba, where they spent two weeks studying economics.
The trip was part of a study-abroad course, but Professor Peter Hammerschmidt says the lessons went beyond economics. Students also compared Cuban culture, history and politics to those in the United States.
For Junior Christina Rosetti, this was the first time she'd traveled to Cuba.
"It was very eye-opening for me," she said. "It was a humbling experience, definitely."
"We experienced a lot of things that here in the States we take for granted and I think it was a good trip for 18 college students to really see a different culture," she said.
The 20-year-old says the experience was both personal and educational, as her mother was born in Cuba.
"It was emotional especially for me because my family’s still there, so seeing what my family lives through day to day and just the things we take for granted," Rosetti said.
The group went from morning to night, meeting locals and seeing sights, many of them not frequented by tourists.
"There is a sense of natural beauty in Cuba, everything is kind of frozen in time and it hasn’t been commercialized," said Rosetti.
It was a learning experience for everyone who went.
"I hope a deeper understanding that all sides have frames of reference of why they do what they do and the ability to try to hear from the other people and understand what they’re saying not necessarily agree with it but to really work at understanding that because to me that’s real education," Hammerschmidt said.
"You can learn about it in the classroom, you can see pictures but you really can’t experience it fully until you’re there in person," Rosetti said.