THIRTY-TWO UNI students will start off their summer on a trip to Greece. The students and four chaperones departed from Uni late this morning to head to Chicago for their flight to Greece.

The students will spend two weeks abroad, ending their trip with a four-day cruise and returning on June 19.

The trip, organized by Uni history teacher Chris Butler, is done through EF Tours. Some of the places the group will hit up include Athens, Delphi, Tolo, and Archaia Olympia.

This is Butler's fifth time taking a student group to Greece or Italy.

"I really like going over there," commented Butler. "I like being able to see places where a lot of stuff happens."

Butler started his own history-oriented excursions after spending time on Uni foreign-language trips. According to Butler, the home-stays the language programs took part in didn't focus on local history much, and that was what he was most interested in. So in 2003 Butler began organizing his own trips. But why Greece and Italy?

"The thing is that there's a trip to France, there's a trip to Germany, there's a trip to Spain," said Butler. "So Italy and Greece really aren't covered so much. You know, sometimes I think of maybe doing something to the Low Countries [the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg]."

The students range among all of the grades at Uni. History teacher Janet Morford and Japanese teacher Hiroko Ito will also chaperone the trip, in addition to Butler's wife, Jill.

Butler explained that the number of students this year is pretty high when compared to previous trips. But because of the large group, Butler was able to arrange for a customized tour that gives the group its own bus, an advantage he is excited about.

He is also pleased with the opportunity to have a customized tour so that the students will have more time to look around and absorb the sites.

When asked about whether he would be teaching about the history much, Butler said: "[The trip] is to reinforce that. Purposefully. But I always want people to have a good time; it's summer time. Try to balance that."

While the Japanese trip originally scheduled for this year was postponed due to the H1N1 virus, Butler doesn't think concern about the disease will negatively impact the Greece trip.

"When it first came out it was really raising panic levels," he said. "And I’m not critical of that, because I think a lot of what that did was get people to take precautions. Also history of diseases, these things come along. It's not a matter of 'if' but 'when.' So, I thought there were precautions, but it looks like it's not going to be a problem."

Butler, along with the rest of the group, is very excited about heading overseas.

"There's a cruise, and I just really like the sea," he said. "It's the only way I can get that laid back and watch the islands go by. There's a certain aesthetic about it."

Butler continued: "I've been really looking forward to it. About this time of year I'm really getting a little antsy to go over there. It's a spiritual kind of thing for me, so it's very sort of cleansing."