Name: Rebekah Dallman
Preferred e-mail: rdallman@gus.pittstate.edu
Expected graduation date: Dec 2011
Study Abroad Program: Costa Rica December, 2010
Why do you want to serve as a Study Abroad E-bassador at Pittsburg State University?
To tell help other students learn about study abroad, and get them to participate more freely.
What were the deciding factors in choosing your study abroad program-location?
Costa Rica was a Spanish speaking country, it was very affordable, and my second year Spanish teacher was the coordinating teacher.
Describe a defining moment in your abroad experience and how that experience(s) has affected you personally, intellectually, vocational, spiritually, or academically.
My defining moment is when I was able to take the test with my teacher at the end of the trip and be able to communicate my thoughts in an organized fashion in another language and actually be understood.
What advice, recommendations would you give to prospective study abroad students? In retrospect, how would you prepare differently to maximize the study abroad experience?
I would recommend that they don't take any time off between taking language courses and studying abroad. I waited an extra year, and lost a lot of my language skills because of it. If I had gone straight from Spanish 2 to Costa Rica for three weeks, I would have been able to get so much more out of it. I would also have prepared more for the trip by actually reviewing my old books.