Hi, my name is Rebecca Sims and I had the exciting opportunity to study abroad in Belize for 3 weeks this summer. I learned about this trip my freshman year and had wanted to complete this program ever since. Being in the business college, this course offered me six hours of economics credit to help me complete my economics minor. More importantly, however, this trip was one of the most life changing experiences in which I have been able to participate. Let me give you a broad overview of the trip and the role I played while in Belize.
Our team had several different projects to complete. The most important was called Cayes to Business, which was a series of business teaching sessions for adults. If an individual completed the three sessions and came to us for an with documentation, some were rewarded a loan. This year we gave our four loans for a total of approximately $2,400. This was exciting for us all to experience, and even though this was not my main project, I enjoyed being a part of impacting adults in the community of Dangriga.
I had the exciting opportunity to teach business math in the schools in the community. I taught in two different schools, for a total of 8 times. One school, I was able to be there 2 a week for the 3 weeks we were in Belize and I got to know the children very well in this classroom. Although they were challenging to manage at the beginning, by the end of the trip the children respected us and we knew how to control them better. This was because we adapted more to the culture and they got to know and respect us more. By the end of our time with them, we could tell they actually wanted to learn and get to know us from the University of Arkansas.
One last thing I would like to share to whoever is reading this, is that this trip will change you in many ways. There are fun excursions where you can get to know the students you travel with better, but the hard long weeks in between those vacations are when you need to be prepared for difficulty. Get to know your team, learn how you work together beforehand because there are many different perspectives you can learn. Also, you can better know how to work together. Just within our group, we had a variety of backgrounds, and we all enjoyed getting to know each other and learn from one another.
Anyone deciding to go on a study abroad program, this trip is a great option! Don’t overlook it since it is only 3 weeks long – you will learn more thank you could in months. You betta Belize it! ;)
