Staff Experiences Abroad: Part 3

Living abroad can be a transformational experience that teaches you valuable lessons about other cultures as well as helps you better understand yourself and your place in the world. A number of staff studied or worked abroad early in their careers, and these experiences have left a lasting impression on their lives.

Rebekah Dale (Internationalization and Equity) has visited 30 countries across 6 continents. While earning her undergraduate degree at Purdue University, she studied Spanish and tourism in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, through CIEE; cuisine and culture in Switzerland and Portugal; sustainable tourism in Australia through the University of New South Wales; hospitality management in the UAE and Oman; and studied nonprofit organizations in Colombia.  

After graduating, Dale taught English in Spain for three years, first in the Andalucian city of Huelva and then in Madrid. While teaching in Madrid, she led her students from Spain on a week-long immersive program to England. After teaching in Spain, she led four animal rescue study abroad programs in Costa Rica, and then during the following summer led a Spanish and health program in Cuba. While working for a previous institution, Dale led students on a Global Health study abroad program to Israel for their spring break, where they also made a brief stop in Palestine. She spent last summer in Norway on a Fulbright-Hays Seminar Abroad. While in Norway, she took a boat up the fjord-filled coast to Tromso, in the Arctic Circle, and marveled at the 24-hour summer sun.

With all of her experiences abroad, she said some of her favorite memories were getting to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef, sitting down for a Cuba libre on the outdoor patio of the National Association of Artists and Writers of Cuba in Havana, and getting to salsa dance in many different countries all over the world. 

She offers this advice: “Just because something is different doesn’t mean it’s wrong, whether that’s driving on the opposite side of the road or having different norms about time. Every culture is unique and has its own way of doing things due to their history and social dynamics. Stop to learn the ‘why’ behind the differences and appreciate the beauty of those differences.”

Through all of her travel experiences, Dale says she has gained more empathy. “[I have been able] to develop an appreciation for the ways our different backgrounds have shaped us into unique and fascinating individuals.”

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Tamar Gaffin-Cahn (Career Development Center) attended Binghamton University and created her own major: international social change with a minor in Africana studies. During winter break of her senior year, Gaffin-Cahn did a three-week internship in Nairobi, Kenya, volunteering for a Women’s Empowerment Group. During this time, she worked with HIV-positive women to help them create crafts to sell to support their community and learned how communities, on the grassroots level, create social change. Getting to experience this community change of the narrative on HIV “was an example we can all learn from,” she said.  

When asked what the greatest takeaway from this experience was, she remembered: “Getting to know the women in the group was a beautiful opportunity. Experiencing Kenyan hospitality and [understanding] how care and community are built and sustained when the members are discriminated against and stigmatized for their HIV status was very informative.” While she was in Kenya, she also had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. To this day, she still keeps in touch with many of the friends she met while there. “Travel and meeting people from around the world opens you up to new ways of thinking, and in turn, can help you identify how you want to live,’ Gaffin-Cahn noted. 

Over the weekends abroad, Gaffin-Cahn was able to travel to a few other parts of Kenya to visit local Massai people and even do a water safari. She visited a number of watering holes and hiked through different parts of the Kenyan landscape. 

Gaffin-Cahn advised people to keep an open mind while spending time abroad: “One of the best lessons I’ve learned while traveling is to not impose your own beliefs on others. There is so much we can learn from different people and communities. It’s important to be reminded that there are people, experiences, and different ways of thinking outside of my neighborhood, community and circles. It creates space for more empathy, more learning, and more personal growth.”

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Carol Spector (Career Development Center) went abroad via a self-directed job exchange at the University of Southampton in England while she was working at Boston University. During her time abroad, she swapped roles and homes with a person who worked at the University of Southampton’s Career Center. 

Spector and her family spent a year in England, where they lived in a close-knit neighborhood where they got to know many neighbors through the common green space where the children played. Her work involved visiting employers, and she went to London many times to explore workplaces. During their time abroad, Spector and her family did some traveling. Her favorite place was Edinburgh, Scotland. “We also went to St. Andrew’s because the trip was in July, and the days were at their longest with close to 20 hours of daylight,” she said. 

When asked about her most transformational experience, she attributed it to “meeting and speaking with so many students” and noticing the similarities between them and American college students. No matter where they live, students “are all trying to explore themselves and what their future will hold.” She also loved being so close to London and getting to experience all that the city offered. 

As a result of her family’s time abroad, Spector’s son and his wife recently moved to London with employment opportunities and a chance to explore for themselves the adventure of living abroad.

Camryn Ciancia ’24