In June of 2003, fourteen university students and two faculty completed the pilot for an alternative study abroad program in Guatemala that focused on Community Based Learning in rural Guatemalan schools. The pilot was highly successful for the participating students and schools. The program immerses students in Guatemalan culture while providing intensive language instruction and community service experience. The participating Guatemalan schools receive classroom assistance, physical improvement of their facilities, and educational supplies. The program's mission is to promote global citizenship by establishing an international relationship between educational communities in Guatemala and the U.S. The program will soon include a teaching exchange between Guatemalan and American schoolteachers. I took my first job as an assistant professor of Spanish literature in 2001. Since my specialty is Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Spanish literature, I expected that my work would in clude directing or teaching in a study-abroad program in Spain. Last spring a colleague offered me the opportunity to co-direct a program in Guatemala focusing on community service in rural Mayan schools. That was very different from what I had imagined myself doing, but our institution is a national leader in Service Learning or Community Based Learning (CBL), and I have found that our students are increasingly attracted to applying their foreign language skills in the community. The students responded very enthusiastically to the possibility of combining service learning with study abroad, and I found the professional experience much more satisfying than I had expected. This program was launched by my colleague because of the growing demand at our institu tion for language programs that serve students from disciplines other than foreign languages, that provide international experience, and that respond to community needs. She has been on study abroad programs as a student and has considerable experience serving the marginalized in Guatemala. She has participated in, designed, and directed community service courses and now coordinates the community outreach programs in our Foreign Languages and Literatures Depart ment. While serving Guatemalan street children in 1997, she began developing the contacts that would make this CBL program possible. My role in the program was to organize the intellectual component of the course, guide students through their selected readings, lead lectures, and help them understand their experiences within the context of U.S.-Latin American relations. Our university students were required to work outside of their areas of preparation. They were majoring in fields as varied as arts and letters, political science, international studies, and geology. Given this variety of interests, it was essential that the program should have an interdisciplinary approach and that the students reflect upon and share their experiences within a critical context informed by readings and lectures from multiple perspectives.