Before I even knew what a gap year was, I was applying for a scholarship that would change my life. The idea sounded cool: take a year off, relax, take a break, travel anywhere, and volunteer. I was into all of that. And like I've written before, I was the kind of person that stuck tightly to a plan, to a path, to a purpose. The more concrete the better. The more contingency plans, the better off you'll be. But what I didn't know about my gap year, which I've learned in daydreaming about it while sitting in the library at school, is that it would rock me to my core, challenge everything I thought I knew about making plans, and that I would come out different yet still me.
My gap year did three major things for me: 1. It showed me how small the world is, and that I can and want to travel. The sooner the better, too. 2. I got the crazy partying and drinking out of my system. Global Gap Year Fellow: global citizen by day, painting the town all kinds of colors by night. I drank, I danced, I went out. I experienced the bar scene. I made drinking mistakes. I learned drinking lessons. I partied till the metro started running again. I learned how to stay safe while having fun. College drinking (which was illegal, but I'm 21 now, thanks gap year) has never been appealing and the grinding that happens has no comparison to how I partied in Barcelona and Paris. I was more focused and less reckless coming into college, and still am. 3. I have a more fearless mindset. The unknown doesn't give me anxiety attacks anymore. The future is coming soon enough, so stop freaking out about it. When you fall, you hit the ground, eat some dirt and call it supplemental vitamins. In high school I thought I was going to be a double major in Public Health and Political Science, with a minor in Latino studies (pinky in air). But I spent most of my first year undecided, and now I'm a Global Studies major, surprise there, and I couldn't be happier.
I've taken classes in a variety of departments: anthropology, communications, business, creative writing, art, spanish, political science, global studies. Undergrad is a chance for me to explore what my incredible university has to offer, and I am doing everything I can to take advantage of all of it. To some it might seem like I'm all over the place, but that's how my gap year was, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Five days to get from Rome, Italy to Cairns, Australia? Haven't even heard of the countries the connecting flights are in; bring it. Three hour Friday class? 18 hour schedule. Who scared? I ain't never scared.
There may be some that also criticize that the laid-backness of taking a gap year would hurt my academics. Since my gap year, I have received two awards, one with a scholarship of $1,000, I've maintained a GPA of 3.0 or higher, (3.4 thank you) and have still managed to travel to Nicaragua and El Salvador the past summer, and will be studying abroad in Cuba for the next four months. If you told me this is what I'd be doing before my gap year, I'd say it's possible. Ask me now if this is what I thought I'd be doing, I'd say I don't know but sounds good to me!
Take some time off. Travel. Get lost. Find yourself again. Realize what's missing. Go find it.
