My Gap Year
My friend Carissa has always been one of those free spirits. I went straight into a four year university, she took a gap year. I had never heard of a “gap” year before Carissa told me about the term. The next thing I knew Carissa was working on a vineyard in Australia and I was sitting in a lecture hall in Nebraska.
At first I was highly confused — how do you go about finding a job down under? Where was she living? What happened to my friend?! She eventually resurfaced and had some answers for us. She’d actually found an organization that placed her at the vineyard and found her somewhere to live. After three months of picking grapes, she found work at a literacy center where she tutored teens and adults.
As Carissa explained it, she didn’t know where she wanted to go to college or what she wanted to study so why was she going to pay thousands of dollars to do something she didn’t know she wanted to do at a place she didn’t know she wanted to be.
Taking some time off and putting herself in a different setting allowed Carissa to see the bigger picture. She returned with a game plan in hand and went on to study education at a very reputable university.
Since finishing school, Carissa has pursued her career while also embracing the travel bug that Australia sparked in her. She spent two years doing Teach for America in New Mexico (a program in which you teach in a disadvantaged community while earning your masters degree). Following New Mexico, she traveled to South Korea for a year to teach English to elementary school children. If I’m not mistaken, she’s currently in Italy teaching English to adults.
Even though it might not be the norm, taking a gap year can prove highly advantageous. In terms of finding a passion or trying on a job or two, it worked for Carissa. If you’re not totally focused, sometimes it can make more sense to take some time off to figure it out.
