Some Ideas for Your Destination
More and more American students are beginning to take advantage of the benefits of taking a year off between high school and college. This gap year can provide valuable real-life education that will help the student be more prepared for life on their own when they move away to college. Gap years are also good ways to get away from the high stresses of preparing for college and graduating from high school.
Some of the most effective gap year programs take students completely out of their usual routines by sending them to a foreign country during their year off. While they are learning how to interact with a different culture, they are also learning important things about how they approach the world. These overseas trips can be centered around an opportunity to master a foreign language, provide community services to those in need, or participate in multiple sports with groups of other traveling students. Regardless of the program, a year in a foreign country promises to help a student grow in ways they never would have grown if they had shifted directly from high school to college.
Trips with a Focus on Language
The most common foreign languages that students learn in high school are Spanish and French. A good way to gain complete fluency in those languages is to take the knowledge you gained in your high school classes and immerse yourself fully in a culture that speaks the language daily. Gap year travel organizations can help you create an itinerary in a country like France or Spain so that you get the most out of your year away from school.
Gap Destinations for Active Individuals
Students who prefer to be more active during their time off could book trips to destinations like Costa Rica, Hawaii, Colorado, Alaska, or Southern Europe. Gap programs in these regions involve several sporting opportunities based on the climate of your destination. You can travel and play with other gap students on organized hikes through rough terrain, scuba diving adventures in the Pacific Ocean, ski trips, or any type of activity that appeals to you most. The competition and opportunity to be in the open air will teach you about your personal limits so that you can approach college understanding how to meet a challenge.
Community Service Related Destinations
Foreign community service trips will teach you unexpected things about yourself and the struggling cultures of the world. Visiting places like Africa, Australia, China, Tibet, Costa Rica, Ecuador, or Thailand will put you face to face with social situations that you have never experienced in the United States. You can choose from several different service projects depending on the destination you choose. Many students are transformed forever by their experiences in these drastically different cultures. Serving a community in another country will put your life in a new perspective that will help you throughout your college career.
Are you taking time off before you start college? What are your gap year ideas? –Jessica Bosari writes for Adventures Cross Country. The site seeks to help gap year students choose the destination and programs that will create a once-in-a-lifetime growing experience.
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