Gap Year Cultural Benefits

As a junior in high school, life changing decisions are around every corner. Big decisions are going to be made; will you make the right choice? Tick tock. Tick tock. Time’s running out. What choice will you make? Where will you go to college? Will you go to college? Of course you will. There is not another option. If you do not get a good education, you will not get a good job, and you will not be able to provide for your family. My parents have told me things similar to this since I was too little to understand what college was. From the time I was seven, my parents instilled in me the fact that right after high school, I would go straight into college at the University of Alabama. The thought never crossed my mind that I would do anything but follow this plan my parents paved out for me. I never

Holly Bull explains in her article that a gap year can bring about life changing experiences and a yearning for a life filled with various cultures. Many students decide to take a gap year for the sole reason of traveling and experiencing these cultural benefits. Cultural benefits are defined as something that improves one’s well- being. Many students tend to focus on immersing themselves in cultures other than their own. Jensine Raihan claims one of the most influential reason to take a gap year is to experience culture. She says, ”A vacation allows you to see a different culture. A gap year allows you to live it.” Raihan goes on to describe her gap year she spent in Mexico, and how that year drastically impacted her life. She even says that another rewarding natural process of the gap year is learning a new language. When she arrived in Quito she knew little to no spanish. As she heard her host mom repeating different phrases, she would look them up in order to learn more Spanish. She left her host home with a better knowledge of the history, cultures, and language of the native in