Blog from Harvey G
My advice to anyone considering a gap year would be: Do Carpe Diem. There are so many reasons, but here are a few ones that come to mind:
I feel more prepared to go into college now that I’ve completed my year abroad. I’ve had a big range of experiences from surfing on the coast of Peru to hiking to 17,000 feet altitude. I made some great friends and met people from so many different walks of life. Now I have friends in not only Peru, Ecuador and Nicaragua but also Bordeaux, France, London, Belgium, Canada, and about 10 states. All the local people who I met, whether complete stranger or co-workers, were incredibly kind and patient with my broken Spanish. I know that if I can find a hotel to stay the night in a strange town in Nicaragua, I can survive dorm life.
Last year today I was so stressed about where I was going to go to college. I hadn’t even seriously considered a gap year. I was about to spend more money than I had ever seen on something I wasn’t sure I was ready for. Carpe Diem came to my school and gave a presentation interesting enough for me to go to their website and check out the possibilities. When I considered all the cool things I could do the next year — from hiking to Machu Picchu to scuba diving in Australia, while earning college credit, it became a pretty clear choice.
Feel free to reach out if you have any general Carpe Diem questions, or anything specific about the South America group semester or the Latitudes year.
Best of luck in your decision,
Harvey