This has been the fastest year of my life. I honestly can’t believe it’s coming to an end after I’ve been thinking about this year since my junior year of high school. I’m not ready for it to be over in some senses (traveling, adventure, different culture, my carpe friends and community) but in some ways I feel more prepared than ever to take on college and go forward in my life. I don’t think I would have been ready to succeed in college if I hadn’t taken this year and I am eternally grateful for that. Although there were some emotional times, every hard thing I went through made me grow.
Last week, I had the immense pleasure and the great opportunity to show both my mom and sister around Morocco and introduce them to my life. They met my boss, co-workers, and host family and then got to eat plenty of tajine and drink tons of mint tea. It was such a weird thing to show them as while in SE Asia I was extremely home sick (more than I ever imagined or expected) and this semester, I felt very able to handle being in a foreign country without them and it was the first time I really realized how much I’ve grown this year. My sister said that she’s seen immense growth in many ways in my life: I take myself less seriously, I’m more fluid with change, more confident, extremely self reflective, and less stressed about the little things. She noted that this year has allowed me to change and grow at an accelerated rate and I’ve felt that. I feel happier than I have been in a while. I feel more certain about my path and my college than I did when I chose it.
The best part? Well, I have two more months of travel after this semester and along the way I get to see friends from my first semester, other latitudes students, travel with my new best friend (Omar), make new friends, see old friends from when I lived in Europe, and travel with the people most important to me, my family. And then I get to go home which I’m excited for. I may only be home for a month and a half but in that month and a half I will go to orientation, see some of my best friends, work, get back into shape, and spend plenty of time with my family. And then, I head to college, I have move in day and freshman week and then college. The unknown. A completely new start. A time to learn and work and have fun and make friends and most importantly, to explore. Explore New Jersey, New York City, my college, and myself. I had so much to look forward to my senior year with Carpe coming up and now that its almost over I feel so grateful for my time. I only have things to look forward to instead of things to dread.
My gap year was not what I expected at all, but exactly what I needed. It taught me hard skills like how to write articles, make cement, paint murals, work with people from many different cultures and backgrounds, how to write reports and applications for the UN, and many more practical work skills. This year also taught me soft skills such as resilience, work ethic, confidence, compassion, how to be ok with emotion, how to laugh easily and freely, to take 10 deep breaths in stressful situations before jumping to conclusions or getting stressed, how to have a safe amount of fear but still have fun and be spontaneous, and how to not take life so seriously. At the end of this gap year I will have visited 18 countries and that’s actually incredible. I would not change a minute of this year and it’s made me a stronger, more confident, and happier person. So, thank you for all of the effort and work the Carpe Diem team has poured into me over this year. I’m sorry if I was a pain at some points but I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me. You (along with my parents) have truly given me the world, and I am eternally grateful.
Thanks!
Emma
