Gap year
Planning for adventure
by Graham Jones
Source: www.ivillage.co.uk
Gap Year sites help students plan and cover all the bases – something that will
appeal to every parent
Your 17 year-old daughter has let you know that instead of going to university next
year, she’ll be going alone to the forests of South America to ‘find herself’. Your
immediate reaction will probably be a mixture of horror, delight, admiration and panic.
What she’s really saying is that she wants to take a break from formal learning.
Many students find that having spent up to 14 years in school, the thought of another
four years of education is overwhelming. They want the qualifications, but also need
a ‘breather’ first. That’s where ‘Gap Years’ come in.
Every year, around 25,000 UK teenagers to take a gap year before they settle into
university, and the numbers have been growing in recent years. But the concept of a
gap year is still too new for many parents to feel comfortable with.
‘When my daughter Sally said she wanted to take a year off and go to Australia I was
very worried,’ says a mum in her late-40s. ‘What if she’s attacked? What if she
became ill? What if she needed me and I couldn’t get there for more than 24 hours?’
These are common concerns, but they’re not special to gap years. Students
frequently want to travel the world, often heading for distant places, and often doing
so alone. Attacks on young travellers are not as common as the media portrays and
few are fatal. The vast majority of gap year students return [in one piece,] having had
a rich and rewarding experience.
‘I went to Japan,’ said Mark, ‘and I was just stunned by the huge difference between
their culture and ours. I knew it was a very different society, but you just don’t realise
until you’ve lived there for a while. I found it a bit oppressive, but I’m glad I went. I’m
sure I learned a lot that would help me get a job with a Japanese firm in the UK.’
Comments from parents as well as gap year students can be found at
http://www.gap.org.uk. The site gives an excellent overview of the benefits of gap
years, and lists the range of activities students can get involved in. Gap Activity
Projects, who produce the site, also operate a number of international projects,
including conservation schemes, on which students can volunteer. The details are
comprehensive and do a lot to allay parental concerns. It’s a great place to start.
World Challenge Experience’s site at http://www.worldchallenge.co.uk/gap/index.html gives details of the projects they run, and potential
volunteers can apply online. Unfortunately, the site uses the most recent Web
browser technology, so if you have an older browser you won’t be able to access the
whole site. And be prepared for an assortment of pop up windows every second
click. However, when you eventually get to the details, they’re plentiful and
informative.
For a much easier time, go to GapYear at http://www.gapyear.com. It’s an online
magazine and community aimed directly at gap year students. Packed with articles,
hints and tips, the site also has a searchable database of gap year opportunities and
a special online shop. This is one of the best gap year sites around. Every student
should bookmark it.
The site every parent should bookmark is the Year Out Group at
http://www.yearoutgroup.org/. The site contains a comprehensive set of guidelines
for ‘advisers’ – usually parents of students contemplating a gap year. There’s also a
set of questions for students, which are equally rigorous and detailed. The driving
force behind the Year Out Group is planning and making sure you cover all the bases
– something that will appeal to every parent.
A printed alternative is The Gap-Year Guidebook, a manual that’s been around for
ten years and tells you ‘everything you need to know about gap years’. Order a copy
direct from the publishers at http://www.peridot.co.uk/gap.html. Also try Taking a
Gap Year, which is available from any bookshop.
The Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS) provides booklets on gap
years, primarily aimed at parents. You can buy these via the UCAS website at
http://www.ucas.ac.uk/getting/parents/index3.html.
There is hardly a place in the world where you can’t either access the Internet or use
a mobile phone. Indeed, even if a student strays off the beaten track, a satellite
phone will work from anywhere on the planet and they are now available at ever
decreasing prices.
But for most gap year students, though, a mobile phone and some cash is all they
need. Internet cafés are available worldwide and as such, children can keep in touch
by sending and receiving emails. In fact, the technically minded can even set up their
own website about their travels and update this as they go around the globe.
For easiest contact use web-based email. The most notable is Hotmail
(http://lc3.law13.hotmail.passport.com/cgi-bin/login). Sign up for Hushmail at
http://www.hushmail.com, if you want your messages secured. Most web-based
email systems are insecure – i.e. anyone can read the emails. Messages from
Hushmail are encrypted, making it impossible for the mail to be intercepted or duped
(duplicated) by impostors.
It’s also worth taking a digital camera, so you can take photos and email them direct
to each other – anniversaries at home, fantastic sights abroad. Go to the Digital
Cameras Buyers Guide at http://www14.digitalcameras.activebuyersguide.com, for
more information. And if the digital camera solution doesn’t work for you, try sending
postcard greetings from the likes of Webshots.com at http://www.webshots.com or
Egreetings at http://www.egreetings.com.