Defer or study? If you’ve ever wondered about taking a year off to travel, the first thing you need to ask yourself is: What is it that I’m looking for that I don’t already find in my current job or degree or life? If you can’t put your finger on it but you know that there’s something lingering back there then please read on.
In 2011 I graduated from high school, kept sane only by the thought that I would be taking a Gap Year the following year. Free at last! When it came closer to actually deciding whether I would continue the original plan of deferring I became a little doubtful and scared. I had become bombarded with questions of doubt: Was this the right choice? Would I be wasting time? Could I just get that ‘travel bug’ out of me later, after my degree? Will I be disappointing my parents if I don’t go? I began turning to people for advice, but the majority seemed to answer with: yes, you should just start your degree now. But that wasn’t the answer I was looking for. As I began to look through my potential future subjects and timetable I had become overly stressed. How could I possibly start a year like this? Didn’t I deserve a break from working my guts off in year 12? I didn’t know where to go, but I knew that University wasn’t an option for me just yet. I knew that if I did go, I would end up neglecting my parents for making me continue on, and ultimately it was my decision not theirs. So I took a risk. I broke the preconceived path for myself and took myself overseas to try and find out what was missing. (May I add here that I have not once regretted this choice. Ever.)
March, 2012. Gap Year! I had been saving money for quite a while with part time jobs since year 10, I hadn’t known at the time where I would go with that money, but now was crunch time. Another mountain of questions towered over me: Where do I go? How long for? Who with? What will I do? I had no template to branch out from; neither of my elder sisters had taken a break and only very few of my friends had taken a year off to work full-time. I began looking into Gap year tours on the beloved google.com and found some really amazing websites for volunteer travel overseas. This was exactly what I wanted to do. Travel with a purpose. This is where I found the website for Projects Abroad – so I ordered a brochure online and when it came I found that my questions doubled but my enthusiasm began to flourish. I wanted to go everywhere! Africa! Asia! South Pacific! Here, there and everywhere! But, who with? How long? Did I want to work with kids or animals? Or in journalism? Was this the right organisation? I hadn’t heard of it before, so it’d be a bit of a risk. Things fell into place, the way they always do if you’re on the right track. I began to slowly prioritise places, and had come to the decision that I’d probably prefer to work in care with children, and I could do some conservation work on another trip. With a little bit of arm twisting and lots and lots and lots of convincing, Mum agreed to let me go. Though, she had decided it was too unbearable for her if I went alone on my first trip so Dad, my saving grace, volunteered to accompany me. We were deciding between conservation work at Peru and care work at Fiji. Given that he could only take off 3 weeks from work, I had decided that Fiji was the most practical option – since it is so much closer.
Fiji was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I could never possibly forget the people, the place, the smell, the freedom of time, the food, the beaches, the bars, the palm trees, the sweet coconut, the fresh pineapple, the constant warmth, the children, the family, the friendliness and the freedom from monotonous routine - it was just so incredible. Working with Projects Abroad, (I highly recommend looking at their website http://www.projects-abroad.com.au/), you are placed with a host family and are able to completely immerse yourself into their culture. Dad and I were placed in a large home with a wonderful lady named Ateca, and her daughter Papate (who I am still in contact with and am planning a potential return visit for this year). They had given up their own rooms and beds for us and had offered to sleep in a little spare room with extended family that came to stay, often enough to be considered living there. But on the first night, Papate asked if we could share her room together, and straight away she had become like a little sister to me. We felt so comfortable, so safe and so welcomed there. It had become easy to call this place home. So each morning we went to the kindergarten to help out with the kids and cleaning up what damage had been left by the recent floods. After this I went to the orphanage called Treasure House to help out with the children there. I felt like I had made stronger connections with the kids there, I’m not sure if it was because we could speak the same language or because we were in the setting of their home. Either way, I fell in love with all the children. They made me feel so alive, each day I was so excited to see their smiles and play with them.
*I have an earlier piece called “Here” in this blog that features one of the children who made an everlasting effect on me, Aseri. I used his real name and his real story. I have attached a photo of this child Aseri, so you can see his “wolf-eyes” for yourself.
Each weekend all the volunteers would organise something fun. We travelled to the islands or went horse riding and sometimes spent days sitting at beach resorts. I was so glad that I went against all the odds to get there. I was completely and utterly happy, I felt fulfilled by all the relationships I was building and the work I was doing. And it was at that moment that I truly realised that I needed those children at the orphanage more than they needed me. They taught me about life without realising it. Yes, at times life can be tough but we have a big but easy choice to make: to be happy. Our decisions must be based upon love for ourselves. If I had of chosen to continue studying it would have been out of guilt, for my parents. But this had been a choice of love, and in return I had received love and happiness.
Later that year I travelled through Europe with my sister, and then to Sri Lanka with some friends who have family there. Each of these experiences helped me grow in ways that I couldn’t have imagined. Learning to be more relaxed, peaceful, grateful and whole. Travelling also teaches you how to recognise the cyclical nature of life; people will come and go from your life without your consent. We each have different paths we need to take, and it’s made more obvious when you are physically in a state of motion. The friends you make on these trips are life-long friends, each to teach you a little something along the way.
*I hope to write a blog about each of these trips later, but if you want you can look at the video at the bottom for a snippet of my Europe trip
Then in 2013 I went back to begin the degree I had long forgotten about. I didn’t want to start just yet. I wanted to continue working and travelling. But I was given a sign, which was only seen as a sign in hindsight. Basically, if I deferred my course I would lose my place at the University. I wasn’t willing to waste all the effort I had put in during my last year of school. Negligently, I sat through my classes, feeling less and less motivated as each week went by. The only class I genuinely looked forward to was Creative Writing, where each person would share their piece each week and we would go around workshopping it. A lot of the students were mature-aged and I felt like they really wanted to be there. There was a lot of great energy and enthusiasm that I could work with. Another bonus is that I made a wonderful friend in that class who I am still in contact with and am constantly inspired by; even by the topic of this blog.
So June, 2013 I decided to fly away again. For five months straight this time, and solo. Still receiving the same advice as for Fiji; my Nonno had warned me, “Don’t go bella, it’s very danger over there.” As per usual I decided not to listen. I wanted to see for myself. I travelled to Ghana to do the same work with Projects Abroad, though this time it was for 2 months and again I fell madly in love with all the kids and their wonderful ability to see the wonders in life with so little. Unlike Fiji, I had went there expecting the worst. Expecting to see poverty in all corners. But I found ways to look past that and quickly realised that it wasn’t my job to fix all these people’s lives. It was and still is my job to find love in the shadows, and spread that love. I remember cooking with my host mum as the sun rose in the morning, dancing until morning on the weekends, riding on the scooter with my host brother, playing soccer with the street kids, sitting at home with a grandmother who was 105 years old, walking my little host sister to school and holding a baby with a piece of fabric around me till she fell asleep. All the children from the orphanage visit me in my thoughts almost every day. Their pictures hang on my wall, reminding me to smile and count my blessings every day. This experience made me grow in ways that I would never have expected. I had released old patterns of self-doubt and fear. I had developed an appreciation, understanding and greater value of what I have at home. Here in Oz. I learnt that life isn’t about getting the best mark in your class, getting the best degree, going to the best University, getting the best income and getting the best job – because “the best” is relative, right? I learnt that life is about feeling the best, no matter what income, job or place you’re in. So with all that pressure gone, here I am in 2014 waiting eagerly to begin my degree, for the second time round. I’m actually excited to fill my mind with information, to study and to share knowledge with others. And to be honest, that so called ‘travel bug’ hasn’t left my system and neither do I want it to. A desire to travel is like a desire to live, for all our ancestors were originally nomadic. But right now, I’m happy to be here. Home. With fresh eyes of appreciation: all those things I once overlooked are now daily sweet miracles.
So, if you’ve decided to take a break there are three questions that I would recommend asking yourself:
- Who will I be travelling with?
- How out of my comfort zone will I be?
- What do I want to achieve from this experience? i.e. fun, self-growth, cultural immersion, language, history.
