Something Surprising

Something that has surprised me about my gap year so far is the aspect of independence. While I knew that this program would allow me to live independently, I still imagined that it would have rigid structure. I’ve participated in a few programs throughout high-school, and I found that each one of them had a fixed setup. I don’t think I truly contemplated how different this would be. I am now an adult, living in a foreign country, doing things for myself that have always been done for me, and am attending a program with far less structure than I’m used to. I shouldn’t have assumed this would be similar to other programs I’ve experienced. However, because I tend to be an over-thinker, I am glad that it turned out this way: had I known before how independent I would have to be, I probably would have been much more hesitant to commit to this gap year experience.

But don’t get me wrong. I love it. Our program offers a balance between structure and fluidity so that we can learn to be on our own but also have something to lean back on when we need. Our weekdays have changing schedules while our weeknights and weekends are free. While I enjoy this, sometimes I do feel as though I don’t know exactly what is going on. I am learning to be okay with this discomfort and to take more initiative with my plans as opposed to always being told what to do. For example, there is so much to take advantage of in Israel, yet it would be so easy to sit around doing nothing on weekends due to a lack of planning. Instead, I took initiative of my time here and planned a weekend trip to a different city, and I ended up having an amazing time. (I’ll include some pictures of my time in Tel Aviv).

I am gaining much more independence and learning to rely on myself, and I believe that taking this break before college to learn these skills will be very beneficial in my future.