Why Have a Gap Year Abroad?
Traditionally a year out is taken for three main reasons:
- A transitional year between school and university.
- To gain wider experience before entering the job market.
- An irresistible case of wanderlust.
After School
The first opportunity most people will have for a year out will be when they finish school. After years of calculus, homework and school dinners the prospect of time abroad is an exciting one. However, it should be looked at as an opportunity for development and not just an excuse to escape from studying for a year.
Careers officers prefer pupils taking a year out between school and university to pursue a structured approach rather than a year of aimless wandering. Donald MacDonald, the careers master at George Watson's College in Edinburgh, takes a great interest in pupils who are contemplating a year abroad and in general he steers them away from the freelance approach: 'We tend to take the university line; that is we prefer pupils to do something constructive as opposed to a year in the Mediterranean with a guitar and a bed-roll'. This is good advice and it is worth remembering that you can undertake a second year abroad once you have completed any further education that you choose.
After University or College
A year out after university offers the most scope but it is also the stage at which eyebrows begin to be raised and questions such as 'Where will it all end?' are aired. The respectable world of employment views the concept of a year abroad with a certain amount of circumspection. They like it to have definite boundaries - with a specific end in sight. With this in mind several employers now offer deferred job opportunities. Through this you will be given a job before you graduate, but it will be deferred for a year so you can spend time overseas. This benefits both parties: you know you will have a job when you return, and the company knows they will have a more worldly-wise employee.
If you do not want the strictures of knowing that you have to come back after a year (a year out is an elastic creature that tends to expand rather than contract) then you should stick to your guns and worry about the consequences later. This may sound like irresponsible advice but your working career will occupy over 40 years of your life and if you have the confidence to spend a year abroad then you will have the ability to take up a career whenever you return. Also, a year abroad will probably provide more memorable moments than the rest of your entire working life.
Wanderlust
It would be naive to suggest that school leavers and graduates are the only people interested in taking a year out. For people of all ages, and from all walks of life, it is a realistic and viable option. Many people, who see the world as being more than their own town and their own country, spend a year abroad for the simple reason of experiencing different cultures and seeing how people on other parts of our planet live. If this applies to you then a year abroad should be a real possibility. A curious, inquisitive mind is one of the best reasons for leaving the rat-race behind and discovering the rest of the world.
