Affording the Walkabout

I'm really pretty fortunate that I'm able to take a gap year.  


I'm glad that my parents are supportive, that K-Zoo (cute nickname for Kalamazoo College, duh) accepted my deferral, and that programs exist for me to take part in and travel with.


But mostly I'm thankful I had a really rich great-grandpa.  Who decided to give his great-grandkids some money.  He's the real person making this all possible.


Now don't get the wrong idea.  I'm actually not too obsessed with money.  Or that big into shopping/mass consumerism.  And my family is certainly not considered wealthy- we're solidly middle-class.  However, my dad's mom's dad just happened to own a paper mill for a while, and the final effects of that are about to show up.  Once I turn 18 (on Sunday!), I'll be inheriting a little more than $10,000.  To do whatever I want with.  So bomb.


So, obviously, I'll be taking that money and sticking it straight into the "Ensure Cleome has the Money to Buy Food in Europe" fund.  Feel free to donate yourself!  Every little bit helps.


While I'd love to encourage everyone graduating high school (or college, for that matter) to take some time off before heading to college/out on a career path, I know that's just not [monetarily] feasible for a lot of people.  Plus, I realize a large section of the population would see using a large, and free, chunk of change to finance a year of traveling as:
a.) stupid
b.) wasteful
c.) irresponsible
d.) crazy, or
e.) all of the above


And I know college costs an arm and a leg these days.  I'm fully aware of it.  An extra grand (or 10) would definitely come in handy for financing my secondary education.  But I've come to the conclusion that a year of adventure is going to be worth more to me than a slightly easier time paying for college.  Which is certainly a personal decision that other people may not agree with.  Too bad, though, 'cause it's my life.


It's not just the money I'm receiving on my 18th birthday that is going toward my gap year.  I've been working for the last three summers (at a summer camp and the State Fair) with saving up for traveling as my goal.  Plus there's the odd baby- or cat-sitting job over the year to provide a bit of income flow.  Oh, and I did pretty well for myself at my grad party, which reminds me.... 

Along with the generosity of my great-grandpa, tons of other people have contributed to making my gap year possible.  These include family, friends, neighbors, teachers, family friends, and many others.   Not all of the donations have been money.  I'm including support, books, conversations, and good vibes as contributions, also.  So thanks you guys.  I really appreciate it all.


However much I like them, though, well-wishes don't quite pay for plane tickets....


xoxo, Cleome

College?

Wait, I'm confused, are you going to college?  And how does that work with this whole "taking time off" thing?  

Bet you've thought that at least once.  Or you have now.


The rumors are true, though- I will be attending college beginning Fall 2013.  And I'm able to do that because I went through the same grueling process as millions of other college-bound students these past couple years.  You know, the grade-OCDing-extra-curricular-stocking-college-book-scanning-tour-taking-application-filling-out-general-stress-inducing process.

Pretty representative of  many of my nights.

This is what my college decision ended up looking like:
I applied to (too many) colleges and got into a bunch of them, but still couldn't really decide where I wanted to go.  Luckily I then received the financial aid packages, which really helped narrow down my options (ha).  After completing a brutal week-long road trip with my dad to the final two college options (embarked upon only one week before May 1, decision day), I ended up choosing Kalamazoo College in Michigan.   

Which I suppose I'm decently happy with.  It's not my dream school, but it seems like a good school that I could be content at, which I guess counts for something.  And then I wrote them a letter outlining my gap year and requesting deferred enrollment, which they granted. 


Anyway, it was a somewhat disillusioning, lackluster experience.  To be honest, it felt like a letdown.   College had been built up for me for so long in high school, and I pretty much worked my ass off for it (grade-wise).  To come away with what felt like a result not worthy of the effort I put in was really frustrating.  But while this may sound bitter, I've generally come to terms with it.  While I don't think there is a "perfect college" out there for me, I do think that any college can be just as good a fit as any other one.  I mean, the college you choose is important, definitely, but you can have a great experience anywhere, so long as you have the right attitude about it.  Which is something I'm sure my gap year will reinforce again and again, about life in general.  


Long story short, I will be attending college.  Just not right out of high school.


Also, let me rant a bit.  College is appallingly expensive these days.  And the cost is only going to increase.  A person's senior year may end up costing 15-20% more than their freshman year (Source).  I'm still so undecided in what I really want to study; I don't want to go to college only to waste a few years and a ton of dough before I figure out why I'm there.  So embarking on a gap year will most likely be just as helpful for figuring out my interests as a year of college, if not more so.  And just more fun and exciting (in my opinion). 

Plus kids who take time off generally perform better than their peers who neglected to.  Definitely used that reason to get permission to defer my enrollment at Kalamazoo. 


xoxo, Cleome

Why a Gap Year?

I would think that one of the first things you'd ask someone who's taking time off is "Why?"


Actually, I know so.  Because I get that question a lot.  It's definitely in the top five three.


Here are the various reasons why I elected to take a gap year (in no particular order):


-I needed a break from school.  I'd worked ridiculously hard in [high] school for the past however many years, and I felt like I deserved a hiatus.  Don't want to burn out.
-With the above reason, I'd learned a lot in school, but probably most significantly how to be a good student.  I'd managed to excel at it, but there's more to life than writing decent papers and taking tests.  I need to learn some "real world" skillz.
-My parents really pushed for it.  Crazy I know.  Pretty much the opposite of what most people say their parents would do.  But I attribute that to the fact that both my parents took time off from school themselves, are very big on traveling (we took a family sabbatical to Mexico when I was seven), and are just pretty cool old people.
-I wanted to travel.  And put some of my [barely existent] language skills to use.
-I felt the need to definitively leave my family, and become a capable, independent human being.  The reason my blog is called She Walks About is because I'm partially thinking of this year as being my walkabout.  Like the Aboriginal males in Australia who would leave their homes and head out on a walkabout into the bush to transition from boys to men.  Except for the turning into a man part.  This is a pivotal moment for my self-growth and exploration.  
-College is ridiculously expensive.  And since I have no idea what I want to go into right now, it makes no sense to waste a few years and hundreds of thousands of dollars before figuring that out.  Plus, there's evidence that kids who take gap years are more successful than their peers when they go back to school. 
-Up until now, I've pretty much simply done what people have told me to.  Met others' expectations.  I need to learn how to make my own goals and complete them.
-Volunteering always appealed to me, but I never had enough time to do anything that left me really fulfilled.  I wanted to give back in a more significant way.
-I wanted to.  Plain and simple, a gap year sounded like fun.  I couldn't wait to have a whole year that was all my own, for me to go off and do something crazy that most people would only dream about.


And I'm sure there's a gajillion more reasons I'll end up thinking of.


xoxo, Cleome