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A Gap year: it ain't one long holiday (for some!)
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Ben Marston`s day :)
Yes, I know this entry is horrifically late, but I'm afraid that is just the way the coca cookie crumbles.
Since arriving in Cambridge I have met many students who have taken a 'Gap year'. Well, if I am honest, the term 'Gap year' is used a little too loosely for my liking by some of the people I have spoken to. It has led me to wish to clarify what 'Gap year' should stand for, and here is my attempt:
1) Travel to a foreign country, preferably one which is new to you.
2) A degree of hard work.
3) New experiences.
4) Roughing it, to some degree.
5) Catching a life-threatening illness.
So the last one is optional, but believe me, it certainly adds to the experience! In fact, some wise people (me) say that you haven't truly experienced a country unless you have been rushed to one of it's inner-city hospitals. Matter of opinion, perhaps.
But on a serious note, spending 6 months topping up your tan in Spain, whilst listening to the resentful mutterings of Maria, your maid, as she cooks you paella, does not constitute a Gap year in my eyes.
Neither does temporarily moving all the way to the scary, unpredictable world of your Italian holiday home (no, not the one in Rome, silly! Daddy was renting that one out at the time, I had to go to one of the others, it was quite dreadful really, we only had enough room for 17 of my friends!)
When people ask about my Gap year, and I tell them I volunteered for 3 months in Peru, I tend to get a similar reaction each time.... "...Why?!...".
If I have learnt one thing about making friends at university, it is this: don't make friends with people who think it is normal to have a family empire stretching across most of Italy. They have no soul.
With lots of love, and loads of Cambridge excitement, Bethers xxxxxxxx
Latest Comments (4)
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Ideal gap year (reply)
Nov 14, 2007 17:15 EST by samkastin
I think the ideal and most rewarding gap year involves a going to the mall, getting stoned, listening to led zep. that important stuff.
And leave those poor rich kids alone!
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wow (reply)
Nov 14, 2007 03:21 EST by carole1
what a wordly wise young lady you have become in the space of a few weeks! I'm glad you have met some of the really nice people as well as the superficial, though I guess they have never known anything different so in a way I feel sorry for them. I loved your room in Cambridge and it is lovely to think of you in that setting and hopefully having fun as well as working (and rowing) hard. Lots of... show all
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We love you Bethers (reply)
Nov 13, 2007 09:17 EST by alisonsauer
So great to hear from you and to see that Cambridge has not changed all the things we love about you.
Keep up the good work!
Alison and Emerald
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We love you Bethers (reply)
Nov 13, 2007 09:13 EST by alisonsauer
So great to hear from you and to see that Cambridge has not changed all the things we love about you.
Keep up the good work!
Alison and Emerald
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