Seniors to travel, study abroad during gap year

As graduating seniors prepare to move out and on to college, two seniors will instead be packing their suitcases for journeys abroad in France, Africa and Italy.

Emma Carr

Senior Emma Carr plans to spend the upcoming year in France, taking classes and studying the language in hopes of becoming “truly fluent”. She has enrolled in a program where she will spend her first semester in Grenoble and her second semester in Paris.

“I’m excited for everything,” Emma said. “Of course to learn French and grow up and everything, but the program I’m doing is really perfect. It’s relaxed enough that I can do pretty much what I want—go out, have a good time, and on the weekends I’ll be able to go explore Europe if I want to.”

Emma made her decision to travel abroad after college decisions were released this spring.

“I knew that some time, whether it be before, during, or after college, I would want to go abroad,” Emma said. “And when I didn’t get into college, well … it seemed like fate was telling me I should go for it.”

Although excited for the journey and experience ahead of her, Emma said taking a gap year abroad will definitely be experimental.

“I’m excited because this is a big risk,” Emma said. “I’m scared times infinity because I’ll be by myself and have to figure stuff out on my own, but that’s what is exciting. I get to ensure the success or failure of this next year, and I want it to be a success.”

During her time abroad, Emma plans to fully immerse herself with the culture of France and become fluent in the language. Taking classes and staying in a dorm with university students, Emma hopes to learn not only more about the culture, but also more about herself.

“I’m just excited because this isn’t the average thing to do,” Emma said. “Ten or twenty years down the line, I wonder how it will have affected me. I’ve been anxious for high school to be over for so long, to be able to break free and become something bigger than high school. And this is my first step.”

Tommaso Carli

Senior Tommaso Carli made the decision to take a gap year after attending the Gap Year Fair held this past February.

“It was really a last minute decision, but I went to the gap year fair, heard the presentation and I realized it was something I really wanted to do,” Tommaso said.

Tommaso plans to spend his fall semester in Ghana, Africa, before visiting family and friends in Italy over winter break. He will then head back to Africa to spend his spring semester in Senegal, all before getting a job in France the following summer.

“I am most excited to try Africa cuisine,” Tommaso said. “I really like trying new foods, and I have never had the chance to travel to mainland Africa.”

After spending a year abroad, Tommaso plans to enroll in a four-year university by the time he’s back from working in France.

“I have not decided where [I’ll be going to college] yet because I think I will be looking into American universities in Europe as well.”

Overall, however, Tommaso looks forward to the unique experience ahead of him and hopes to make his travels abroad not only significant for himself, but for others in Africa as well.

“I’m really excited that I will have the chance to make a real difference in someone else’s life,” Tommaso said. “I will be seeing people who have been much less fortunate than me throughout their entire life and giving up a little bit of my life to help improve theirs is something I am really looking forward to.”