Going into my senior year of high school I had no idea where I was going to go to college the next year, and as I researched different possible schools, I became even more confused about where I would eventually end up. During my college search process I was so lost and behind what other people were in their college search, that I had a feeling from even October that college right out of high school may not be the best thing for me. Looking back now, I'm so glad I listened to my gut instinct to take a year off and do something, which eventually led me to study where I am today.

From the beginning of senior year, I felt unease about going off to college right after high school, and I didn't really give it much thought until one of my mom's hygienists asked me what I had wanted to do after high school. When I told her I had absolutely no idea, she mentioned that I should look into doing CItyYear, which was what her daughter ended up doing that year, and the next. So I looked into the program and applied, but unfortunately I didn't get in, which was devastating at the time. In the email I got with that news, it said to look into applying to AmeriCorps, since CItyYear is a branch of that. I did look into it, and eventually decided to apply, but what made me decide not to do it was the fact that it either started in October and went until June or started in August and went until May, but now I find that fact a little funny.

Another thing I decided to try getting into was the Young Americans, and with my background in dance and choir, I was pretty confident I would make it in, but of course I didn’t, but this time I wasn’t as devastated. My final plan was to go to Poland to study abroad there for the year, but something didn’t work out with the dorms that I could only go for the second semester, of which now I know was God was working his plan this whole time to bring me to where He needed me. I had looked at other gap year programs along the way, but all of them were too expensive or I would have to travel to some rather unsafe countries.

What I eventually ended up doing was taking a couple classes at my local community college first semester and then going to Poland for my second semester (which you can read more about at https://www.theodysseyonline.com/my-study-abroad) While there I found out that it was God’s plan all along working for me to end up there at the exact moment I needed to be there at the perfect time. The reason why I found the timing a little funny was because the start of the semester in Poland is towards the end of February and it ends at the end of June, with the school year starting October 1^st, if it had been God’s plan for me to go for the whole year.

I remember the day my dad was asking me where I wanted to go or do after high school, he was a little shocked that college wasn’t necessarily the right path in God’s plan for my life. I also remember my mom saying that when she first heard that I wouldn’t be going to college right off the bat after high school, she had felt as if someone had hit her in the gut with a baseball bat. This was not what I had meant to do to my parents when I knew college wasn’t the right thing straight out of high school for me. Eventually they came to accept the fact that I’d be taking a gap year after graduating, and were happy to support me in wherever I decided to go.

For my school’s October issue of the newspaper, I decided to write an article on my decision to take a gap year. In it I wrote that wherever I ended up going or doing, as long as I was doing something productive for myself or my future, I would be happy. When it came time for my state’s press association award ceremony, I had totally forgotten I had written that article, so when they called my name that I had won first place in a category for our division, I was a little surprised. Come to find out later in the day on the bus ride back, I had won first place for my gap year article.

Looking back on my experiences now, I’m so glad I listened to what my heart was telling me about going off to college straight out of high school, which just so happened to be God working his plan in my life. I learned so much during my time abroad, both about myself and my parent’s homeland, that I wouldn’t change a thing about my experience.