I took a gap year

here are some of my insights

we’ve known each other for over a year now but it wasn’t until last night that I shared with L. what my gap year was about. so I got inspired to write this newsletter today.

taking a gap year was probably something I always had in the back of my mind and I wanted to do at some point in my life. two years later, I can say it was the best thing I ever did and experienced, the experience that made me grow the most and some of the best life memories I will always have. it sounds like a topic, but I’m not the same person I was before that. especially because I’ve always been quite an extremely shy and introverted person, and how cool it is to change and evolve as a person.

after graduating and working as a teacher for two years, I decided to leave my life behind for some time and take (at first) some gap months that ended up being a whole year, and what a year. my best friend, who had just done the same, was a big inspiration for me, and she was a big part of me finally deciding to do it. I remember perfectly the moment I decided to do it because I felt it so deeply. it was April 2022 and I was visiting her in Bologna, Italy, where she was volunteering for a few months.

I spent one year traveling the world, packing and unpacking, volunteering, visiting my international friends and friends who were living abroad, meeting new people, going out of my comfort zone, and planning my life one month in advance. I think my gap year could be my Roman Empire. I would say that (almost) every day since then, random memories from any of my travels pop into my mind and I can feel so much gratitude, nostalgia, and happiness inside me. I love teleporting myself back to these moments and it brings me so much joy I can’t even put it into words.

I don’t know what I want to express in this newsletter. I just know that the gap year changed me. I challenged myself, and I created such beautiful connections with people from around the world, that I can now call friends. I got to appreciate so many beautiful places, such as the Slovenian Alps during the fall, the tropical beaches and nature in Costa Rica, the incredible landscapes in Jordan, the beautiful and wild Bretagne in France in the spring, the cold yet cozy wintertime in Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium and the amazing summertime in a beautiful island in Denmark, my dreamed country.

I consider myself so lucky to have lived so many experiences during these months. I got to spend a lot of time with myself which led me to a lot of personal growth, introspection, and healing, but I also got to share many special moments with others.

the beautiful and strong friendships I got to build were so meaningful to me both at that time and nowadays, and my gap year would have not been the same without them. the places, the people, the experiences, the personal growth. it’s so difficult to put into words what all of this means to me, but it is a really strong feeling. so much gratitude, happiness, and even spirituality comes from it.

my gap year created a strong passion in me for traveling, exploring the world, and doing personal development through traveling and going out of my comfort zone, and since then, my travel bucket list hasn’t stopped growing. I can hopefully share all my future travels, memories, and learnings here as well.

in the middle of my travels I started writing my thoughts, feelings, and insights from all my trips, and one day I will publish a book and make my dream come true. for now, I would love to share some of them here.

hope you can find inspiration in these words,

lots of love,

L. & G.