I am leaving in three weeks. Three weeks of my dog waking me up in the morning, and of watching Sunday night movies with my father. It is also three weeks of mayhem. My computer won’t accept Skype, my summer clothes are still sitting next to the washing machine, and the to-do list keeps growing.

Whenever I mention that I am taking time off, people continually say “it’s a year on and not a year off” and that I “better go back to school”. These responses assume my sole activity will be inactivity. This seems to be a common misconception, judging from the comments on an article about gap years by USA Today. One rebuttal defined the idea perfectly:

“Gap year means focusing the energy and money that would have been for college towards volunteering or working in a completely foreign situation.”

This is an elaboration of that definition. I will cover my experiences, highlighting the benefits and drawbacks, and, hopefully, encourage you to think about taking time off.

I decided to do a gap year shortly after I committed to Middlebury College. Since last summer, which I spent in Nicaragua, I had been contemplating taking time off. On top of that, Middlebury is significantly more expensive than a state school ($52,120 vs. $24,167), I promised my parents I would graduate in 3.5 years in order to lighten the financial load.

With my parent’s support I asked my admissions counselor if I could join the class of 2015 (instead of 2014). Surprisingly, I only signed a paper,agreeing to call if I chose to attend another college in the interim and wah-la! All of the colleges I applied to, including large universities and state schools, had a similar process and they encouraged my idea, guaranteeing that all financial and merit aid would be held for me.

After growing up in Ann Arbor, a spirited college town, I wanted to work with a social justice organization in a cultural center. Since the average cost of a gap year program is between $10,000 and $12,000, I could not afford to travel through a program. I am funding my year using all of my earnings, which I accumulated by working throughout high school. Unwilling to believe I was not endlessly wealthy, I looked at dozens of pricey programs (NOLS, SIT, ProWorld, ect.) before considering equally incredible paid opportunities such as AmeriCorps (offers a 5,350 educational award, some colleges match this) and becoming an Au Pair.

Everything was either too expensive or restrictive. So I built my own year where I am only volunteering- I chose to live on a budget and not work. My “program” took shape after getting ideas from looking at excursions and other amenities offered by organizations. This is a cheaper, but riskier route. On one hand I won’t have other people to experience the utter newness of moving away. On the other hand, no scheduled tango lessons with other “gringos”.

I am spending my first six months living in Buenos Aires interning with a non-profit. For the second six, I hope to live in a grittier city like La Paz, Boliva. But, I am currently having visa difficulties since “Americans” can only stay for three months, and I want to double that. No matter where I end up, my goal for these 365 days is simple, to improve my Spanish.

Whether I am ready or not, I leave in three weeks. To be honest, I don’t know how ready I can be. Sure, my computer will have Skype, my clothes in a suitcase and my to-do list complete, except for arrival. But, although, Buenos Aires is called the Paris of Argentina, it still is not my tree lined street. When I get off the plane, I imagine I’ll feel like a cold bucket of water was poured over my head. I’ll be hot from the plane ride and will welcome this change, but it will still be a shock to my system.

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