First steps

Ok. So you think you might be interested in taking a gap year. So what now? Well, you have to ask yourself what you want to achieve in your year-and-a-bit out. Some people choose to work to save up some money for university. This is a fine option, as it will inevitably take some of the sting out of the new top-up fees that Uni's can charge nowadays.

However, this point in your life is a perfect opportunity to go and do something in another country, or even your own country - it's up to you. For example, after you leave University, you will probably want to be looking for a good job to put that shiny new degree to use. Then you may want your own place. So now you've got a full-time job and, perhaps, a mortgage, and you think taking a gap year would be fun, but you need to it arrange with your boss, and he/she/it may not be best pleased. Then there's the mortgage and loan repayments, maybe a partner, a car, etc...

So, you see, between College and University is a perfect time, when you have few responsiblilities and are still young. The nitty gritty bits regarding your gap year are not that important at the biginning. All you need is a bit of interest, and an internet connection (preferably). Have a think about where you would most like to go in the world. Now, what would you like to do when you get there?

I decided that I would like, perhaps, to go to Madagascar. And I'm very much into helping the envronment, and I love animals and outdoors. With this in mind, I went to WWV <http://www.wwv.org.uk/>, where there is a brilliant search engine to help you find some excellent projects. I just looked at some of these to give me a rough guideline as to project prices, training, and of course, content. You could always type volunteer abroad into Google and see what comes up.

Now, with a bit of research, you may or may not have a better idea of what sort of things you would like to do. What now? You could wait till I have written another post. Or, even better, keep researching till I have.