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Participant Blogs

Far From Home

By: Admin

By Maia Ever since Friday March 13th, the last day I stepped into a classroom, traveling to Israel to begin my gap year has seemed like my ticket out of the pandemic. I planned my gap year before the pandemic...
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The Transition

By: Admin

By Sammy Our lives move so fast, we don’t even get to enjoy a transition. Without this pandemic, I would have gone straight from graduating to being an 8-week camp counselor to possible going straight to Duke. I would be...
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Learning to Take Risks

By: Admin

By Lizzy Hi! I’m Lizzy from Austin, Texas. I can’t believe I’m already one month into my gap year—I have loved every moment and am so excited to see what the rest of the year will bring!   Despite my enthusiasm, I...
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Pre-Israel Jitters

By: Admin

By Abby I love making lists, whether it’s a post-it note to-do list or a messily scrawled grocery list. There is simply nothing more satisfying than a document that clearly conveys information. Unfortunately, that is not the Israeli way; my...
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Preparing for the Pacific Crest Trail

By: Admin

By Amelia It feels surreal that, in just over six weeks, this five-and-a-half month period of sitting around at home will finally come to an end. I’ll be stuffing my 65-liter backpack full of the essentials (sleeping bag, sleeping pad,...
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Olivia’s Year On Experience

By: Leslie

[caption id="attachment_1284" align="alignleft" width="300"] Group photo taken after watching another Year On student perform stand up comedy. We ended up having to set up outside the actual building on the sidewalk! It's still one of my wildest memories.[/caption] By Olivia...
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My Journey in Nepal

By: Admin

By McKenna My journey in Nepal started with blue skies of Kathmandu when my Himalayan Group landed on the morning of September 16th. The medieval city of Bhaktapur was home for orientation, where we developed group norms, set personal goals,...
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