Gap Year Now or Study Abroad Later? Last summer I had the opportunity to travel abroad. As a youth ambassador with the State Department, I was selected to travel to the small Central American country of Belize to learn more about American and Belizean diplomacy, civic engagement and volunteerism. Though the trip only lasted a month, I was inspired by it. When I returned home, I was eager to find new ways to learn about and experience other cultures. The teacher who had recommended me to become a youth ambassador directed me to the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange. The program is funded through a partnership between the State Department and the German Parliament as a way to get students from both countries to take part in cross-cultural exchanges that last an entire year. Even though I was excited to learn that there were more opportunities to travel, it wasn't long before I realized that this, too, would be another decision that I'd have to make before the end of my senior year. It means I'd be taking a gap year. I've always wanted to study abroad. I mean, who doesn't like to travel? For me, however, traveling is more than just experiencing other cultures, it's also about learning about my own. The opportunity to travel abroad offers students like me the opportunity to examine our own values and traditions. For example, before departing for Belize, the other students and I were asked what defined our own American culture. We had lived here all our lives, but to our surprise, no one knew how to answer the question. We were instructed to jot down an undeveloped answer. The program liaison told us that after our trip to Belize, we'd be able to answer the question with a much deeper understanding. Traveling abroad for a year at this stage in life is an entirely new ballgame. The experience itself doesn't scare me. In fact, I'm ecstatic about potentially being in an entirely new environment where I'm learning a new language. What I'm torn about is the idea of losing a whole year of college to be in a foreign country where I wouldn't technically be studying to prepare myself for the real world. The year abroad would be an extension of high school - just for the experience, and not for any sort of credit anywhere. As I've been trying to decide whether I want to do this or not, I've talked to teachers, friends, my parents. I get a different response every time. Most of my friends reply with some variation of, "Well, what do you want to do?" "Well," I think to myself, "the reason I'm asking is for suggestions from you, not from myself." I have friends who say don't do it. They say I'll miss a year of school and therefore be behind. My parents are most concerned about me leaving the path I'm on now and never getting back on it. They say that students who decide to put off college usually never ending up returning to study ever again. Personally, I think that's just a stereotype. Yet I also have others who encourage me to take the opportunity and give up the year. When I asked a good friend of mine, she replied, "YOLO." If I were to travel abroad, I know that many (if not most) of the schools to which I've applied allow admitted students to defer admissions for up to two years. I've already contacted the scholarship committee for the David M. Wall Scholarship and asked if they would defer it for a year if I were to travel to Germany. They said they would. Here are some questions that I must consider: Do I want to wait a year to experience the college life? Am I O.K. with being "behind" everyone else? Do I want to take time to get a taste of being on my own before really being on my own in college? Maybe I shouldn't even be thinking about this right now. I just submitted the application and the chances of me getting into the program are minimal. Then again, the possibility is still there. I've always believed that as long as there's a possibility of something happening, I should consider the potential problems that could arise as if the event was destined to occur. Sometimes I don't know if I'm bringing these problems onto myself. Maybe I shouldn't have applied to the exchange program. I have so many things to consider right now. Then again, this is one of a litany of things that I want to do. If accepted, I'll have to decide whether I want to travel abroad now and take a gap year, study abroad later while in college, or perhaps travel more than once. Mr. Espinoza, a student at Topeka High School in Kansas, is one of eight high school seniors around the world blogging about their college searches for The Choice.