Let me tell you a little more about myself

As you probably, already know, my name is Loreyn and I am 18 years old. I was born and raised in the Philippines until the age of four and a half, which then I moved to Sydney, Australia. I've been living there ever since. During year 12 (which was the last year of high school for me), from the beginning I always knew what I was going to be, at least what I wanted to be, which was something in the field of medicine. But as the year went on, I faced challenges of all sorts, which lead me to the decision of taking a year off. Now, when someone hears about "taking a year off" and also called a "gap year" many people think it's just being lazy, a year to just chill and do nothing. So I spoke to my career's advisor who gave me plenty of ideas of what to do. One that captured my attention was international volunteer work. And because I've always wanted to go to the United Kingdom, there were gap year agencies that offer school placement volunteer work in the UK (which is where I am now). It took me so long to convince my parents to let me, but they soon gave in and knew that it would be for the better.

It took a whole six or seven months worth of preparation: sorting out visas, insurance, passports, and a whole pile of forms to fill in. But let me tell you now... it's definitely worth every second of being here. I know that might not make sense at all. So far, all the people that I've met while I've been here (with the exceptions of all the other gap students who came along from Australia) have been so surprised that I'm so young, in travelling on my own, and being so far away from home. And compared to what most of them are doing, who come blind into a country, live in a hostel (which are the worst - well I think they are anyway) yet cheapest accommodation, and finding a job. I mean, there's no time to travel? You're basically working for your fees to pay for the accommodation that you're staying in. So I'm really happy that I've got a school's placement, where I've got a bed that I've got to myself for the whole year, a room, decent loo and shower, and along with that, our meals our provided everyday, I should also add the monthly allowance/pay that we get too!

So I would definitely recommend taking a gap year for anyone who has a real sense of adventure! :)