Gap Year Opportunities Around the Globe with Thinking Beyond Borders

Thinking Beyond Borders (TBB)- the pioneer and best gap year program on the market. TBB is able to combine cultural, social, academic and personal learning in an incredible, enjoyable, challenging and exciting way.
Every students gets the opportunity to learn and grow in the area he/she wants to grow and learn in.
TBB provides a structured and safe learning experience all around the globe, that is hard to find somewhere else. The extremely well trained staff creates a web of support for students who need it. TBBs' program is far away from volunteerism and focuses on sustainable worksites combined with student focused seminars, taveling the world and learning about new cultures. Critical thinking and the ability to ask questions is one of the key values of TBBs mission.
I did the global gap year 2016/17 and all I have written above isn't to advertise TBB, it is a honest reflection of my relationship and time I spend and worked with TBB over the cause of seven months.
TBB global gap year program is the best way to learn about yourself, the values you hold and the world that surrounds you. If you are looking for something to do before college you should get into contact with TBB. Many TBB alumni students are happy to get into contact with further students and help them to get to know TBBs mission better. Next to a big number of American alumni students TBB also has many European almuni students, who will offer support in the process of getting to know TBB.

I wanted to do something that was off of the beaten path, the beaten path of course being going to college right after high school. This gap year program certainly fulfilled that "idea". I've learned and experienced things that no college freshman that went straight from high school to college would ever even dream of. I've experienced poverty, disease, death, hunger, and corruption in the countries I have visited. Amidst these pains, I have also experienced beauty and elegance in their oddest forms. From natural beauty of the ocean in South Africa, mountains in India, and the forest in Ecuador, to human beauty in its most unique forms. Individual human beauty...people that, despite suffering from several major illnesses, somehow manage to keep on living, struggling, and rising above some of the most daunting circumstances I have ever seen. People that have gone through hell yet still manage to put a smile on their face and laugh through the pain were probably the best things I experience. It beats out experiences such as the Taj Mahal, an African safari, and Machu Picchu. This trip changed my life for the better in countless ways.

Words cannot describe how amazing my experience with TBB was. I came into this program burnt out from high school, wanting to travel and learn more about the world and myself, as cheesy as that sounds. To say that the program changed me would not be true, TBB gave me the safe space and the tools to truly discover more about the worlds issues and how I can become an effective agent of change. TBB gave me an amazing community of people and the opportunity to go live and work in these local communities. You cannot learn about the world in a classroom, we learned through interactions with our host families, through readings and seminars, through discussions with each other at anytime of day, through random adventures, and through questioning what we saw around us. If you get the chance to do TBB, take on the challenge and just do it, you won't regret it.

Thinking Beyond Borders is an amazing program. I grew so much on my year with them, both intellectually and emotionally. The homestays allow you to make deep connections with local communities and literally make families all over the world. Travelling with a small group of students is a lot of fun, and you always have a support system. Doing TBB was one of the best decisions I have ever made and I have no regrets. If in doubt, do it!!!!! You will have sooo much fun and grow so much. College will still be here when you get back.

All through high school, I researched and dreamt about taking a gap year, but it never seemed like something I would actually do. I enjoyed academic rigor and I was excited by the collegiate level of learning. However, as I struggled with the college admission process senior year, I finally realized that the opportunity to pause my education career and explore the world might not come again for a long time and there is no better way to expand your horizons and explore your passions and potential through immersion to new culture and ideas. Thinking Beyond Borders was one of two programs I strongly considered. Looking back at it now, it is by far the best decision I have made yet. TBB fosters an inmate learning community through seminar style learning, reflecting the global issues you are witnessing, living and working to understand how to fix in daily life. Everyday you will pull information and connections from field work in local organizations, group dynamics and excursions, meal times with host families, student exploration through communities and TBB's curriculum of seminar and literature. I explored ideas I had never thought about and delved into topics that I understood, but I came away with a more grounded and holistic perspective. Every student walks away with unique thoughts about our global world, but all share the same drive and determination to be effective agents of change in the future.

It's been over a year now since I graduated from Thinking Beyond Borders, but I am still an active member of my group's community, as well as the larger and bountiful TBB Alumni community. As I go through the typical ups and downs that life throws at us, I wonder how I could do it without TBB. Without learning what it meant to challenge my assumptions. Without the guidance of my TBB Program Leaders and Mentors, whom I am still in close contact with. Without learning what it meant to love radically--both others and myself. Sitting on my campus lawn, I still have moments when I realize that a lesson from TBB has finally kicked in. It takes a long time to process such an extraordinary experience, and it truly is a gift that keeps on giving. I am who I am today because of TBB. I am strong and loving and resilient and honest and humble and growing because of TBB and the people I met on it. This is not a trip for those who just want to "see the sights." This is a trip for those who want to learn radical love, vulnerability, humility, reflection (and also "see the sights").

It has taken me a couple of months after graduating from the Thinking Beyond Borders Global Gap Year program to begin to get an idea of how I could write this review. It's absolutely easy, and true, to say that this program is phenomenal. Every day, I question myself about what I'm doing in ways I probably wouldn't have learned without TBB, and I become a better person each day because of it. This program revolves not only around traveling, but is focused intently on personal growth and consciousness about the world around me. The main takeaway from TBB is that I feel like once I graduate college in a couple years, it will be easy to say "wow there were so many other colleges that maybe would have fit my values and learning style better" but looking back, I can honestly say I wouldn't want to go on any program other than Thinking Beyond Borders. It's an incredible program that will challenge you in every way possible- physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, religiously, but I now have a greater sense of who I am because every part of me was challenged. Also, with the different aspects of international development we studied, it absolutely changed my interests in the world and what my major will be in college. If someone had told me a year ago that I would want to major in environmental studies/sustainability and global issues, I probably would have laughed. The growth this program creates in each person that graduates from it is incredible, and I wish I could go on another gap year! If you have the chance to go on TBB, do it and don't look back. It's the best decision I ever made!

This trip was incredible on a lot of levels. I not only learned about myself but I learned about the world. I met so many incredible people and each place was so unique and special. I really want to keep up these connections from TBB and maybe visit these places again one day. I think that the organizations that we work with have really helped me grow and be aware of the issues from around the world. One thing I would change is to update the books and readings, sometimes they were very out-dated.