Explore the Cultures of Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador

If I hadn't taken this chance of a gap year, I would never have had this amazing opportunity with an amazing group of people. The three months we were abroad was incredible and I wouldn't trade Youth International with any other program. I had the time of my life getting to know new people and experiencing new cultures!

Youth International was awesome. They were organized, and the trip leaders knew the itinerary inside out and backwards. They had a perfect balance between free-days and planned days.

My goals were to experience a foreign culture, to gain insight into my own person, and to see things that I would never be able to see otherwise (like Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands). My hopes were all met. The leaders were incredible, the places were breathtaking, and the excursions were challenging.

One of my favourite activities daily excursions was a hike up Tunari mountain in Bolivia. It was hard work, seeing as we were hiking a mountain, but it was one of the best days of the three months. Euphoric doesn't begin to describe it. And they kept us working out, and we hiked up to various landmarks, in nearly every town/city we visited (Christos and Condor's like noone's business). And when it came to hiking Machu Picchu, we were almost totally acclimatized. Experiences like that are so much easier to enjoy when you're not begging and heaving for a break.

As for the leaders, they had our back. Every step of the way. Our health and safety was so important.

And as for the volunteering, it wasn't us putting up a house and then the workers coming back later that night to tear it down and rebuild it. The construction supervisors made sure that we were doing it right. And if we weren't doing it right, they made us redo it. I am now very skilled at laying concrete.

This was two years ago for me now. I grew more than I realized over the three months. I wish I could go again. I saw so many things, encountered so many different people, learned so much. Learned about the world, learned about myself.

I participated in Youth International's South America Volunteer trip directly after I graduated from high school. My fellow participants were mostly around my age, 18-24, and were from parts of the USA, Canada, and Europe. It is because of Youth International that I fell in love with the world, learned to work with every type of person, and developed a compassion for disadvantaged communities. Although I have studied, worked, and volunteered with many other programs, Youth International was the most profound. I am still best friends with some of the participants and I have visited them and other travelers I met during the program all over the world. I will always recommend people to participate with Youth International. If you have never stepped foot out of your country or are an experienced traveller, it makes no difference. You will love your months with Youth Internationals and leave wishing you could stay.