Program Reviews

Winterline provides a variety of experiences that no other program can.

If you're like I was when you were looking for a gap year program you probably don't really know what you want. Do you want to spend time outdoors? Do you want to go to a design school? Do you want to visit countries to learn more about their culture?

There is no other program like Winterline because Winterline's goal as a program is to make it so you don't have to choose any one focus for your year. Other programs I've seen provide things like cultural studies, or outdoor survival or technology design, but never a combination of them.

Winterline has the right idea because you shouldn't have to choose. A gap year is all about exploring as a means to learn more about yourself right?

Winterline is different from the rest because of what I call the 'sheer variety' of experiences. You actually do something different every two weeks. You are constantly learning new things. Every time I found myself not liking a part of the program, we would shortly take off to go somewhere else. With no other program will you find yourself learning about everything from eastern medicine to robotics to scuba diving to outdoor survival to how plants grow to hotel/restaurant work to...the list is nearly endless. You won't find anyone in the world other than a Winterline student who can say they've done all of these within one year.

Whatever negative comments you might see about Winterline know this: If you want to do as many different things as you possibly can within your year, Winterline is beyond any doubt your best choice.

Some Advice:
-Expect Nothing. Winterline is a new company, and its still changing (always for the better) every year. No one can tell you what your Winterline experience will be like, because (as of now) no-one has yet done what you're signing up for. Right now, it's a work in progress headed in the right direction. There will times when you were hoping and even expecting something and it won't go down the way you thought--that's life. Some moments will be miserable, some will be just ok, but others will the best thing you've ever done. Those are the moments that make it all worth it.

I am giving myself the time to understand what this gap year meant for me. Maybe I will never grasp the whole effect it had. Maybe it will keep on shaping me ten years down the road. When we read, hear, write things, the circumstances and our context changes the way we perceive them. Similarly, these factors mold the way we understand events.

It is no secret that our society has been in a constant state of change. Things move, they develop. However, for some reason we keep on creating a discussion on how "drastic" and "never seen before" our present is. Nevertheless, I have noticed that as a person from the millennial generation, I have come across a feeling of dissatisfaction. And it is a feeling that is shared amongst my peers. We don't want to walk on existent paths anymore. We are now more decided to follow our dreams, more determine to change the lifestyles that exist. When I was trying to comprehend where this feeling was coming from, I stumbled upon one of Gillian Flynn’s quotes and her words hit me like a rock:

“We [are] the first human beings who would never see anything for the first time. We stare at the wonders of the world, dull-eyed, underwhelmed. Mona Lisa, the Pyramids, the Empire State Building. Jungle animals on attack, ancient icebergs collapsing, volcanoes erupting. I can't recall a single amazing thing I have seen firsthand that I didn't immediately reference to a movie or TV show. You know the awful singsong of the blasé: Seeeen it. I've literally seen it all…”

I understood in that moment that I had to change the way I was looking this world.

As a Winterline student we were all taught that we shouldn't be tourists, we should be “travellers”. With confused eyes, we all stared at each other wondering what did that even mean. We payed more attention in some places and less in others. We pushed our boundaries. There were highs and lows. We felt ashamed when we didn’t get out of our comfort zones and awful when we did. We learned how to see things for the first time. The funny thing, is that for many of us, it was indeed the first time.

We come from a generation of bucket lists and pretty instagram filters.
We go out, snap.
We look good, snap.
We meet someone, snap.
At some point in Winterline we had to learn how to be present; how to be mindful.

Maybe Winterline didn’t show me the entire world. Maybe Winterline didn’t teach me everything there is to know. But Winterline showed me it was possible to create my own path and Winterline encouraged me to go out and construct my own reality.

Winterline might as well have been the newest edition to MTV's "Real World" series; one the could literally be titled "Real World: The World". Emotions ran high, credit card funds ran low, and love was in the air.

Still to this day, roughly 2-3 weeks after my gap year ended, I reminisce and think "There's no way that happened. There is NO WAY that any of that ACTUALLY happened"!
I never spent $20 on a video of myself bungee jumping from a cable car in Costa Rica, 500ft in the air, screaming notes so high and loud, they probably couldn't even be quantified by decibels.
I never ate chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 10 days straight in a small village in India, because I couldn't bare to swallow another grain of rice.

None of it felt real.

And yet, it is the realest and most genuine thing I have ever done in my 18 years of life. The experience was so valuable, and so fresh, it almost feels like the ONLY thing I have ever done in my 18 years of life.

I came into this program on a pedestal I had chiseled for myself- thinking I was above it all; thinking it was so cool and mature to not care about anyone or anything, and I learned really quickly that that is not a way to function. Apathy isn't cool. Apathy sucks, especially for the person constantly dishing it out. And yeah, I'm still young, still making mistakes, and still learning. But, I've finally gotten grasp on how to question the things around me and question the things inside of me.

And notice how I haven't mentioned once what the program's mission even is...because this program is so much more than that. It is so much more than just a "skill based program to teach young adults 100 skills, in 10 countries, over the course of 9 months".

It is a vessel for the ultimate sense of cultural immersion, the ultimate chance to be introspective, the ultimate way to travel, the ultimate way to figure out who you are and every facet of yourself-to get a closer glimpse at the imprint that you want to make in this world.

Now, I can get all oozy-gooey and say how omg i've changed blah blah blah my parents don't even recognize me blah blah blah i love myself now blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, but we all know that's gross.

So take it from me, a person who thinks that emotions and sappiness are creepy and who finds it all too easy to fervently despise people, places, and things.

I am so grateful for Winterline and find it hard to even sarcastically roll my eyes at the gap year experience they provided me.

Take the title as you will. This was undoubtedly the most difficult, pivotal and confusing year of my life, and it doesn't stop once the trip ends. This trip will take you to your highest of highs, and your lowest of lows. If you are wanting to take a gap year to have a break from life for a while, I recommend you check out another program because this was just the opposite.
You will travel to expensive beautiful countries and eat amazing food, and then the next month you may be sleeping under a tarp in the jungle digging into your 5th day of rice and beans. This trip was not easy, but if I had the chance to go again I would 100% go again without a second thought. Unfortunately I have university to attend so I will give that chance to you - do it.

If you're looking for a vacation that allows you to see beautiful cities and cultures other than your own, If you're looking to take a year off so you can cross off the countries on your bucket list, if you're looking for a break from the real world - Winterline is not for you.

Because you will see beautiful cities and cultures, but you will not be on vacation. And you will see places you've never been and always dreamed of, but you'll realize it's so much more than a "check off your bucket list". And though it may feel like a break from YOUR world, you'll see the real world is actually right in front of you. And you will move through it with your mentors (FA's) and cohorts, thinking "What the heck did I get myself into?"

It will be the most challenging and exhausting year of your life, but in the most beautiful way. It will make you question yourself, the world, and how you fit into it. This question is important, because there is not a lot out there, in the familiarity and comfort of home, that encourages you to think this way. A way that challenges you to not just acknowledge other perspectives, but see through them. A way that challenges you to look deeply at yourself, and who you are.

I learned a lot of tangible skills, but I learned a lot more than that. I learned that I don't need a lot of stuff to be happy. I learned just how much I value relationships in my life and how to be a better communicator. I learned that I am an empathetic person, and I would not want to be any other way. I learned that thinking is hard, but if we stop thinking we stop changing, and that's the scariest thing of all.

In Bocas Del Toro, after we all passed our Scuba Diving Test, we went for a night dive. I'll never forget this. We dropped off the boat with our flashlights in hand. It was pitch-black. I've always been scared of the dark. Oliver and I turned on our flashlights, put on our masks, and sunk to the bottom. We swam for a little while, trying to get away from the rest of the group. A green lobster crawled it's way across the rocky ocean floor. We weaved through the sea together, occasionally looking over to make sure we were both alright. He shut his light off. I shut off mine. Oliver started waving his fingers and hands in an upward-down motion. The Caribbean lit up with bioluminescence, one of the most astounding things I had ever seen in my life. Something my GoPro couldn't capture, something I'll just have to remember for myself.

We continued to swim until we found a wide open space on the ocean floor. No rocks, just sand. Oliver motioned for me to sit down and somehow we both knew what we wanted to do. We shut off our lights once more, sat cross-legged in the sand, and closed our eyes. For a few minutes, we sat in silent mindfulness. And I knew in that moment that my life would never really be the same.