A parent's review

A gap year for a parent can mean one of two things, firstly it could be a bank balance sucking mechanism where your darling parties around the world spending your money and coming back with limited life experience or alcohol poisoning, on the other hand, it could be a life changing experience whose value is worth many times more than the currency you paid for it.

Our daughter Hannah chose Aardvark and the indelible mark it has left on her could not be paid for in hard currency. Like everything in life, you are given opportunities, how you choose to utilize them is up to you. The Aardvark programme gives the young people some structure, but freedom as well, what they choose to do with the freedom is up to them and they sometimes don’t realise the impact that it has on others. You can choose to go to your Internship, but should you miss regularly it will have an impact when Aardvark approaches the companies to take on interns again, as well as, the opportunity to learn about a potential career choice. If you want to skip the Hebrew classes your ability to integrate with the society will be compromised. There is no one telling you to get up in the morning and make your bed or eat, if you party hard the night before (you are a young adult) that decision is yours, if you are legally allowed to drink there is no one to tell you not to overdo it, however if you choose to follow the system you will definitely grow.

You will experience the culture and the peoples and the food and pretty much everything else Israel has to offer, if you choose to go on one or more of the add on trips, you will get an opportunity to meet people and see places that you would otherwise never get. You will learn what it is like to live with at least 4 other people who may be very different to you, you will learn about conflict resolution, you will learn to compromise, you may even learn what your limits are and how to push them, and all the while have an awesome, fun, raving time. You will meet people from all around the world, and you will learn what it is like for a short period of time to live in the amazing land of Israel.

As a parent if you are looking for a gap year for your young adult to grow or grow up in, then I highly recommend Shay-El, Idan and the team at Aardvark. Warning; you may just lose your child to the beautiful land of Israel.