I am in my 9th month of being on a gap year program at the ripe age of 28. The people that I have called family for the last 8 months are all between the ages of 18-21. 32 of them to be exact. Getting to do a gap year in your late 20’s is a lot better than one might imagine. I have learned a lot of valuable lessons that I am not sure if I would have if I didn’t say yes to doing this journey with them. Here are a few things that I have learned from living and being on a gap year.
1- Yeet is a universal word to determine whether something is really great or in some cases the extreme opposite.
My vocabulary has gotten richer since leaving the US last September. One of those words that have expanded my vocabulary is “yeet”. When properly used it can signify great emotion. This word is usually accompanied with a dab.( I will explain the importance of a dab later on.)
Here is an example of using the word yeet in extreme excitement quoted by a real gap year participant Abby Moore “This bus has WiFi. YEET.”
Here are a few more words/phrases that deserve and honorable mention:
Dope Cookies
#lit (You pronounce the hashtag)
Litsauce
YAHHHHHHHHHH
Thick with 3 c’s
All the things
Anything with the word dope in front of it (disclaimer it’s not about drugs)
2- Spotify is gold.
While traveling and being disconnected from your own culture outside of scrolling on social media and calls back home you tend to miss out on all of the new music. But don’t fear spotify is here. I have now realized the importance of spotify and how it can enhance your life and random dance parties.
3- The proper response to anything shocking or exciting is OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH (The pitch of your voice goes up as you hold out the oh)
This is an important one. Kind of like the word Yeet saying oh with inflections lets others know how you are feeling about something. The expression in the inflection is key.
4- Dabs are a way of life
It’s more than a dance. It’s an expression.
The proper technique for the dab is pretending you are sneezing into the bend in your arm opposite your elbow and throwing the other hand up to protect the pretend drink you are holding. Once you have mastered the basic form you and switch it up and add other movements to it.
As you can tell expressing yourself is really important around here.
And the last one for now and probably the most important one so far….
5- Always say yes to Nutella
I have always been a lover of Nutella, but it wasn’t until we spent two months in Eastern Europe to realize Nutella makes everything better.
Bananas. Better with Nutella.
Crepes. Better with Nutella.
Pancakes. Better with Nutella.
Processing all the things in your life? Better with Nutella.
Just hungry. Nutella makes it better.
Yes, I have learned many things from the gap racers this year. More than I could ever type out, but these 5 things are ones that made these 9 months full of fun and joy.
