This blog was written by Gap Year Fellow Nathan Martin.
Since the first grade, reading Magic Tree House Books (Mary Pope Osborne, the writer, graduated from UNC), the enthralling sense of travel took hold of me; it spurred my interest in mythology of all kinds and of international history. When I first thought about college, I didn’t think anything about the rest of the world, only what life would’ve been within the confines of the Chapel Hill area. Then I was presented with the Gap Year opportunity, which reminded me of the decision I made in Middle School to choose an alternative path for my high school education (an early college route), something that not many did because it was so different. So I applied out of curiosity and a want to travel the world. One thing led to another, I met the amazingly incredible staff of the GGYF Office and the Campus Y and finally I arrived at the conclusion that I would take a gap year to finally live the dream I’d held for so long.
It is a strange feeling not going back to school at the end of August, startlingly similar to Covid’s school year, (strange days indeed). But this time I am not locked inside my home but rather leaving, destination across the Atlantic, in Pavia, Portugal. It would not be incorrect to say that I don’t know what I am getting myself into, but at the same time I’ve done enough research in preparation for this trip that I know how to help myself along. Before this year, Europe was this far away land that I would only get to see through screens and pictures, but now, I would be standing on it, breathing it in.
To everyone that I leave in the States, I will sorely miss you all. Your support with my endeavor has been nothing short of mesmerizing. I can’t wait to send a hundred pictures and peak vicariously at what you’re all up to. It has been painful to leave you all on this journey, but when I get back we can all trade stories until we’re blue in the face! I kid, but really I can’t wait to find out where we all end up next year. Until then however… Forever and always yours,
Nathan R. Martin
P.S. Here’s a poem just for you!
Billowing is a Fact of Life-
Where is it, in both life and thought,
That we do not dance in the wind?
How do we fight against disorder,
but welcome a happy surprise?
Are we not all folding on ourselves?
Do we not have our faults written in our hypocritical words?
If this is not you, are you lying to me?
Do you truly believe that we are all not simply leaves, blowing merrily,
flapping on a stream of air?
I am watching, listening, praying the past will push a great blast toward me, t
hen I will be undone from my tangled perch.
It may be a while or not even at all, but I can wait.
Its tightening grip on my skeleton concerns me greatly,
but billowing is only a fact of life.