<p>I thought the parents (or anyone else viewing this) could give some input or examples on what I could do after graduation...</p>
<p>I am graduating next December with a degree in history and plan to start law school in the following Fall. This leaves me 8 months in between and I'm not sure what to do with this time.</p>
<p>I want to do something exotic. Something I will never get to do again....but I hope to end up in one piece.</p>
<p>Suggestions? Study abroad? Work abroad? Travel? What is there to do?</p>
<p>Well, since you asked parents - who's paying for law school? Who do you expect to support you while you're in law school? For the 8 months you're out of school? </p>
<p>All of which comes down to the basic suggestion: Get a job, and save some money.</p>
<p>A job will also give you health insurance. You may not qualify for student health insurance upon graduation & will need to check with your parents about coverage on their policy as well.</p>
<p>I agree that a lot depends on what your parents suggest & who is paying for law school, which these days is a very expensive proposition, including three more years before you enter the workforce & support yourself PLUS incurring tuition, room & board. If you want to be exotic, try getting a job in a different area of the country, being a substitute teacher in an inner city school, or even in a different part of town from where you usually spend your time. It can be a very eye-opening experience.</p>
<p>If money is no object, the world is your oyster. Are you independently wealthy, or will your parents be picking up the tab without reservation? Could they use any help on your part to pay for law school? If not, you are a lucky lucky young person- enjoy. </p>
<p>You need to clarify that first, though, or most parents here will probably tell you to get a job (I would if it were my son).</p>
<p>But are their programs or opportunities to get a job "someplace exotic"? I was very lucky to get a Youthgrant from the now defunct National Endowment for the Humanities which covered a gap year between college and grad school. I travelled around the country photographing firestations. The experience was worth every penny I didn't make.</p>
<p>Money isn't much of an issue. I'll be able to graduate ugrad w/o debt and my parents have enough saved up for law school. But I'd definitely take a job if it were "cool" enough.</p>
<p>Any internship or study programs you'd recommend?</p>
<p>Your current college should be a good resource to start. You've not said what exactly you're interested in doing. Exotic is pretty vague. Can you be more specific?</p>
<p>I know quite a few people who have done/or are working with this organization See the World!
I particulary recommend it for people that expect their parents to pay for their professional degree ;)</p>
<p>Travel. No question about it. Go absorb as much of the world as you can. You'll have plenty of time to work in the years ahead, and you'll be studying your brains out in law school. Assuming you've already been accepted into law school, (so you're not looking for a program that looks good on your app), look for low-budget (i.e. youth hostels, etc.) means for you to see Europe, Asia, or other places that have always intrigued you. Go see the places that you've earned your history degree studying.</p>
<p>A friend's son is in Phuket, living on $2.50/day for food & about $200/month rent. He's getting certified in scuba diving & having a wonderful & relatively inexpensive time. His folks are paying for his Cobra insurance, so he remains covered in case he has any medical problems. My niece did a term abroad as in a solicitor's office in London. My dad loves seeing the different judicial systems wherever he travels. Hosteling is a good way to travel if you are in excellent health and an adventurous soul. Travel is very broadening, if you can afford it and truly don't need to earn any $$$ toward your law school.</p>
<p>some things ive considered:
- i would love to travel (Europe and Asia), but i don't know anyone who's interested in going with me. i don't want to go to a strange place alone. if there's a group of strangers to travel with, then i'd go too.
- i considered peace corps, but the commitment is too long.
- i was thinking about studying abroad to learn a new language. i might take one semester of japanese right before i graduate, but most programs in Japan seem to require more training than that. and the applications are due several months ahead and require rec letters (which I would not be able to get from a Japanese lang teacher until it's too late).
- i am fluent in Mandarin. Working in China is an option, esp on an American salary. I would love to travel there too.
- i looked into random internships. The CIA has a 6-mo. long internships, but I have no intention of joining the clandestine service.</p>
<p>I'm definitely with astrophysicsmom. Since money is no object, take advantage of the opportunity and just travel. You have the rest of your life to work.</p>
<p>Young adults come from all over the world to volunteer on a kibbutz in Israel; if it's also an Ulpan program they'll teach you the language. And/or you can sign on to volunteer on the back of an ambulance with Magen David Adom (Red Star of David) which is now part of the International Red Cross, finally.
For the ambulance work you don't need to know Hebrew because the drivers speak a second language, so if the driver speaks (for example) English, his ambulance volunteers are from English speaking countries. If French, then French...
They'll train you there first. Basically you help carry things to the paramedics, so you don't have to worry that you'll do anyone any harm.
There are also volunteers going over there to rebuild Israeli villages in the northern part of the country that were shelled by katyusha rockets last summer.
You'd be in a democratic nation where people speak English, politics is alive and discussed constantly. You don't have to be Jewish.</p>
<p>Are you sure you don't want to go to a strange place alone? I learned alot from travels alone. You meet more people on the road that way. As a young women (who always looked a good three years younger than I was,) I had a few experience my parents would probably rather not have known about, but I ended up unscathed. I admit, I haven't done much travel on my own in either Africa or Asian, having seen both of those continents with my parents.</p>
<p>I had a similar problem this year. One more year at home with my teens before going back to work. I thought and thought about what I really wanted to do. I think I came to the realization that it's relationships in life that are most important, but that doing things is better than just sitting around talking about things with your family and friends. So to get the best of both worlds you need to DO something productive with a group of people with whom you can form a bond. Only you know what you would like to do and with what kind of people you think you could form a bond. Some suggestions though - camp counselor, Habitat for Humanity, archaeological dig. Look for things you have training for or that don't require much training and things that involve a group of people working together.</p>