Keagan’s World

So I made a last second audible to break up my Keagans World 101 into two separate posts. I didn’t realize how much I wanted to cover so this hopefully makes this a little more manageable to find the stuff you actually want to read about particularly if you already know me pretty well.

While the last post is just about me, this post gives you insight into the spontaneous decision to be a kid for another year before I sell my soul to a job! You’ll find explanations behind the following three things:

1. What’s up with the gap year?
2. Why Argentina/South America?
3. Why blog?

I hope you like it and remember to take a peek at the question and give a quick response 🙂

What’s up with the gap year?

Alright it’s time to rescue you from the cliff I hung you out on yesterday with my gap year. As a reminder, a gap year wasn’t even on my radar until the idea was presented to me with two weeks to decide. Pretty wild turnaround. So how’d I take the leap of faith? There’s 3 big reasons I decided the gap year was right for me.

1. Study abroad was an unchecked bucket list item
2. It was funded!
3. Mannn, I’m 22

Study abroad was an unchecked bucket list item

I didn’t really travel growing up thanks to our status as a hockey family which meant the sport monopolized… well… every second of every day (Not sure how you dealt with our schedules so thanks Mom and Dad!). As a result, seeing the world was a huge desire of mine, and I determined I was going to live/study abroad before I finished college. But then came the Covid train.

Ha! Bet ya thought you weren’t gonna hear about how Covid messed things up after an impeccable feat of not mentioning it in my 4-year recap. Well here it is!

Even though the US had pretty much erased restrictions heading into early 2022, much of the world still hadn’t. Engineering study abroad options are already pretty slim and with a number of countries not allowing foreign exchange students, I had like two options. Still had options though!

I chose Madrid.

This would prove to be a mistake.

What I hadn’t known prior to selection, but learned in the days leading up to getting my passport was that Spain was being extremely difficult with visa applications. They were releasing virtually no visa appointments (needed to start the visa application process and study abroad), they were releasing them at ungodly hours of the night with zero prior heads up, and they posted a very ambiguous turnaround time window.

I got saddled with issue #3.

The turnaround time was how long it took them to send your visa after the appointment had happened. While many countries had 2 weeks at the time, Spain was only offering 3-6 weeks… and as luck would have it, my required timeline fell smack in the middle.

I reached out to my host university to see if they could offer me an online alternative for the first week or two until my visa was obtained, but they came back with a firm no. Begrudgingly, I accepted their response and canceled/transferred my appointment to a friend who hadn’t gotten one yet and whose program started later (you’re welcome Karina).

As it turned out, the guy who told me no was full of it, and they ended up letting people go virtual until they got their visas. So that was a bummer. But hey… what can ya do?

Fast forward to March 2023, and I saw this gap year as a second chance – arguably a better chance since I have full autonomy over where I go and how I spend my time. Pretty wild.

It was funded!

My future employer (*disclaimer: I do not represent myself as an employee of their company per my signed agreement*), offered us a generous stipend to do it.

Why would a company pay people to take a year off? This article explains it a bit but essentially work is slow due to uncertain economic conditions so they have too many salaries on payroll. Truthfully, I’m not too concerned about the reasoning and more just happy I get to benefit from it!

Coming out of school with $50k in debt, spending the money required to make the most of a gap year wouldn’t have been something I could stomach without financial compensation. However, as long as I could keep my debt from growing while having this once-in-a-lifetime experience, it seemed like a no-brainer. I’ve still been doing fun side jobs in the meantime including working at a country club, reffing hockey, and substitute teaching. If you have questions or want me to expand on those things shoot me a note 🙂

Bottom line: It isn’t costing me anything to do it.

Mannnn, I’m 22

Really, this was the biggest thing and usually what I lead off with when someone asks me why.

I’m 22. Twenty-freaking-two.

I still have fresh joints, lots of energy, nothing tying me down. The next time I’ll have a block of zero structure and unlimited freedom will be when I’m old, bald, cranky, and limited by the deterioration of my body. When you think of it that way the real question is why not?

I don’t want to wake up one day years down the line and say “Man… I wish I had done ______”. I don’t want to live with regrets. Again, this is my “ah, screw it” year, but in reality I want it to be my life rather than just a year.

Why Argentina/South America?

So in case the above section and the mere existence of this travel blog didn’t cue you in yet, I’m traveling for my gap year! Alone.

For 4 months.

On another continent.

Now before I get into what that means and how I came to that decision, here’s a mini-version of my itinerary so it’s easier to follow along.

Location	Dates
Buenos Aires, Argentina	January 6 – April 5th
Torres Del Paine (Patagonia), Chile	April 5th – April 12th
Santiago	April 12th & April 18th
Easter Island	April 12th – April 17th
Cusco/Machu Picchu	April 18th – April 26th
Cartagena	April 26th – April 30th
Medellín	April 30th – May 6th

You’ll notice that the first 3 months of my trip are being spent in Argentina while the final month is a whirlwind around the continent. That’s because I broke my trip up into two parts: (1) Cultural immersion and (2) Exploration.

The cultural immersion is set up for me to get a study abroad-like experience where I become a part of the local lifestyle while staying with a host family in the city. To further accentuate my immersion, I will be taking Spanish classes at Vamos Academy 20 hrs/wk.

The exploration is just as it sounds: exploring the continent and making the most of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

Inspirations for Cultural Immersion in Argentina

Just like studying abroad, I told myself back in high school that I would be able to speak Spanish at full fluency one day. And just like study abroad, my goals came up short when Covid came and took the fun out of learning language (online classes). But before I gave up my pursuit of a minor, I had already been learning Spanish for 7 years so my foundation is pretty strong.

Every time I’ve come across someone who learned to speak with full proficiency, they always say the same thing: “you just have to go there and hop in the deep end”. There’s something about the pure struggle of not being able to communicate that forces you to learn quickly for your own sake. I know there will be moments of frustration and pain particularly early on, but it will be worth it.

For those of you who know a bit more about Spanish language influences, you may be wondering why the heck I’d pick Argentina given their wicked accent and Portuguese influence on the language that makes it hard for even some Spanish speakers to understand. Truthfully, it’s a learning curve I’m just going to have to work through.

When I picked my spot for the program, I had a specific process. I prioritized finding a highly-rated reputable program that I was fully confident would give me exactly what I was looking for. I searched across 6 countries and came up with 40+ candidate programs with reasonable enough online presence to consider. From there I made an extensive list of criteria I wanted to get out of my experience before diving into each candidate including accommodation options, learning format, location, etc. I dug my final whittled down spreadsheet here if you’d like to see (it’s not pretty).

I was able to quickly whittle my options down to 9 possible places before even digging into what came with each program. From there I set up calls with program advisors to learn more. At the end of the day, Buenos Aires’s programs seemed to far surpass even the best elsewhere in terms of what I wanted.

And hey, now I get to have a wicked accent so not even other Spanish speakers can eavesdrop on my conversations on the bus but I can eavesdrop on them 😉

The Second Leg

Once I’ve developed enough as a Spanish speaker it’s time to leave the nest! I will be taking my newly found Spanish skills, culture, and memories on a trek up the West Coast starting with Chile.

What I’ll be doing in Chile

What I’ll be doing in Peru

What I’ll be doing in Colombia

Why blog?

Honestly, this is the easiest part

(1) I needed a cool, fun way to document my trip and this fit the bill

(3) Keeps my brain fresh. Might even build a personal website/blog when I get back if this goes well!

(4) Luke mentioned the idea when asking how he could keep up with my travels. Figured it would be the best way to keep everyone in my life up-to-date even when I’m busy. Plus Mom and Dad know I’m still alive this way (stole that line from you Meg)!

Bottom-Line

This whole thing is surreal. 19 days. I’m gone.

When I tell people about my plans, the thing that always gets them is the fact that I am doing this 100% alone. I am not meeting any friends. No one is waiting there for me.

It’s just me, 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) away from home. Me and this blog.

I will laugh.

I will cry.

I will change in a thousand ways.

This is an experience of a lifetime.