One of the best ways to learn is to discover through first-hand experiences and if you can combine travelling with education then you’ll really be able to get under the skin of a subject without having to step foot inside a lecture theatre or classroom.
Taking a gap year to prepare yourself before university or even travelling during the summer or half term breaks are all excellent means of immersing yourself in a different country’s heritage and culture.
Keeping your brain active and developing during a break from studies is exactly what you need to be doing to strengthen and nurture your intelligence and the chances are that lessons will become a lot more enjoyable if you have the freedom to discover under your own steam.
Below are five subjects that can easily be learned away from home and the chances to undertake a cross-curricular trip for example, visiting Italy to blend languages with history and classics, present no end of options for the student traveller.
Geography
Glaciers, melt-water lakes and shifting tectonics are incredibly exciting when experienced away from a text book and if you want to bring the world of geography to life then choose your area of study and head for the most relevant location. Imagine learning about what causes earthquakes in San Francisco or visiting the French Alps to find out more about ice fields. This is a fascinating and thoroughly absorbing subject that really needs to be touched and experienced first-hand to really get to grips with what it means to the world today.
Classics
Not all destinations can claim to be the Cradle of the World or the birthplace of the Messiah however, Greece, Turkey and Italy can certainly offer up some amazing classics tours that will have you reaching for your copy of Homer’s Iliad in no time at all. There’s nothing worse than listening to a lecturer droning on about dates and figures that have little or no meaning. What you really need to do to learn about subject, such as classics, is to be proactive and visit Athens and Rome for yourself and walk where the legends and myths were originally created.
Languages
No matter which language your proposing to study, visiting the country of origin will no doubt give you an excellent insight into the food, the people and the weather which have all combined to create the words and dialects that you’ll find today. What could be better than learning Mandarin on the streets of Beijing or a trip to Berlin to study German? Want more? Alternatives such as visiting Montreal to learn French or going on Latin America tours to learn Spanish are excellent ideas if you fancy travelling further afield.
Science
Rainforests, glaciers and underwater worlds are all awaiting the savvy student and if you’re hoping to get onto a science course then you won’t go far wrong if you can add a trip to the Amazon on your CV. As we all know, science is everywhere but sometimes it takes a little bit of creativity and thought to bring it to life. Studying biology at a volunteer centre in Costa Rica or learning about geothermal activity in Finland are simply amazing opportunities for wannabe scientists so why wait for your lecturer to suggest a tour? Get out there now and start adding to your knowledge base before you start life in the university laboratories.
History
Depending which era interests you the most may well determine where you intend to visit on an educational gap year. For starters, WWII battlefields in Normandy are incredibly poignant as are the beaches where the Allies landed in June 1944. How about American history on the east coast where the Boston history trail will no doubt bring the American Civil War into stark reality. Ancient ruins in Rome or medieval castles in Spain, whichever country you want to travel to, finding out more about the history and the heritage will not only advance your learning it will increase the amount of enjoyment that you get from your travels too.
