The Gap Year

Prologue

          Imagine the crowded streets of New York City and a young girl blissfully enthralled by the glory of the incredulous city lights. People by the thousands swarm around her as they go about their busy lives and, this girl, engrossed by the madness and amazement that is living on your own in the NYC for the first time, doesn’t even notice them. You know how in movies the small-town girl moves to the big city and as she walks down the crowded streets the camera zooms in on her as if she’s the only person in this vast metropolitan area and her eyes light up and you can see the reflection of the bright city lights in her eyes as if they’re reflecting off her own delight and enchantment? Well, that’s exactly how it was for me – Adelaide Adkinson.

         I’ll spare you the basics of my prior life as a suburban bumpkin living in the nothingness of Virginia until the age of 18. It actually wasn't all terrible despite the fact that I could never shake the nagging feeling that I didn't belong. Have you ever just felt so small that you can feel the whole world moving around you while you stand still? That's pretty much what I felt back in my hometown, and even more so in the landfill that was Rochester High, the unbelievably monotonous high school I attended for a droning four years. Our teachers at RHS thought it important to imbed in our minds the "importance of contributing to society." Well, I never understood how they expected anyone to contribute to society whilst living in such an incredibly dull and insignificant settlement.

        But this - the city, the people, the aura of a fresh new start - this was my chance to finally "contribute" as my former teachers would say. But to me, it was so much more than that. Fresh out of high school, taking a gap year before college, and moving to the The Big Apple, I was finally able to begin the life I had always imagined.