In the September of my gap year, I left school to take a semester-long outdoor leadership course run by the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in the region of South America called Patagonia. The concept of the course is to give students a chance to really develop both outdoor skills and life skills. The NOLS does an amazing job in designing their courses so that students get a full range of experiences from which they can learn many new things. We spent the first part of our semester obtaining our Wilderness First Responder certificates. This involved a 10-day, 80-hour, EMT taught course at the NOLS base camp in Patagonia. We learned many medical skills that all could be applied to everyday environments as well as the wilderness we were about to enter. After the first part of the semester, we set off on a 30-day sea expedition along the coast of the southern tip of Chile. During this expedition we learned a lot of useful skills for our future life. What excited me most was to see a large glacier  pouring right out into the sea. It was unlike anything I had ever seen, and the satisfaction of reaching such a remote place all with my own power was amazing. The next part of our semester was another 30-day expedition traveling through the Andes mountain range of southern Chile and Argentina. Again we learned many technical outdoor skills and some great life skills, such as how to be effective leaders and how to function as a single group. The highlight of this part was being able to ice climb on a glacier using anchors and ropes that we set up ourselves. The final part of the NOLS semester was a 10-day small group expedition. This was an opportunity for us to get into small groups of 4 or 5 and put all the skills we had developed over the course. We planned our own routes, prepared our own clothes and equipment, and  _ our plans without the help of instructors. It was a great sense of achievement to be out there on our own and ensure safety with our own knowledge. I really enjoyed my first experience of my gap year! We can learn from the next that the whole NOLS semester lasted   _  .
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