I am taking a gap year this year before starting college. 
I wanted to take a break before graduate school, but I chose not to
I wanted to use the year to clear my head and use the time to figure out what I really wanted to study. 
Yeah people do lots of activities. like travel, work, internships, language studies, etc
Thats exactly my plan, I already know how to speak Spanish so I want to go over to Spain to be apart of the culture.  
You are not alone though, in 2016, even Obama's daughter Malia announced her plan for a gap year
I saw that, I think you have to apart of a good family that will support you through this time though. I wish more kids could do this. 
Yeah sometimes it can be good to get time to mature and get a better outlook so you can go in with a better vision, but some people do not approve of that
I think it is way more common in Europe to do this rather than America.
H. Bull in the United States to allow students more time for individual growth. Cornelius saw that students needed a bridge between high school and college that would help develop more hands-on skills. To do this, he founded the Center for Interim Programs in 1980 which had goals of increasing self-awareness and developing new cultural perspectives.
By country.
By country Australia and New Zealand.
Australians and New Zealanders have a tradition of travelling overseas independently at a young age. In New Zealand this is known as "
-time position as artistic director and choreographer of dance company Kulture Break in Canberra. He represented Kulture Break in overseas performances, including the United States, China and Singapore. Timomatic finished Year 12 at Narrabundah College and then spent six months at University of Canberra before dropping out. In 2008, he attended music school JMC Academy for a year and got a diploma in Entertainment, majoring in vocal training. Omaji stated: "I did this because I wanted to get my vocals and music up to scratch; that was me