[nomadznu]

In Belgium (and other countries in Europe) there is a gap-year remuneration. It's a bit like the mini-retirements Stefan Sagmeister is talking about. They are meant for this sort of stuff.

Next to that there are several ways to do what you want to do: like studying abroad, volunteering. We're not saying what we did should be 'copied', we're saying 'figure out what you want, and find a way to do it' A way that fits you.

And that's not the other thing mentioned on the comments.