Spending two months in Italy, on a John Hall Venice course, has been the best part of my gap year, says Sophia Adams
I?m not sure where I heard about the John Hall Venice pre-university course.  I know that my mother had spent a few months in Italy, when she was a teenager, and I learnt more about her experience when I started making plans for my gap year in the autumn term of Upper Sixth at school.
The course became the central component of my gap year, around which all my other plans would revolve. Having decided to take some time off, I worked out a schedule: teaching in my prep school in the autumn term, the course with John Hall, then a cooking course and a trip to America in July and August, with driving lessons planned for later in the year. As it has turned out, John Hall has been my favourite part so far. Just imagine spending two months in Italy.
A Taste of Uni
John Hall is so much more than the lectures, although those are an exceptional component of it. One of the great things about the Venice weeks was that it was akin to how we thought university was going to be: very good lectures ? with some duffs ? and the freedom to do what we wanted in the evening, like stay in, and watch Twilight, or go to Campo Santa Margherita, a favourite of Venetian students, and enjoy a drink. This gives you certain responsibilities: yes, I?m going to go to this lecture on Marco Polo, or, no: I?m not going to go to this lecture on the ecology of the Venetian palaces.
Extend...