A “stopover” is a period of time between graduation from high school and the beginning of an university programme. This period of time can provide opportunities for personal development, professional advancement and experiences with other countries and cultures, just to name some possible options.
This paper presents a study of stopover experiences of three students in the Medical University of Varna, Bulgaria. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to discover and explore the experiences, motives, challenges, activities, and reflexions during the stopover year. Ten important themes from the stopover years were identified and analysed with qualitative research methods. Stopover years present opportunities for young people to invest in their personal development, to gain experiences for their future professional career and to prepare themselves in the best possible way for their university studies.
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