Every student I know has come across this at one point or another. It's the nature of the beast, especially in your first couple of years... At this age and with university throwing the whole concept of self-motivation right in your lap without any real preparation, I think it's inevitable.
I took a semester off after 3.5 years and it was the best thing I could have possibly done. I tell every single one of my friends, regardless of how close or far away they are from graduation that there really is no downside to taking a break and recharging. I mean really, what is 4 or 6 months in the grand scheme of things? Will you really curse yourself if you graduate in December of '08 rather than May of '08 when you have 50 years of work in front of you?
It really is the only period of your life when a person is able to do such a thing, just pack up and take off for a while, putting all the responsibilities of home aside for a period of time. And not only will it help you get your head around what you want to do career-wise, a lot of other things will also be put into perspective with travel. You really do learn a lot about who you are as a person, what you are capable of, where you want to be headed, what is important to you etc etc.
So go do it, definately.
The obvious destination of choice for most students is Europe as there is something for everyone there, it's easy to get around, you can survive quite nicely with a minimum of language skills (and I mean bare minimum), there are a million hostels in every city you can think of which are affordable, you'll meet tonnes of people who are exactly like you... there are countless great reasons to go backpacking there.
Whether or not to go by yourself is a tough question. It really depends on the person.. I went by myself and couldn't imagine having done it any other way... When you are solo you really can do whatever the hell you want, whenever th hell you want, without having to worry about a clash of interests or having to compromise with anyone else's plans. I think there are certain situations in which going with other people would be the way to go- If you were looking more to just party and and rock out I'd imagine going with a few people would be awesome as well... It depends on what you want to get out of it... My problem with travelling with people is that if you always have a safety net of someone familiar with you, one of the two inevitably ends up being totally reliant on the other... and I don't think either could truly immerse themselves in the experience in a siuation like that. People I know who did the group travel thing havn't seemed to have taken away the same kinds of things as me or people I know who have gone solo... But thats just my opinion.
One thing I will say is don't not go because you're afraid you won't be able to hack it solo. I was petrified prior to leaving that I didn't have to social skills or self-reliance needed to survive such a trip, but I was totally off. It was a breeze, and the best time of my life.
The price tag of a trip to Europe varies.. I came across people who were scraping by, sticking to a daily budget militaristically, wouldn't eat if they had spent their daily budget before dinner (which seemed slightly excessive) so they could do it for literally close to nothing. Mine worked out to be under 9 grand all in for 6 months (plane tickets, 4 month rail pass, food, lodging, everything) but I am sure you could do it for cheaper.
If you do go to Europe.. Go to as many different places and experience as many different cultures as you can... I think I went to 17 different countries and each new country I arrived in became my new favorite place - to this day I find it impossible to distinguish a place I enjoyed most.. They are all so different.
Oh.. And for hostels... I found (2 years ago) they are generally around 15-25 Euros in the popular Western countries... and in the East I never paid more than 15/night. Go to hostelworld.com and have a look around.. Its a great site and I used it almost constantly.
Yikes that was a novel of a post.. but I can't stress enough how great of an experience it is!
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