The age old question of whether to take a year off in between school & university or between university and your career has often been a question of time to travel vs work experience. But now it seems that there are a few alternatives that mean you can do both.
After searching through the options, it appears that there are 3 really great contenders. Charity/Volunteer Work, Internships, & Foreign Language Courses.
option 1:volunteering or working for a charity
The first option is to get involved with some kind of charity or volunteer work. This may be anything from working at an elephant rehabilitation centre in Africa to helping children learn to read in Ecuador.
Almost all experiences are comparatively adventurous and frequently involve visiting off the beaten track places. The secret to successfully choose a program depends on the effort you're willing to take to locate the smaller organisations vs exactly how much you are prepared to pay.
Large companies like GVI offer many varied packages to interesting places all over the & can be a great option if you want an easy way to get on board a program. Nevertheless you will often pay your fair share for the placement. Going through such large organizations can mean the money does not always stay with the project entirely and you can end up spending large amounts of money to live in a place that should be super cheap.
An alternative is to search for small grassroots projects where the money stays with the project. One way is to go through universities or community websites and see what projects they have going on or join projects through small organizations such as www.openmindproject.com. These usually end up being great value (with more of a donation to the project).
Watch out for great projects at a webpage called www.volunteermatch.org. This allows you to be matched (without any cost to you or the organization) to the right volunteer experience based on your skills and knowledge.
Option 2: International Internships
Another option is to try and do an internship abroad. Its a great option to enhance your CV while going on a holiday.
Foreign language requirements can sometimes restrict your selection of destination, so be aware of the local language. There are numerous placement services which will find internship programs suitable for you around the globe in just about anything you like. Often these agencies cost a fairly large placement fee nevertheless they will arrange housing as well as the placement if you can't be bothered to do it yourself.
Going directly with the small organisation is often less costly as you remove the middle man. Frequently organizations also appreciate this direct approach because it shows that you have motivation.
Option 3: Language Courses Abroad
The next opportunity, which is quite cost effective in many cases, is doing a language course abroad. It looks great on your CV if you're able to speak another language and when you pick a great school you will have a blast.
A good idea is to choose schools with great activity programs & an emphasis on fun as well as education.
An excellent place to begin your research is by using a site just like www.traveledventures.com. They are known for picking the best language schools with a great social as well as cultural activity program and their staff is usually very helpful in terms of organizing your trip from beginning to end which includes arranging accommodation & programs and even solving any sort of concerns you have got while you are away for your big experience.
Actually the organization also run internships overseas with GAP year students by combining an internship with a language program. So it's a double winner for your CV! This is a wonderful way to be able to stay over the visa free period or get course credit if you need to.
A GAP year is a fantastic time for you to explore the world, determine what you want to do and get experience in a field you love. So start planning, get out there and enjoy the trip of your life.
After searching through the options, it appears that there are 3 really great contenders. Charity/Volunteer Work, Internships, & Foreign Language Courses.
option 1:volunteering or working for a charity
The first option is to get involved with some kind of charity or volunteer work. This may be anything from working at an elephant rehabilitation centre in Africa to helping children learn to read in Ecuador.
Almost all experiences are comparatively adventurous and frequently involve visiting off the beaten track places. The secret to successfully choose a program depends on the effort you're willing to take to locate the smaller organisations vs exactly how much you are prepared to pay.
Large companies like GVI offer many varied packages to interesting places all over the & can be a great option if you want an easy way to get on board a program. Nevertheless you will often pay your fair share for the placement. Going through such large organizations can mean the money does not always stay with the project entirely and you can end up spending large amounts of money to live in a place that should be super cheap.
An alternative is to search for small grassroots projects where the money stays with the project. One way is to go through universities or community websites and see what projects they have going on or join projects through small organizations such as www.openmindproject.com. These usually end up being great value (with more of a donation to the project).
Watch out for great projects at a webpage called www.volunteermatch.org. This allows you to be matched (without any cost to you or the organization) to the right volunteer experience based on your skills and knowledge.
Option 2: International Internships
Another option is to try and do an internship abroad. Its a great option to enhance your CV while going on a holiday.
Foreign language requirements can sometimes restrict your selection of destination, so be aware of the local language. There are numerous placement services which will find internship programs suitable for you around the globe in just about anything you like. Often these agencies cost a fairly large placement fee nevertheless they will arrange housing as well as the placement if you can't be bothered to do it yourself.
Going directly with the small organisation is often less costly as you remove the middle man. Frequently organizations also appreciate this direct approach because it shows that you have motivation.
Option 3: Language Courses Abroad
The next opportunity, which is quite cost effective in many cases, is doing a language course abroad. It looks great on your CV if you're able to speak another language and when you pick a great school you will have a blast.
A good idea is to choose schools with great activity programs & an emphasis on fun as well as education.
An excellent place to begin your research is by using a site just like www.traveledventures.com. They are known for picking the best language schools with a great social as well as cultural activity program and their staff is usually very helpful in terms of organizing your trip from beginning to end which includes arranging accommodation & programs and even solving any sort of concerns you have got while you are away for your big experience.
Actually the organization also run internships overseas with GAP year students by combining an internship with a language program. So it's a double winner for your CV! This is a wonderful way to be able to stay over the visa free period or get course credit if you need to.
A GAP year is a fantastic time for you to explore the world, determine what you want to do and get experience in a field you love. So start planning, get out there and enjoy the trip of your life.
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To find out more information about internship possibilitiesor language travel programsjust have a look at the mentioned websites and organisations or click on the links above
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