Gap year experiences

I always knew I would take a Gap Year since I was in year 9 at secondary school-it was just a given. I had no idea where I would go, only that I would fill it travel and experiences. The plan was to travel after my A-Levels for the whole year, or most of it at least, and I was heading Down Under. Well, you know what they say about best laid plans! Those best laid plans involved me getting into a long-term relationship. Being very young and in 'love' I changed my plans as my boyfriend at the time did not have the required funds for an Australian Working Holiday Visa. So, we changed to going to Canada as it was cheaper and less restrictive. I was feeling very ...  Read the complete review

After my A-levels this summer I travelled to Ghana to volunteer in an orphanage. It was my first time doing something like this so I opted to do the project with a gap year organisation called "Madventurer." It appeared to be a good idea as it gave me the security etc i felt i needed. I honestly have to say I would never use them again, and would discourage others. I paid £995 for a month (not including flights) which paid for transfers and accomodation. I was also told 10% (£100) would go to the project I was working on. The truth is, I barely saw ANYTHING going to them. The orphanage desperately needed milk powder, food, and nappies - real ...  Read the complete review

**GAP YEAR** *Temping Work - In Australia* Working abroad is definitely a challenge, well to me it has been. I decided to take a gap year and come over here to work for a year. I had just entered a new country, got an apartment so the next obvious step was to look for work. I went to recruitment agencies (see review for more detail) to help me find work in such a big city. First place I arrived was Sydney the most popular and well known city in Australia. I had already applied for a working holiday visa at home which meant I was entitled to work in the country legally. You need to have a visa which entitles you to work. Next step was to ...  Read the complete review

If you don’t like long reviews, you might want to leave now; this isn’t going to be a quick one!!! Nor is it going to be about how I arranged my gap year travels. This review is about how my gap year changed me, and why I think everyone should have one. When I was 18 years old I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with my life, I had a few half baked ideas about being a lawyer or a psychologist but sadly neither the commitment nor the intelligence to back them up. My fiends moved straight from their A grade A levels to their top notch unis to peruse their degrees in fine art, cultural studies, and drama. I moved from my mediocre results to a part ...  Read the complete review

Last weekend I met a girl on a plane. She was in the seat next to me for the 2-hour flight from Chicago to BWI, and we got talking. Turns out, we had a lot in common - I've spent quite a bit of time on gap years - working / studying in Europe, she's done the same in South America. I like to travel, she likes to travel. I speak multiple languages, she speaks multiple languages (quite surprising for Americans). She's interested in getting over to Europe for a while, they way I'm spending some time here in the States at the moment, so I said I'd email her some useful links. I was looking through my ciao ops on related subjects, and I saw just how many ...  Read the complete review