Gap Year Ideas

[slipshodsibyl]

Does anyone have any good suggestions for gap year activities for one or two months please? My daughter has organised a short internship, a period of regular work for saving purposes and an overseas language learning option.

It would be nice to have something fun but meaningful. I am unsure about the Gap Year companies as I wonder if they are holidays with the volunteer activities feeling not particularly useful. She has completed a reasonable amount of committed volunteering so may not enjoy feeling like a spare part if this is often the case. Does anyone have any experience of any of these or any recommendations please?

Any suggestions for anything at all that has worked well would be welcome.

Thanks

Depends on timing but I was a camp counsellor in US for 8 weeks over the summer several years ago. I went with BUNAC as they were a student club rather than company. I worked with 6-8 year olds for a week at a time and took another 4 weeks to travel afterwards. However it looks like due to bureaucracy changes they no longer do the camp programme - but they do other exchanges instead. See www.bunac.org.uk Other 'internationals' who worked at camp came with Camp America and had a good experience with them, their website is: www.campamerica.co.uk/ One thing to note about the camp programmes is that they generally have lower upfront costs because the flight is taken out of your salary as staff, but you will be liable for any make-up costs if you leave early. It was extremely fun, but definitely not an easy option or a free holiday!

Had she considered working for one of the uk camping companies in France, Italy etc? Perhaps not 'meaningful' enough, but great fun and fantastic work experience. I did this during my gap year and then had a holiday job abroad lined up every summer while at university. Keycamp and Eurocamp are good companies.

My DS did Operation Raleigh in Borneo. The whole "charity" bit makes me a bit queasy but the experience was fantastic.

Hi there, I work for www.gap360.com and we offer plenty of packages abroad where you can broaden your skills by learning something new including language courses which match your available time period.

Hope this helps, let us know if there is anything more we can do.

Thank you all for your suggestions> theyy sound interesting and I shall look into them.

ds1 is on a gap year too - autumn term was spent doing work experience at a publishing company and back at school as a learning mentor for GCSE English lit students. he also did a distance learning coursera module at Pennsylvania State University in Modern & Contemporary American Poetry. On top of that is has been writing sports articles for an online media site

This term - working part time in a pub and I hope think he is about to sign up for a distance learning journalism course and still doing the sports articles thing

Summer term - off to Paris to work as a volunteer at The American Library in Paris and hopefully Shakespeare & Co (not sure on that one yet) and then The Poetry Project in NYC

Money is V tight so he can't do anything like swimming with dolphins or trekking through Nepal like some of his friends

Sounds like she's doing lots of meanigfull stuff , how about some travelling if she's got the money to do it. Interrailing or STA travel do some good deals.

Dd did mostly that on her gap year. Travelled around France then Canada

Thanks again. Eatyourveg, your DS has a lot of unusual and exciting things planned. He sounds very well organised. I will check them out as she is studying languages.

Ggirl, yes, she has worked hard so I don't mind paying for her to do some exciting long haul travel purportedly looking after turtles or something, but am a bit anxious about the security side of things for such a young girl if things should go wrong, hence why a gap year company seemed to be a compromise. I have read some reviews of the companies where people complain that companies are not great at in-country support. She has grown up in a number of countries and because they have been 'home', she seems less aware than I would like of the problems you might face when on a budget and alone. I am a bit over-protective, so would like a compromise.

With respect OP I think your DD should be doing the research. Gap breaks are supposed to foster independence and that means seeking out the opportunities as well- not having your mum hand it to you on a plate.

Sorry if this sounds harsh but she sounds spoon-fed. It's not what unis want- or employers.