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Working in Spain/South America during a gap year?

Hi everyone,

I didn't get the grades I needed for uni this year unfortunately so now I'm left with a whole year to fill before hopefully going somewhere in 2017. I got pretty lucky and managed to convert an internship in banking operations into a full time role for anywhere between 6-9 months, my boss is very flexible luckily!

However at the bank, everyone talks about the importance of languages. I did Spanish A-Level and don't want to waste that by never speaking it again and forgetting everything, so I'm thinking about trying to spend some time in Spain during this year. I've spoken to numerous people who say that once you spend a few months in a country speaking only that language, you pick up so much and are more or less fluent.

My problem is that I don't have a clue what to do. Ideally I'd like to work so that I can save some more money and it'll give me something to actually do instead of sitting around all day out there. I'd want to go while most of my friends are still in uni, so I'd be going alone. I think I'd rather go to Spain but I'm definitely open to South America, I just want somewhere that hasn't been made ridiculously touristy where I will just end up speaking English.

I've looked at au pairing but from what I've heard, most families want you to speak English to their kids. Someone suggested charity projects but I think I'd rather be free to do my own stuff instead of tied into a programme. Working in a bar or restaurant or somewhere would be fine I think, but I'm not sure if they'd take me or how I'd get a job there - they seem like the places I'd apply to when I was in Spain, but I don't really want to be flying to a different country with absolutely nothing planned.

All suggestions are welcome! Thanks :smile:

Tl;dr - spontaneous gap year, working in IB for 6-9 months but want to live in Spain/South America for a few months to improve my Spanish. Need suggestions as to any jobs I could do while I'm there
I guess first you need to decide whether to choose Spain or South America, both are so different! South America is less touristy but getting work in Spain is a lot easier but the cost of living is slightly higher. There are lots of options I guess it depends on what you want to do. Have you also thought about booking a Spanish language course in Spain to help you improve your language skills whilst you work? Or maybe working in Spain then going to study Spanish in South America where the courses are cheaper? Good luck :smile:

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