5 opportunities for the youth and young professionals that want to travel the world

Our volunteers never keep still and are always travelling the world through volunteering and working or studying abroad. These are 5 incredible opportunities that are guaranteed to enrich you, help you grow through unforgettable travelling experience.

5 ways to work and travel abroad

Maybe you want to travel abroad but at the same time keep up with your studies. Or maybe you haven’t taken a gap year between your high school and university. These 5 opportunities will give you a comparable if not even better experience:

1. Workaway
2. Study abroad: Erasmus+
3. Au Pair
4. HI Connect Program
5. European Solidarity Corps

Below you can find a more detailed description of all 5 opportunities linked to the experience description of our volunteers.

Volunteer through Workaway
Workaway is a platform that enables you to get in touch with people from all around the world that need your help, skills and knowledge in exchange for free accommodation, food and sometimes even other benefits. Whether you want to volunteer through Workaway to work with children, take care of the shelter animals, build beach houses or help create an art wall in a hostel; you will for sure find a project suitable for you.

And, as Tina also mentions in her blog post about her Workaway experience, it is often not as much about the help with work these people need, but willing to share their knowledge with other cultures.

Study abroad with Erasmus+
There are numerous opportunities for students, staff, trainees, teachers to spend part of their studies in another institution or organization in Europe. The great thing is these opportunities are also accessible for people from Non-European countries.

If you’re a student, you should check if your university offers a possibility to go on a study exchange with Erasmus+. In the end, you will have friends all over the world, be more responsible, improve your language skills, have an international volunteer/work experience etc. You can read more about the Erasmus+ study and internship in a blog post by Anna: Part 1, Part 2 or on their official website.

Au Pair
Many Au Pair websites online offer you a possibility to find a family abroad that suits your interest and live with them for a certain amount of time. The responsibilities and opportunities vary from country and family, but overall experience provides you with accommodation, food and oftentimes also some pocket money. In exchange, you become a member of the family, help with everyday chores, play with and teach the children.

Now, isn’t that a great way of getting to know the culture, language and people in that country?

You can read about the experience of our volunteer Nika, that spent 7 months as Au Pair with the family of 4 children in Germany or Ema, that spent her time in Madrid, teaching children English and at the same time pursued her dancing career.

HI Connect Program
Hosteling International is a broad network of hostels around the world that created the HI Connect Program, through which you choose to stay in one of the 13 European countries, Canada, South Korea or the USA.

So, how does it work? You stay in a hostel of choice abroad where you get a mentor, that helps you integrate into the new environment, culture and language. Some volunteers wanted to further improve their language skills, raise the intercultural knowledge, enhance their CVs with valuable work experience or simply wanted to push themselves out of their comfort zone.

Check how much fun our volunteers had through HI Connect Program here.

European Solidarity Corps
Backed up by European Union, Solidarity Corps offers a wide range of volunteering, traineeships and job opportunities addressing different topics such as social inclusion, environment, culture etc. You travel to the country where the project takes place in and contribute your skills and knowledge from 2 weeks’ up till 12 months’ time. The costs of food and accommodation are covered by the host organization and participants also receive a small allowance for their personal expenses.

You don’t need to travel far to have a life-changing experience. As members of the European Union, we have an amazing privilege to move freely between the member countries. Why not join a project teaching children about environmental issues in warm Portugal, working with underprivileged children in the mountain area in Austria or promote an ecological lifestyle in Germany? You can create a profile for free, so check out the European Solidarity Corps website.

…but remember. Opportunities won’t fall into your lap.

It is very unlikely such opportunities will appear without you pursuing them. Planning working and travelling abroad takes time, dedication and a lot of research. Sometimes all the planning and arrangements might be overwhelming for the number of bureaucratic manners and logistics arrangements.

However, in the end, it is well worth it because with each experience you grow and learn. Find a project that interests you, buy that ticket and go live, work, volunteer abroad.

Ana Marija Udovič