For those who want to work in Europe, there is a fairly new working holiday scheme set up between the US and Ireland that I only read about just now (don't think its been posted on Tpunk yet). It allows for one year, as opposed to the BUNAC permit of four month. Depending on how the economy's looking I may do this at the end of my study abroad.
Department of Foreign Affairs - US Work and Travel
On 24 September 2008, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Micheál Martin T.D., signed a major new agreement with the US Government that will enable Irish and US citizens to work and travel in each other's countries for up to 12 months. The agreement reflects not only the close historical and cultural links between Ireland and the United States of America, but also the vibrancy of the modern economic and commercial relationship between our countries.
In order to qualify for the programme participants should be either in post-secondary education or have recently graduated (ie within the last 12 months).
This new programme will not affect the operation of the highly successful Student Work and Travel programme which permits students from the US and Ireland to work and travel for several months every summer. This J1 programme will continue to exist as a separate, more limited programme.