Learning spanish

I am going to be going to a spanish speaking country (not sure which one yet) over the summer and I want to have a working knowledge of the language before I go there. I know a little, but not enough (as my dad says, I know enough to get in trouble, but not enough to get out). I've read that the best way to learn a language is to be exposed to it, so I was wondering if there's anyone here who speaks spanish and would be willing to help me learn by chatting, e-mailing, etc? Please PM me if you are willing to help me out. Thanks.

-AJ

I'm not nearly good enough to help someone else learn, but how I practiced my old high school and college Spanish was by doing just what you are suggesting.

I found a website called English/Spanish chat or something like that, (this was at least 8-10 years ago) and found a couple of friends who wanted to learn English. We emailed and chatted for at least a year or two, and it really helped my Spanish improve! One of them was in Spain, but originally from Argentina, and one was from Guatemala. The guy in Guatemala and I really became pretty good friends over the course of being penpals.

If you were on the mainland, I'd tell you to get a job in the construction industry. I learned more useful spanish there in one year working than I did taking it for three years in H.S.