Advice on CV gap as have been living aboard. Will it put employers off?

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Hi All,
I wonder if any one has any advice on my situation. I left Ireland early this year to live with my boyfriend in a scandinavian country. He is Irish and has a very good job here. He has been here for 2 years but things haven't worked out very well for me here on the jobs front.

I have been learning the language since I arrived but I am making slow progress at the language and will take years to become professionally proficient, my boyfriend works through English.

I am a graphic designer and I have found an internship position but I have been more or less told that they will not hire me. I am not under the impression that my lack of the language is a problem but more that my lack of being a native is the problem as I will never really understand their culture (according to them)! I am in a smaller city and have applied to nearly every company in the city that is in my industry. I have had some meetings/interviews but mainly I don't even get replies or I get polite rejections. I am pretty sure it will be near to impossible to find a job here in my industry.

Things aren't much better at home but I do at least have a network. I find that things here are very closed to foreigners and that attitude is either do a menial jobs or IT jobs or leave. I am not alone in finding this and other spouses/girlfriends have these issues. I am not against taking a so called 'menial' job but I am just wondering wither its a waste of time as he is starting to feel home sick too and would I be better off just returning home. He has agreed to start looking for a new job back home but this might take some time.

My question is really this, should I return home and try to find another job back home again or should I try to stick it out for 6 more months or so while still searching for a job? While I will find it very hard to leave him again I am very worried about how perspective employers will view this 'gap' on my CV. I have gained some valuable experience here but I am really struggling as to what to do. I cannot claim unemployment benefit here and while further education is an option I simply cannot find a suitable course here.

What are your thoughts on a CV gap, do you feel employers will have a problem with this? How long is too long to have a gap? I am a woman in my early 30s and I feel this might be seen as very bad by future employers.

Thanks in advance

Daith

I went travelling last year. Gap of about 10 months then on my CV. In fairness I worked at my previous employer for 8 years. However my current employer had no issue with the gap at all.

Holiers

To me it is straight forward. Put your internship on your cv. No need to mention it was unpaid. Also mention that you attended x language school to learn y language and within less than a year you had a basic proficiency. Sounds pretty impressive to me