Projects
|
FAQ
|
Announcements
Focus only on your own growth.
GapYear is a time for growth and happiness.
Back to ListBack to List
Name: Shin Hye-il
Current occupation: University student
Gap year location: Menorca, one of the Balearic Islands in Spain
Q. Please tell us what prompted your gap year and about the preparation process.
Gradually emerging sense of doubt
Since I was young, I vaguely thought I wanted to live a somewhat different life. Perhaps because it was so vague, as I went through middle and high school I became, like other friends, a student preparing for university entrance. The university I entered did not satisfy me, but since I had even retaken the exam to get into it, I tried to develop an interest in my major. At the time I was occupied with dealing with immediate realities, so I think I avoided fundamental questions such as whether I was truly studying this because I wanted to, or whether I wanted to graduate and go into a related field. After spending three years like that, I gradually began to feel skeptical.
I didn't want to enter my fourth year like that. I wanted to know what I wanted to do and what I think about — in short,I thought that if I graduated without really knowing myself, I would become nothing.Even if I graduated a little later, I thought it was important to learn more about myself first so that when choosing my path later I could make happier, more self-directed choices. So I decided to take a leave of absence.
About to enter a new environment... half worried, half excited
After deciding to take a leave of absence, I thought a lot about spending time entirely for myself instead of doing language study or building credentials. Then I learned about Korea Gap Year, remembered it, visited earlier this year, and received help. Since I was going to have a gap year anyway, I decided to do it in the most unfamiliar and faraway country I could. So I decided to participate in a program in the Balearic Islands of Spain to excavate Roman-era artifacts.I was half worried and half excited about what I would be like in a new environment.
To raise funds, I worked part-time every day for about three months without a single day off. During the week I worked as an activity assistant for children with intellectual disabilities, and on weekends I worked at a restaurant. Although I had no days off, I was able to endure it because I had a goal. At the same time, I looked for and read books on Roman-era history related to the artifact excavation activities I would be doing in Spain.
©KoreaGapyear
Q. Please tell us about Hyeil's gap year.
I experienced Spain for 40 days. For the first 20 days I stayed on Menorca, the smallest of the Balearic Islands in the eastern Mediterranean of Spain. Menorca's low white buildings and emerald sea felt more like Greece than Spain. There, I participated in excavating Roman-era artifacts.
The Balearic Islands of Spain served as a key point on the sea route linking Spain and Rome diagonally during the Roman Empire. Therefore, a large number of artifacts are excavated there. If you went near the excavation site, there were so many Roman pottery shards that you could step on them just by walking. The area I excavated included a necropolis, a communal cemetery, and an ancient Roman urban area.
Commonly excavated items like pottery, amphora fragments, or animal bones are collected only if their forms are clearly identifiable. However, items with unusual shapes, those rarely found, and newly discovered artifacts are compared with specialized literature to estimate their periods and are classified separately. During the excavation period I unearthed a total of four Roman-era coins and an object about 3 cm in diameter made from animal bone. Fortunately, I found half of the seven important artifacts discovered during the excavation period.
ⓒKoreaGapyear
Among them, the object that looked like a clothing button made from animal bone was a type that had been discovered on the island for the first time, so even the staff couldn't determine its exact use. I learned its exact purpose by chance while traveling in Spain after the excavation. The same-looking item was on display at MUHBA, the archaeology museum in Barcelona. That's how I found out it was a game piece used in Roman-era board games. To someone else it might have been just an old exhibit in a corner of a museum, but to me, as something I had excavated myself, it meant a lot and I stood in front of that display case for a long time. It was really moving.
ⓒKoreaGapyear
Menorca is already a well-known resort in Europe, so when we weren't working on excavations we would go with friends to the harbor where yachts were moored or to nearby beaches. To everyone, the island felt like an unknown world, and every day was an exploration. I happened to have my birthday during the excavation period, and the reason this birthday is especially memorable is that my friends each celebrated on the 29th according to their own country's calendar, so we ended up having birthday parties for three days.
ⓒKoreaGapyear
After the excavation work ended, I spent the remaining time traveling around various regions of Spain. When I first arrived in Spain, I hadn't arranged any plans for the trip after the excavation. I thought my perspective on travel might change while participating in the project, so I didn't make reservations or set plans in advance. Even during the trip I tried to make decisions that were the opposite of the patterns I had followed up until then.
Because the journey in Spain felt like the start of living a different life from before, I found the courage to try that.
©KoreaGapyear
I traveled to four places—Seville, Ronda, Granada, and Barcelona—for about three weeks. I stayed about a week each in Seville and Barcelona. The advantage of staying about a week in one place is that, even briefly, the city itself becomes a familiar space to the traveler. In Seville, I went to Plaza de España twice a day and even danced with the locals at Seville's festival "Feria" at the end of April. In Barcelona, I leisurely lay on Barceloneta Beach until sunset and went to clubs in Barcelona with people staying at the hostel. I also saw an actual Catalan traditional orchestra performance at the Catalonia Music Palace, one of the famous tourist attractions.
While traveling in Spain, the first thought I had when I saw how Spanish people live was, "When do these people earn money?" They seemed that relaxed. Spain has a resting period called a siesta, and people there live at a leisurely pace. While I was there, the activity I did most was napping—I even tried to adopt their way of life.
©KoreaGapyear
Q. What changes occurred after taking a gap year, or what did you gain through the gap year?
I became better at expressing my thoughts more clearly. Through consulting with KoreaGapyear, I realized that although I had many thoughts in my head, I couldn't express them well. So I joined to try to change myself a bit, and perhaps because I went with that determination, I expressed myself more. For example, instead of ordinary travel, I tried various unconventional ways to travel, and accomplishing them one by one gave me confidence in myself. Also, in the past when looking for what to do in the future, I would only think and not act easily, but I participated in this program myself and started and finished it; because of that experience, I discovered what I like and what I want to experience, and I gained the courage to plan and carry those things out.
©KoreaGapyear
Q. Lastly, what would you like to say to young people planning a gap year?
These days, many people dismiss pursuing what you want to do as a fanciful dream. Even setting aside my parents' generation, I think many friends my age feel the same. But whether it really won't help your life or is just wishful thinking, you won't know until you try. No matter what people around you say, I hope everyone experiences, at least once in their life, a period devoted solely to doing what they wanted for themselves. Whatever the outcome, you'll come away more positive than before.
©KoreaGapyear
