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Focus only on your own growth.
GapYear is a time for growth and happiness.
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Name:Jang Chan-young
Gap year duration:1 year 6 months (528 days)
Experiences during the gap year:A world trip to meet all my pen pals (traveled to 23 countries)
Current work after the gap year:International logistics
Why I took a gap year
When I was discharged from the military and returned to university, all my friends around me were preparing for employment. I didn't know what I wanted to do and was just thinking about which field to try. Anyway, thinking I should at least get an English score, I started studying for the TOEIC. Not being familiar with English at all, I found studying English every day in the library very boring. Then I remembered something I had heard when I was young: "If you want to make studying English fun, get a pen pal." So I searched "pen pal" on the internet, posted a short introduction and my email address on a site, and within a day I received emails from people all over the world saying they wanted to be friends.
Up until then, English had been something I had to study for exams, but after exchanging letters in English with many friends around the world, English...became a means of communicationAfter exchanging pen-pal letters with friends for two years, I had made a total of 87 pen pals around the world, and wanting to meet them in person I decided to travel the world.
At the time I had finished my third year and was about to start my fourth year of university, but I had no anxiety about the future or finding a job. If I had had a specific career I wanted to pursue I would have felt anxious about postponing it for several years to go on a long trip, but I had nothing I wanted to do except travel the world to meet my pen pals. Because I was a student who hadn't achieved much, I had nothing to give up, so I felt more at ease.
My gap year story
Unlike spending my university life vaguely worrying about employment day by day, I had a definite goal "A round-the-world trip to meet all my pen palsWhen that happened, my life began to feel lively. To earn travel funds for the planned trip around the world, I slept only four hours and juggled three jobs and part-time work. And because I clearly had something I wanted to do, I couldn't waste money. Work was hard and I couldn't sleep much, but it was a very enjoyable time. In my spare time I planned travel routes and enjoyed contacting my pen pals, saying, "I think I'll arrive in your country around [month] next year. Let's definitely meet then." By working like that I was able to save the 5,000,000 won I aimed for and leave, and I supplemented the rest of my travel expenses by saving 18,000,000 won through a working holiday in Australia.
Korea GapyearⓒKorea Gapyear
While doing a working holiday in Australia, I met and befriended many foreign friends. I was amazed that the European friends who had left their countries were all so young. In Korea, many male friends were around 23–25 after completing military service, and many female friends were over 23, but among the European friends there were really many who were 19 or 20 by Korean age. They had all graduated high school andGap yearperiodthey said they had. I often thought how great it would have been if I had decided to travel at a younger age.
Over a year and six months I traveled to 23 countries and 81 cities and was able to meet many pen pals. The most memorable was a friend named 'Nina' who lived in the African island country of Madagascar. I thought I wouldn't be able to meet her because I couldn't go to Africa due to travel route and expense issues, but luckily Nina was selected as a government-funded scholarship student while I was traveling and went to France to study abroad. So we were able to meet dramatically in France. Nina's living expenses from her father back home were insufficient, so she was working part-time and living a tight student life in France, but even in that situation I was moved by the bright look in her eyes as she said she wanted to finish her studies and greatly help her poor country; it made me realize that in this world...bright determinationI remember being moved by the fact that there are so many young people with such determination.
Korea GapyearⓒKorea Gapyear
What I gained through the gap year
Publication of a round-the-world travel book
While traveling around the world, I consistently recorded my impressions and the episodes I experienced on my personal blog. As I posted travelogues, many people became interested in my travel stories and visited, and the number of supporters gradually increased. And a publisher that had taken interest in my traveloguesoffered to publish my book, and I published a round-the-world guidebook titled "Around the World: From Couchsurfing to Working Holiday."
A realization about living without regrets
I have no regrets about the year and a half I spent traveling. Although I am still young, I think that having learned for myself what it means to live without regrets is a great gift for my future. Traveling and meeting many friends around the world made me realize that there are no predetermined frameworks in this world. If there is something you want to do, don’t put it off—start doing it right now.
To young people planning a gap year
I believe that if you become the master of yourself who can take responsibility for your actions, there is nothing you cannot do in this world. Even if what you want to do is not a specific job, just start. Not everything you try will succeed, but at least you won’t regret the things you never even attempted.
When starting something, rather than planning every step from beginning to end in advance, if you take the path before you one step at a time, won’t new, unexpected paths appear?
