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Focus only on your own growth.
GapYear is a time for growth and happiness.
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30th GapperAn Seong-eun
Two-month gap year
A gap year spent on a no-money trip across Europe with 'people' and 'photography'.
Paris: I left with no plans because I wanted to escape.
Initially, I wanted to get away from my difficult university life.
I had become completely independent from my parents and moved from Daegu to Seoul for university, paying all my own expenses, and I had to work 100 hours a month just for room and board. At the same time, I was ambitious and spent time on school life and relationships. There was a time when my entire savings were 1,000 won, and I truly understood what it meant to eat tear-soaked triangle kimbap.
After struggling through five semesters like that, I finally gave myself a gift: a six-week solo vacation in Phuket.Since my goal there was to 'do nothing', I distanced myself from reality every day. But there was no paradise in the place I had escaped to. Returning to Korea, I was still poor, and my suffocatingly busy daily life continued. It became even harder because I had run away and come back.
At that time, since things were going to be hard anyway, I wanted to challenge myself properly. I wanted to push myself to the limit and see how far I could endure. At the same time, I wanted to explore the real me that emerges among new places and new people. So after finishing six semesters, I grabbed a backpack, took a Paris in-out ticket with no plans, and boarded a plane. (June 23, 2014)
A no-money trip across Europe, driven by 'people' and 'photography'.
Actually, I wasn't that curious about Europe. I just wanted to collide with new people and places. To make everything new, I made no plans and decided to move solely because of 'people'. So the starting point was surprisingly easy to decide.
A line I said the day my French friend Helois, whom I had met by chance in Korea, returned to France: "I'll go to France soon too."
Lying in Blois, the French town where my friend's house was, I suddenly felt overwhelmed because I didn't know where to go next. Staring blankly at my phone, I happened to see the work of a photographer in Europe. Since I entered university I had liked being a subject and having my photos taken. I didn't have the body, face, or talent to be a model, but I kept getting photographed simply because I liked it.
Fortunately, I had friends who took photos as a hobby, and thanks to them I had many pictures. With a portfolio made from these collected photos, I randomly emailed European photographers I found on Google or Facebook."I happened to see your photos and would like to work together. I'm a freelance model from Korea, and if you agree, I'll come to where you are. I'm in Europe right now."
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So I received offers in Paris, Bolzano, Rome, Berlin, and Belfast, and scheduled my movements to go there. Of course, as a broke student I only spent money on the most basic city- and country-to-country travel, so when moving from Berlin to Belfast I even spent 48 hours traveling.
Thus I traveled through 10 cities in 5 countries on an itinerary of Blois-Paris-Bolzano-Split-Hvar-Milan-Rome-Berlin-Belfast-London-Paris. In the places I visited, I stayed and ate for free at strangers' homes through Couchsurfing, and I checked out the local hot spots they showed me. After 62 days, and when my trapezius muscles had started to ache from a 15-kilogram backpack, I returned to Korea. (August 25, 2014)
After the gap year, what I gained: the 'Three Nos'
1. No money
A budget of 1,000,000 won to be used only for transportation was my initial rough estimate, which I could actually go over (I exceeded it by 300,000 won). Beyond the material aspect, I wanted to see how I would value other things. I, who couldn't spend even 1 euro carelessly, always needed people's help and had to trust those who reached out. After two months of practicing trusting people, I realized how many people could enter my world.
2. No plan
I thought there are many places in the world I don't know, and I was curious about the world that was approaching me. So I first sent proposal messages to photographers across Europe who would do the 'photography' I love, moved to the places where those who accepted were, and organized my trip to see the places led by the hosts there. As a result, I went to places whose names I didn't even know and to unexpected spots. Through such travel, I only began to perceive a tiny part of the world and realized how vast it is. I probably haven't properly seen or experienced even 1/1,000 of Europe.
3. Ignorance
This condition that comes along with being unplanned was actually a wish for 'the wonder of the unexpected.' It was wondrous. In that process, I was able to hear 'living stories' from people around me, not past stories in books, and it became a fairly effective form of learning that's hard to forget. It also made me want to study with books.
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The resolution I constantly repeated during my gap year.
Before leaving, I was very scared. I was going alone to unknown places for a not-short span of two months, with no place to sleep, no food, and nowhere to go — what was I even going to do? I was afraid that something might happen there.
But when it was time to leave, I could no longer complain. If I stayed, I felt I would become that kind of person. So I set only three goals when I left, and by constantly reminding myself of those goals throughout the trip, I was able to complete the journey safely.
Second, do not be afraid. Third, accept. If you form expectations, you begin to hope; when you hope, you become disheartened. Because you might miss out on the amazing things you can experience when you don't expect anything. |
Live slowly again as myself, without being impatient.
After I returned, I held a solo exhibition called About Today, the name of a bar I had seen by chance in Berlin. More than 100 people stopped by the exhibition to support me. A photo I took in Belfast became the main image on Vogue Italy's website, my story was featured in articles in Daehaknaeil and the Hankook Ilbo's university webzine, and I gave talks and recorded for radio.
This series of events gave me only one message.
'I, An Seong-eun, can be myself like this.'
Although I'm preparing for a job, I won't rush; I'll step into society again slowly and make choices true to myself.
Recommendations and submissions for the 100 Gap-Year participants are always welcome. Please leave a comment or message, or send an email to marketing manager Da-young Choi (choi@koreagapyear.com)! |