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Focus only on your own growth.
GapYear is a time for growth and happiness.
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Do you know yourself well? Do you have moments when you purely love something and focus on what you want?Wouldn't it be very regrettable to grow old without knowing yourself and without ever trying what you truly want to do? -Succeeded in finding employment through a gap year. / Kim Hee-jung, member of the gap-year community (gapper) |
64th Gap-year GapperKim Hee-jung
Succeeded in finding employment through a gap year.
# I lived an ordinary life with the same routine repeating.
In my second year of university—my most carefree, happiest time—I happened to apply to be a student promotional ambassador and attend an interview. During the selection process, I discovered a shocking fact.That I didn't really know myself.
I had clearly loved books and movies since childhood. Naturally, by watching travelogues and related documentaries, I dreamed of creating my own story rather than someone else's.
However, confronted with parental opposition, family constraints, studies, and other realities, I lived an ordinary life like everyone else, with the same routine repeating.
Because of that interview, I asked myself whether I had ever truly focused on my dreams solely for myself, and so...I took a leave of absence from school and embarked on a gap year to pursue my dreams.I'll share my dynamic story, which may be short to some and long to others.
# Before starting my gap year, I made a few promises to myself.
First: plan everything solely for myself, focusing on my own needs,
Second: start and finish alone,
Third: cover all expenses myself,
Fourth: during the gap year, favor stability over taking risks; don't be the Korean Kim Hee-jung who only thinks and doesn't act, but be the global Kim Hee-jung who turns every dream into action,
Fifth: write a diary every day!
The goal of my gap year was to awaken the self that had been hidden by daily life and to give myself time to unfold my potential!
After setting my travel goals and my own promises, I worked part-time at an English academy and a café to raise funds. When choosing jobs, I focused on efficiency and the areas I wanted to learn. At the English academy, I could study English while working; it offered high pay relative to the time, and as someone who studied social welfare, contact with children would be a valuable experience, so I chose it as my top priority.
I chose the café job simply because I wanted to learn about coffee. Working two jobs was physically tiring, but because I chose work I wanted to do, it brought me joy, and I could work thinking about my gap year drawing one step closer!
# If worrying could make worries go away, there would be no worries.
Ironically, while preparing for my gap year, the things I was afraid of were “planes” and “international affairs.” They were very realistic and futile fears: plane crashes, terrorism, smaller issues like lost luggage when using low-cost airlines, and the constantly changing international situation.
But like any fear, it was worry about things that had not yet happened, and worrying wouldn’t change anything. So I thought of the phrase “If worrying could make worries go away, there would be no worries” and used it as a self-hypnosis.
When fearful thoughts came up, I told myself to let them pass instead of allowing them to stop me, make me scared, and keep me stuck.After practicing that a few times, even when fearful thoughts suddenly arose I could get past them without trouble.
The obstacle was my parents’ opposition. For a woman to go abroad alone, and for a long time at that,it was hard for my parents to accept.
So I used two methods. First, going through the “Korea Gap Year” project and preparing a PPT. By chance, I found and applied for a gap year internship project in Greece—where I wanted to go—in the field of elderly welfare, which I had been interested in.
I somehow passed the English written application and interview and was accepted for the internship, and after that I began to gather justifications for the trip. Through one month of internship activities I would experience living abroad rather than just traveling and see the foreign system in the same industry, and then, while I was there, add one more month to travel around Europe.
Having created those justifications, I clearly explained to my parents how I would carry out the internship and trip and the effects and expected benefits it would have for me. After presenting it this way, my parents granted permission for my gap year without objection.
I wrote and showed them a manual on how I would handle accidents, and organized the countries/regions/cultural sites/attractions I would visit into a document to show them. And finally,by showing my determination to gain wonderful experiences in life for personal fulfillment, I was able to overcome my parents’ worries.
I think presenting things neatly in documents rather than just saying them gives the same content more credibility!
I lived an ordinary life where the same routine repeated.
Happy Episode 1
미국에서 마지막 여정이었던 마이애미에서 경비가 모자라서 남은 3일을 노숙을 해야 하는 상황에 놓이게 되었습니다. 너무 막연한 상황에서 아무 식당이나 들어가서 설거지라도 할까, 정말 부모님에게 돈을 빌려달라고 부탁을 해볼까 하다가 I sat on the beach and started wondering, "What skills do I have here that could help me get by?"
Miami Beach is one of the world's top resorts. Fitting its reputation, many people were relaxing on the beach in various groups. With the world's best beach as their backdrop, everyone was holding cameras trying to take photos, and it was easy to see people asking strangers to take pictures of them with their companions.
But the photography sense of many foreigners was noticeably lacking. They couldn't even get proportions or composition right—let alone keep things level—and they would press the shutter only once and hand the camera back, resulting in many disappointed faces. So...I decided to use my 'photography skills.'
I impulsively photographed my notebook...
"I WILL GIVE YOU TAKE YOUR PICTURE AT $2!!
I wrote that and sat idly on the beach. People just walked by smiling, and some skeptically asked, 'How? You?' I thought then...'Ah, this isn't an idea that won't work at all.'
So I set the timer and took a few photos of myself in various compositions and poses, and printed them with the portable photo printer I had. I pasted those photos and changed the wording.
"I WILL GIVE YOU TAKE YOUR PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE THE BEST AT $2!
It was a phrase promising to take the best photo of someone's life. And? I hit the jackpot. I felt proud because I had given these strangers the joy and memory of a photograph. Of course I received more than my target, and I was gifted coffee, bread, coats, as well as warm words and smiles as tips.
So I went back to the same spot the next day and even on the last day and ran the event for free, and this story became a cure-all that helps me overcome hard times or low self-esteem.
Memorable Episode 1
In fact, having experienced various internships and extracurricular activities, I was very taken aback by the way the psychology assistant internship in Greece operated. Unlike internships in Korea, which require many papers and assign a lot of work to interns, the Greek internship mostly involved observing and only going to help when assistance was truly needed.
After a day or two I thought, 'I didn't come all the way to Greece just to spend my time like this.' So, although no one asked me to, I created my own internship journal and KPIs and set daily and weekly goals and metrics.
For example, memorizing the names of three elderly clients a day, or giving five high-fives or some physical contact with clients each day. No one told me to do this, but I recorded my experiences and made them more meaningful in my own way.
These efforts accumulated and gave clients and the institution a lot of trust, and over time I became a companion rather than just an intern. This project seemed to offer different rewards depending on how proactively each person engaged.
And even after the internship ended, looking back at those documents vividly brought back memories and captured details that might have been forgotten, turning them into an asset for me.
Memorable Episode 2
This was when I went on a volunteer trip to the Philippines.It's not a grand story, but I volunteered teaching children at an elementary school in the Philippines. When I teach in Korea, we speak the same language, so we can communicate without necessarily making eye contact.
But here, you have to meet each other's eyes completely and focus on hand gestures, foot gestures, facial expressions, intonation—everything. The feeling when a conversation like that ends and you understand its meaning... it made me think a lot.I experienced true 'communication' in the Philippines where we couldn't speak the same language.
Life has become more convenient, but in today's society, where interpersonal distances and depths have become shallow, how light has the weight of words become? This trip to the Philippines added one more rule to my travels!
Don't use phone roaming or a local SIM! I relied only on Wi‑Fi, using it at my accommodation or restaurants to find information and make reservations. With that time, I observed more people, shared moments with them, and was able to focus on the eyes of the people beside me.
Difficult Episode 1
On a trip to Italy, a wheel of my carry-on broke, so I went to a department store in Milan to buy a new one. I brought the broken carry-on out thinking that, as often happens in our country, if I left it by a utility pole or in a corner, someone might find and use it.
There was a perfectly suitable spot in the corner of the department store, so I left it there and happily went shopping. After about an hour, the sight before my eyes was truly bewildering: a crowd that must have numbered in the hundreds and police officers wearing bomb‑removal vests controlling people... At first I wondered if there had been a shooting.
As I scanned the area looking for a way to quickly leave, I saw my abandoned carry-on sitting alone beyond the police line. That's right — my broken carry‑on had been mistaken for a potential terrorist device.
I was at risk of being mistaken for a terrorist. Cold sweat ran down my back as a flood of thoughts hit me — one wrong gap year mistake and I die alone abroad, become an international missing person, all sorts of scenarios — but I approached a police officer, explained the situation, and even opened the carry‑on to show there was nothing inside, resolving everything.
This episode taught me that when traveling to other countries you need to study cultural differences and how people live there.
Difficult Episode 2
I'll talk about my most recent gap year trip to Spain. When I arrived in Spain I had booked a cheap flight and arrived at night. I took a bus from the airport and arrived at Plaça de Catalunya, then walked through the dark streets of Barcelona with my carry-on and a crossbody bag, asking around as I searched for the hostel I had reserved.
Someone told me that something had stained my coat and carry-on. At a time when I was frustrated by how poorly Spaniards spoke English, this person — who spoke English — felt like an angel-sent helper, and I showed them my map and asked for directions.
Before giving directions, that person suggested I brush whatever was on my coat off first. With my guard down, I put my crossbody bag on the ground and started to take off my coat; the moment I set the bag down, two burly men came from behind and grabbed it.
Shocked, I followed them, leaving my carry‑on where it was. I chased them for two blocks, but they vanished from sight. I lost everything: euros I had exchanged from 2,000,000 won, a phone less than a month old, my DSLR, my diary, my passport—everything. It happened less than an hour after I arrived in the city and it left a painful lesson for someone like me who had grown cocky from many trips.
Through these episodes I felt a solidity within myself.
As you saw from a few of my episodes, I tend to have one significant episode per country. Why is that? I think it's because I act on my thoughts and try things rather than staying still.Through that, I came to know myself better than anyone and felt the strength within me after going through a series of episodes.
Come to think of it, I have had confidence since I was young.This trip didn't give me confidence; it made me realize that I already had confidence.
Also, through my gap year, I try to look at even a single thing from various perspectives, and even after a simple task is finished...I developed the habit of thinking about the parts I realized.
I think my personal statement contained somewhat fresher and more intriguing episodes.
Through my gap year, I had more unique and diverse experiences than anyone else.Among the monotonous applicants, my personal statement seemed to include somewhat fresher and more engaging episodes.
When I framed those diverse episodes in relation to the position, interviewers tended to ask one more question.
I also described how I gained a lot of inspiration and energy from my gap year, and I emphasized how that inspiration evolved into ideas relevant to the position and how that energy influenced me afterward.
My personal statement seemed to include somewhat fresher and more engaging episodes.
그렇게 저는 현대자동자 청몽구 재단에 취업하게 되었습니다. 기업의 사회공헌에 관심이 있는 저는 단군의 ‘널리 인간을 이롭게하라’라는 말씀에 입각하여 최대한 많은 사람들에게 도움을 주는 일을 하고 있습니다.
Now that I cannot travel freely, I attend exhibitions, films, fairs, and performances to gain diverse experiences. As always, I write down every idea that comes to mind—ideas inspired by books, newspapers, or movies—and fill one wall of my room with them.
Based on these ideas and practical experience, I am pursuing my dream of running a business centered on a comprehensive cultural program that allows all children to access culture, education, and gap-year experiences.
Take a gap year focused on the freest and most beautiful version of yourself.
Throughout my 26 years of life, I have had quite a few gap-year experiences. Broadly speaking, they were overseas volunteer work, overseas travel, overseas internships, and domestic travel. All of these began when I was a university student.
Volunteer work in the Philippines, my first trip to the United States, a tour of Europe accompanying an internship in Greece— even after returning to daily life and getting a job, I saved money each month for my own gap years and left for a gap year whenever time allowed.
Even after becoming an office worker, I disliked a complacent routine, so I traveled to Spain, and, unlike previous gap years, I took a second gap year in Paris with someone dear to me.Whoever you are,No matter your age, a gap year for yourself is necessary!
Do you know yourself well? Do you have moments when you purely enjoy and focus on what you want?Wouldn't it be very regrettable to grow old without knowing yourself or trying what you want to do?
If anyone is considering taking a gap year,First, I think you should figure out what you like.For someone who dislikes travel, a travel gap year would be a waste of time, money, and energy. It's more efficient to identify what you like and build your gap year around that!
