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#Restored life energy and a renewed spirit of challenge #New inspiration and local cultural experiences #Took time for self-reflection
Everyone joined Gap Year with the same worries and concerns as I had, and in the endSeeing people overcome and conquer those things themselves through Gap Year made me think I could do it too. -Enjoy both the fun of travel and the moving experience of volunteering! Enjoying a volunteer trip to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam / Choi Da-young, Gap Year participant (gapper) |
# I wanted to regain the energy for my life.
Hello! My heart is always in my twenties, but in reality I''m a working woman in my thirties.Until my twenties I had many things I wanted to do and was always challenging myself with new experiences,But once I got a job and became a working person, the reality was that I couldn''t do everything as I pleased.
With the boring routine of company–home repeating, I fell into a rut and increasingly felt like I was losing myself. SoI wanted to use this opportunity to take on a new challenge, rediscover the person I had forgotten, and regain my life energy.
I had been following the Korea Gap Year website with interest, reading projects and reviews and feeling vicariously satisfied, and this time with the long holiday I could take a slightly longer vacation, so I decided to participate in a Gap Year project.
Before departure I carefully read the orientation materials provided by Gap Year! I prepared for the trip by filling out the orientation materials one by one, so there weren''t any major difficulties.
Traveling while volunteering, meeting not only Western friends but also local friends! Just hearing that sounded so fun and made my heart flutter after a long time!! So going abroadI had no worries at all about staying and adapting, but what I was most worried about was living with unfamiliar foreign volunteers in an unfamiliar place.
If I were good at English the burden would have been less, but since I''m not good at English I worried whether I could fit in. It''s not something I can do alone—I have to live with others—so I worried if I could do well. I had those worries the most. But worrying doesn''t solve anything, so I soothed myself with the mindset ''let''s just dive in!'' I downloaded English conversation dictionary apps, everyday conversation apps, a Vietnamese phrase app, and thought that if I used Google Translate diligently it would work out somehow. ^^;
Above all, I thought that whether it turned out good or bad, it would be a valuable experience either way.Ah! Reading the reviews over and over really helped. Everyone joined Gap Year with the same worries and concerns as I had, and in the endSeeing others overcome and conquer things themselves through Gap Year made me think I could do it too.
# I wanted to feel alive.
Through this Gap Year, I hoped that new experiences different from my usual life wouldbring a bit more stimulation and vitality to my life.
And I hoped this experience would be an opportunity and starting point to grow one step further. While giving myself relaxation and healing from the repetitive daily life and work, I wanted to feel alive by doing what I like and what I wanted to do!
I wanted to revive that pure, dreamy, and adventurous spirit from before—the one that hadn''t been worn down or stained by society.
I had wanted to try overseas volunteering since university, but back then I didn''t have the courage and felt financial pressure, so I couldn''t easily take on the challenge. I thought I''d do it later when I earned more money,
But after getting a job and working, I found that I had money but not time. I regret that I should have worked more part-time during university to be able to go ㅠㅠSo this time, adding the hard-won vacation onto the golden holiday, I decided to challenge myself with overseas volunteering. I really felt that if not now, I might never get the chance.At this time I kept wondering, is it right to simply want to do this? I have many things I must do. Most people worry between what they must do and what they want to do. In my case, the answer to that worry was,What I have to do now is what I want to do! That was it.
So while looking into overseas volunteer programs, I—being a working professional—looked for a project I could do within about two weeks, and among them I wanted a volunteer activity where I could take it a bit more relaxed and enjoyably spend time with children. But because the gap year projects offered such a wide variety of volunteer activities, I couldn’t choose on my own, so I requested a consultation from Gap Year.
The counselor recommended things suited to my personality and what would be helpful for me, and I ultimately decided on this project in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam because it included a city tour and cultural classes, the schedule wasn’t tight so I could freely use my free time for travel, and I could work with children.
Capturing the growth journeys
of our participants.
