I’ve stayed in Korea for all my life, about 22 years and eight months. The longest duration I’ve spent outside of this country was a month, when I was 13 years old. That’s probably why I was always so mesmerized in films and books that were set on a foreign country. I’ve always doubted the word “high-teen,” which is a Konglish that comes from “high school” and “teenager.” In most circumstances, the term refers to the pop culture of young adults, widely used as a concept of idol groups.
“High-teen” usually brings out the bright, romantic, and positive vibes of teenagers. I used to question if that’s really something that exists among high school students in other countries, because, clearly, it’s not in Korea.
“You have the best four years ahead of you.” I remember teachers telling the students how wonderful life would be in college, how unbelievably sweet the freedom would be. That is, only if you succeed in getting into college. They surely did know how to get the kids motivated. Motivated enough to get up early and sleep late, to memorize and memorize, and to take the endless exams for granted. They make you think college would be a wonderland. Guess we just didn’t realize how long it’s been since they’ve graduated.
Once you graduate high school and become a college student, you suddenly experience a lot of freedom. Almost, too much freedom. I’ve seen plenty of kids lose their ways in college, after all the studying years they’ve endured for at least three years. Until then, somebody always told them what to do, which led to all the hovering once nobody did. I have no idea if this is a worldwide phenomenon, since, as I said, I’ve always set foot in this country.
In my case, I was always the one who tried to look ahead and prepare everything. Preparing and planning made me feel comfortable, and that’s why during my freshman year at Ewha, I tried to prepare junior and senior years by registering a lot of courses. COVID-19 actually took part, since students received three more credits due to online courses.
With the news screaming out the severity of unemployment, at some point, I found myself looking up recruitments in sophomore year. After spending a year at Ewha, I suddenly felt much older and felt like I should do something for my future. That’s when I applied for a lab internship in Computer Science & Engineering, and luckily got in.
Before summer break this year, I wandered through job recruitments in various companies, not really giving much thought about it, when one company caught my eyes. Without much expectation, I filled out my résumé, wrote a self-introductory paper, did an interview, and the next thing I noticed, I was receiving an orientation from Human Resources.
I quickly realized I was the youngest in the office. All the previous interns were more than 25 years old, so you can easily imagine how surprised my colleagues were when they found out I was a 22-yearold college kid. Since I am the oldest child in my family, and the oldest grandchild to my grandparents, I never really got the chance to be the maknae in the group. It definitely was a strange yet somehow pleasant feeling.
One thing I learned from 31 days at work, 22 years old is a young age. Second thing, there is no need to rush yourself through college years, wondering if you will be left behind. I don’t regret my years at college, which is about two and a half years, because I believe those times carved me into who I am at the moment. But one thing I wish might be different is to maybe spend my first and second years at college being fully focused on the present, not trying to cover things for the future.
What I do want to say to those spending their first or second years at college, is that you are young enough to take some time for something extra in your life, whether it be love, friendship, or both.
At high school, my friends used to use my name, Jane, as a verb, meaning “always in a busy mode.” I used to tell them to stop it, but deep inside, I liked the idea of being busy, and going through multi-jobs. That’s the person I am. Some may say that I am a boring person who doesn’t know how to enjoy life, but maybe I am. I may be a boring person, but I am never bored with my life. Never.
If you’re a busy person and you enjoy that life, like me, then just keep it that way. Be in the mode that makes you happy and assuring. However, if there are students out there who are trying to be busy just because all the others seem to be so, then I tell you, just enjoy your college life. You should graduate and be an adult some day, anyway. I may sound like an optimist, but you’ll agree with me next year, or the year after that. At the end of the day, you do have the best four years in front of you.