When a summer or winter break draws close to an end, we always hear about groups of students who went on a trip; if you have spent your past holidays chatting with friends on Kakao Talk or watching dramas like a couch potato, you will probably feel an urge to organize such trip next time.
In order to find out Postechians’ (undergraduates only) values, students were encouraged to participate in a survey carried out from Aug. 11-14. A total of 130 undergraduates -74% male and 26% female - responded to the survey.
72% of participants said they travel during either summer or winter break or both, which shows that majority of Postechians enjoy traveling. They preferred traveling with friends (56%) to going alone (24%) or with families (20%), probably because they find it more exhilarating to travel with those who share similar interests. Nearly half of the participants visited places within Korea (45%). The other popular destinations were Europe (21%), South East Asia (20%), and North/South America (11%). Despite the prediction that the percentage of participants visiting South East Asia would be higher than that of Europe, statistics show that the percentages are more or less the same. This result is further supported by the fact that Postechians chose attraction (38%) over cost (34%), suggesting that Postechians are willing to visit well-known attractions even if traveling expenses may be burdensome. Regarding the goals they expect from travelling, they pointed out that they want to involve themselves in once-in-a-lifetime experiences that include exploration of diverse cultures, a plethora of food and historical monuments (45%) as well as to broaden their knowledge (18%). Others consider traveling just another form of relaxation (18%) and as a means of escaping from one’s repetitive daily routine (8%).
Every individual viewed traveling in a positive way. According to the participants, they agreed that there were inevitably tiring moments due to obstacles they faced but they all felt that those were just a minor downside of traveling. Some highlighted that “escape-from-daily-routine” effect was surprisingly far greater than what they previously thought was the main goal of travelling; that was to broaden their knowledge. Meeting new people, trying out local foods, and experiencing different life patterns made various participants realize how “robotic” and narrow-minded they were. Traveling served as a chance for them to look back and make adjustments to their current perspective of life. They also noticed some unexplainable changes about them and felt that they matured while traveling. Those who travelled alone said that it gave them a golden opportunity to think deeply about everything and catch up on things they may have missed during hectic school days.
Travelling is meaningful in many different ways, but they all agreed one thing: the world is vast and you have much to learn. Here is a tip from the participants to those who plan on going on a trip during the next break: Always plan ahead and research the places you will be visiting if you want to learn more, and don’t be afraid to invest more in the trip.