Which way...

“What do you plan on doing when you get out of school?”

People constantly ask you this, but you honestly have no idea how to answer. At least, that’s what Myung Soo thought when professors would come up to him with the question. He really didn’t think beyond his university years as to what he truly wanted from the world after he left the safe haven. He knew he would be taking pictures, but to what capacity, he had no idea. He had always imagined himself travelling the world, taking on the grandeur of Earth one scene at a time. But travelling required money, and lots of it. So, he was stuck here for the time being.

The only reason this popped up in his mind in the first place was after one of his professors had come up to him with the question, otherwise it wouldn’t be crossing his mind so frequently. He was pulled aside during one of their seasonal showings by his photography prof and introduced to a guest who had been visiting from New York. He had clumsily introduced himself with the English he could remember from high school to greet the older male, who had a genial smile on his face.

“He said that he likes your work, and asked what you were planning to do after you graduate.”

He was months off from graduation, but the question made him halt and take a step back to look at where he was at now. What kind of options did he have in front of him? He was already assisting in teaching for his photography course, he knew fairly well that he had the patience and vigour to teach if he wanted to, but that old dream of travelling would appear in the back of his mind like a beacon waiting to be lit.

“He’ll leave his card with you.”

New York Institute of Photography

He had been scouted, of sorts, and now he was clearly stuck at a fork in the road. He wanted to go, of course he wanted to go. It would be a whole new experience, a whole world outside of Seoul that he could venture. But, he had no idea if he could leave the comfort of the country he was born in. Everything would be different: he would have to make new friends, learn a new language well enough to communicate, assimilate with the culture – how did people study abroad without the support of those close to them without them actually being physically near?

Even though he moved out of his parent’s home, he still visited whenever he had a day off, always called whenever he wasn’t busy. He couldn’t imagine being away without his family. The friends he had made over the years were also close, attending the same university, living in the same officetel or are always in a place close by. The farthest he ever travelled was to Jeju, and that was with his classmates for their senior year of high school.

For all his confidence in his bluntness, in his decisive, and even obsessive nature, he was stuck at the crossroads.

He didn’t know what to do.

... should I go?

Chapter 07: wander(lust).