A story that changed my mindset forever...

1. Introduction. I have never told this story to anyone before. When I was a sophomore at medical university, I got hooked on K-dramas. Back then, I dreamed of visiting South Korea, making new friends, and doing something incredible in my life. My sister had gone on an exchange program to Germany, and she advised me to look into academic mobility in Korea. I found everything out and gathered the necessary documents to apply. The only thing was that I didn't have an IELTS score; the requirements were very strict, even tougher than a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick. But I’m the kind of person who is constantly lucky—that year, many students didn't apply, so there was a shortage, and that’s how I won a semester of free study abroad.

2. My experience. So, I arrived in a small but very beautiful city, Daejeon. Since my friend and I arrived later than the other students, unfortunately, there were no spots left in the dorm. We rented a small studio apartment. We immediately liked our neighbors. One woman, about 40 years old, found out we were international students and invited us to dinner; she was very kind and responsive. She was short, with a kind, round face and small fingers. Her name was Mi-cha. Over the next two months, my friend and I hung out with Mi-cha closely, went to Korean bars in the evenings, and talked about various topics. She always looked tired, as if spending time with us was a breath of fresh air for her. Once, she complained about her boss, saying he wouldn't give her any days off. We didn't pay much attention to it and decided to change the subject. My friend and I started our exams and had little time. Mi-cha called us, but we said we could meet in a week because of the tests. We passed all our exams well and decided to celebrate, gathered all our acquaintances, and also called our kind neighbor, but she didn't pick up the phone. We decided she was busy. But my heart felt that something was wrong, yet I decided to brush it off. About a week passed after our last call to Mi-cha, and we decided to knock on her door, but no one opened. I thought she hadn't returned from work yet; it was 8:00 PM. All this time, there was an unpleasant smell on our floor, but we thought it was normal. Literally a week later, when it got warmer, our hallway started to stink terribly, as if someone had died. One of the neighbors called a disinfection company. A team arrived, smelled the hallway, and immediately called the police. The police and a medical team arrived very quickly, checked all the apartments, and realized the smell was coming from Mi-cha's apartment, then broke down the door. To our great sorrow, we found out that Mi-cha had died in her kitchen from exhaustion. The police took the body and disinfected our hallway. We were interrogated until morning and then released. To say we were in shock is an understatement. I cried a lot at night and felt guilty. I remembered her saying, "The boss won't give me days off," and thought, how is that possible? Just quit if he doesn't give you days off! It turns out Koreans consider quitting worse than death, and that was their culture. This is what shocked me: people could work 18 hours a day, 6 days a week—workaholics is an understatement. Then I remembered the Japanese term 'Karoshi' (過労死), meaning death from overwork. This term fit this case, which is very sad...
   This tragic incident during my visit to Korea changed my mindset about work and rest. I learned the lesson of a lifetime: there must always be a balance between work and life. Unfortunately, they don't teach this at university, but cultural exchange taught me.

3. Do we often think about death? In one podcast, the head of the BI Group recommended the book 'Chasing Daylight'. It is the best book I have ever read. There is an interesting case from his life in it. The book describes the life of the CEO of the auditing firm KPMG, Eugene O'Kelly. On May 10, after a conversation with a doctor, he finds out he has about three months to live. They found a golf-ball-sized tumor in his brain. He begins his autobiography with such irony. The way this man relates to his work impressed me, and I would like to give an example from the book: Eugene O'Kelly says that he tried for a very long time to arrange a meeting with the president of a company they wanted to sign a contract with, but always heard from his secretary that the president was busy. So, he decided to find out the president's next trip from the secretary and discuss it with him during the flight. He bought tickets for the same flight and class as the president, flew 22 hours from New York to Sydney, and then immediately to Melbourne to personally talk to the president of that company about why his company should take on the audit. I think you are also struck by this man's determination. But with the realization of death, these achievements and career become dust. His main regret becomes that in the pursuit of a career, he spent very little time with his loved ones. The author writes that in 27 years of marriage, he and his wife had dinner together only twice.

4. Conclusion. This book touched my soul because each of us can see ourselves in it. We always live waiting for something, always waiting for the convenient moment to be happy. When we achieve joy, we always want to prolong it, forgetting to simply enjoy it. Then I decided for myself that I would like to fulfill my long-held dream: to visit the United States of America. I believe that travel changes our consciousness, broadens our horizons, and you gain invaluable experience and new acquaintances. I would also like to visit the KPMG company, go to Eugene O'Kelly's grave, and, of course, if possible, meet his daughters. And now, I am immensely happy and grateful that we have the opportunity to see the world through exchange programs; this is something that must be taken advantage of, because we won't be young forever.