During 20 years of working at his family's supermarket in Pollenca on the Spanish island of Mallorca, Jose Luis-Reig, known as Pep, never gave a thought to the academic (学术的) world. It was only when visiting the classrooms of mainland universitates with his two teenage daughters that he suddenly felt himself at home among the books and atmosphere of learning.
After school Pep had intended to do a degree in biology at Barcelona University but had been called on to help run the family business instead.
But the question of "What's my role in life?" still kept coming back to him. It wasn't until a year later that the answer suddenly struck him. When he was at school, other children would come to him with their problems. He became famous and so was invited onto local radio, where the interviewer said, "You're like a young psychologist."
Pep was no stranger to change. The family business had originally been a sawmill (锯木厂), but when Pep, then 27, was asked if he wanted to take over, he decided to transform the mill into the town's first supermarket.
One day in the shop, what the radio presenter said came back to him. After running the idea past his family, he applied to university in Palma to study psychology and, aged 46, was accepted.
"I had to get used to being much older than all the other students," he says. "In fact, I was older than my professor. But I believe disadvantages can always be advantages. And I ended up helping the others because I'd had more life experience that carries psychological impact, which could reflect classroom theory."
Pep came top of his year and impressed his tutors so much that he was offered a job researching and teaching, which he still does while studying for a master's in neuropsychology. Now 52, and still in the job, he adds, "My only regret is not having done it earlier."
