04 June 2018

"To new students I would recommend that they learn new cultures and dare to take on new challenges."

Sun Jung Ahn arrived in Barcelona at the age of 18 from South Korea to study the Degree in Management of Technological Companies from La Salle-URL with a mention in Sports Management. During her stay, she lived with a local family in order to learn Catalan and Spanish, as the subjects of the degree are taught in English. This experience encouraged her to continue learning new cultures and, in her second year of studies, she decided to study an Erasmus course for one year in France. There, she started French classes and was able to work for EURO 2016 in Paris. She currently lives in Barcelona and works on the eSports company's eFootball.Pro project. We talked to her to learn about her experience.

Why did you decide to study the Degree of Management of Technological Companies at La Salle-URL?
I found it very interesting, not only because it offers knowledge in business administration and management, but also because of its technological component and the possibility of specializing in sports management. In addition, I considered the internationalization of the campus to be important.

 

How do you rate your experience on campus?
Coming to study in Barcelona has been a life-changing experience. On the one hand, I have grown as a person. Cultural diversity has been one of the aspects that has most marked me. At La Salle-URL the students live in a glocal (global + local) environment: not only did I have local colleagues, but I shared this experience with Scandinavian, French, Italian, American, etc. colleagues. On the other hand, living in Barcelona has also helped me to better understand my country. I have asked myself why some aspects of Korea, since there are things that I consider to be part of my daily life and, instead, they were totally unknown to my colleagues.

 

The Final Grade project has been rated as the best of your class.
This achievement makes me feel lucky to have people around me who have supported me along the way. The project was about the cultural adaptation of the Korean players of FC Barcelona's La Masia, as it brought together two of my main interests: sport and culture. The cultural adaptation in Barcelona is a process that I have also experienced personally, including working on the project. I spoke in Korean with the players, in Spanish with the staff of La Masia and in English with my tutor, Chris Kennett. This allowed me to capture both my case and that of the Korean players.

 

How has your insertion into the world of work been?
I stayed in Barcelona. Thanks to visits and talks from companies that made us in Sports Media & PR classes of the degree, I got to know Kerad Games. At the time, they needed help to conduct a Korean eSports market study for their new project, eFootball.Pro. That's how I started my new stage.

 

What would you recommend to future students?
I would like to insist that they learn new cultures and dare to take on new challenges. Because to grow up, we have to get out of the comfort zone. They will open up new visions and opportunities that they could never have imagined. I recommend that they travel a lot, learn new languages and make exchanges.

Sun Jung Ahn Former student of La Salle-URL's Degree in Technology Management, Sports Management