Off to a foreign country

From Germany to South Korea: Joel has lived in Suwon since 2023. Located around 50 km south of Seoul, Suwon is the capital of the Gyeonggi-do province. In an interview, the graduate of the Bachelor's programme in Business Administration at the Faculty of Business and Economics talks about his life in Korea.

How long have you been living in Korea, and what prompted your decision to emigrate?

I emigrated to South Korea with my wife in 2023. My Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Göttingen paved the way for this decision. As part of the course, I participated in several internationalisation programmes run by the faculty and InDIGU (Integration and Diversity at Göttingen University), and I completed a semester abroad at Seoul National University in South Korea.

This gave me the opportunity to network with students from all over the world while studying in Göttingen and Seoul, and to gain valuable international experience. Consequently, emigrating to South Korea felt like jumping into lukewarm water.

My decision to move my life to South Korea was cemented when my wife received a promising job offer there for her next career move. Thanks to my time spent studying abroad, I was already familiar with life in South Korea, so we took the plunge. Moreover, having spent a semester there before, I already had friends in South Korea, which made it much easier for me to integrate and learn the language.

Are you planning to live in Korea permanently?

My wife and I plan to continue living in South Korea in the future. With this in mind, I have prioritised language acquisition and integration into Korean society from the outset. Even during my bachelor's degree, I knew that I wanted to gain professional experience outside Germany.

I completed a Master's degree in International Business at the University of Tübingen, building on my Bachelor's degree from the University of Göttingen. I then started my career as a project manager specialising in international social media campaigns at a marketing agency.

Thanks to my studies in Göttingen and Tübingen, I was able to lay a solid foundation in economics, particularly marketing, and gain valuable international experience. Furthermore, my participation in the Study Buddy Programme at the University of Göttingen's Faculty of Business and Economics - initially as a participant and subsequently as a leader - provided me with valuable insights into intercultural communication and project management with an international focus. This knowledge has been invaluable to me both when I started my career and now in South Korea.

What are your plans for the future?

I have already gained work experience in social media marketing in South Korea. Currently, I am volunteering in marketing and video production at the Gangnam Global Village Centre in Seoul's Gangnam district, which supports expats living in the city. My long-term goal is to work as a project manager at a marketing agency in South Korea.