[Transnational] Sport as a tool for social change

Students in Dream Together Master Program in September 2013 at Seoul National University

Chasing my dreams with Seoul academic life
Anoma Rathnayake·Sri Lanka·Dream Together Master, SNU

“Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.”

The above quote by Malcolm X inspires me a lot. As a student from Sri Lanka, I am very eager to get a higher level of academic exposure in the field of sport management and make a significant impact in Sri Lanka in terms of sport.

When I arrived here in Korea, I felt that I was on the right track to pursue my future goals. Studying at Seoul National University is an opportunity to prove myself. I believe this opportunity was provided to me as a reward for my extensive commitment as a volunteer in the Olympic education programme in Sri Lanka.

In Sri Lanka, there are no qualified teachers of sports management. Before I joined the Dream Together Master Program, I thought sport management was quite easy, but now I have come to understand its complexity and depth. My country has a big gap in terms of sport education and I hope to contribute to filling this gap by sharing my knowledge and experience to many programs including the National Olympic Committee and Sri Lanka’s advanced sports management course.

So far, my student experience of academic, social and welfare activities has been very positive. Expanding my knowledge in the field of sport has been very valuable. This knowledge, its application, experiences, developing of personal skills and building good relationships with different nationalities and cultures has been very rewarding.
Engagement with other international students and the sharing of experiences with them supports me to reach to another level of my personality.

Before coming here, I knew that recent industrialization and urbanization had changed the lives of South Koreans to a great extent. I am happy to witness these changes here in Seoul in person. The people’s lifestyles are not very traditional although they keep traditional values.

I am fascinated with the Korean culture from the mentality to cuisine. I appreciate how Korean people try to look into the future rather than the past. I have noticed how their attitudes affect personal progress and the entire society. The beauty of nature, respect for others, helping one another, time management, happiness, the education system, healthy lifestyle, clean and beautiful environment are shaping the way society moves forward. I have also noted that Korean people are always trying to share their happiness with one another, which is a common trait among Asian nationalities. During the rest of my stay as a postgraduate student here in Seoul, I believe that I will be able pursue my dreams together with SNU’s Dream Together Master Program

A Dream Together Master class

My dream country Korea
Billy Castyana·Indonesia·Dream Together Master, SNU

Not only is it my first time to Korea, but Korea is a country of my dreams. I have dreamt of coming here since 2005, when I was a junior high school student. I got to know Korean pop as many of my friends were discussing Super Junior, one of the very famous boy bands. Since then, I became a big fan of Super Junior and possibly the only fan boy in my town.

I was born on December 29, 1991 in Cilacap Regency, Central Java Province on Indonesia’s main island Java. It can be reached by plane in about an hour from the capital city Jakarta. When I entered university in 2009, I started assembling my dream to be able to go to Korea and make my dream come true. I told my family, friends, teachers, and all that I wanted to study in Korea, at Seoul National University and major in sport management.

I was saying this even before I knew anything about the Dream Together Master Program, a scholarship program from the Korean government. I am very lucky to have been chosen to join this program because it gives me the opportunity to learn about sport management, which will be very useful to develop and promote sport in Indonesia.

Now I am in Korea, and my dream has come true. As you can imagine, I had great expectations of Korea. When I first arrived, I expected all Koreans to be extremely fashionable, handsome and gorgeous like the K-pop artists and that everything would be very comfortable. But, after a few days, I came to terms with reality and understood that Korea was not as perfect as I had imagined. However, after more than two months of staying in Korea, I began to feel much more comfortable.

As the youngest student of this program, I have also had the opportunity to meet, share and learn from the knowledge and experiences of my classmates, who are from diverse countries and sport backgrounds. I am learning much through sport governance and management classes as they help me to look at Indonesian issues in these fields. I realize that the sport system in Indonesia needs to be changed in order to overcome corruption. Field trips to a baseball game and The 2013 World Rowing Championships have also helped to expand my understanding of sport events.