From Kyrgyzstan to Barcelona: How ESEI Taught Tansu Bilal to Think Globally
The Decision to Study in Barcelona
Tansu Bilal is a corporate lawyer from the Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia, a country nestled between China and Uzbekistan that, as she puts it, not many people in Europe have heard of. When she enrolled at ESEI International Business School to study her MBA in Business Management in 2019, she was already working as a lawyer. The decision to come to Barcelona was not about changing careers. It was about expanding the way she thought about the world.
“I was working as a corporate lawyer and I decided to do something connected to business,” she says. “Not just a law master’s, but something that bridges both worlds.”
She considered Italy, Germany and Spain before settling on Barcelona. The reasons were not purely academic. “Barcelona was sunny, it looked very fun and fresh,” she says. “I just had a heart for Barcelona.”
A former classmate from her bachelor’s degree had studied at ESEI a year or two before her, and when Tansu asked about the experience, the answer was straightforward: ESEI made everything smooth. Other schools in Barcelona felt more theoretical. ESEI felt different. “From the pictures, from the vibe, from the practical approach, I chose ESEI.”
Learning by Doing
What struck Tansu most about studying at ESEI was how grounded in reality the learning was. Classes were not built around textbooks and lectures alone. Students worked on real projects for real companies, went out to visit businesses, and were expected to apply what they learned in practical settings.
“It was very interesting to see it first-hand,” she says. “I remember how we went to Vueling Airlines and talked to them directly. It felt so special.”
Those visits did something she had not expected. They pushed her to think on a much larger scale. “Beforehand I was mainly thinking locally. But after listening to how these people were thinking, how they were doing things, how they were taking risks, I started to think more globally.”
Studying Through a Pandemic
Tansu’s time at ESEI came with an added challenge that nobody had planned for. She arrived in September 2019 and by February 2020, everything had changed. COVID-19 hit and the rest of her studies moved online.
“Everything was so bright and moving so fast before February,” she says. “We were doing many classes outside, in businesses, in different places. A lot of moving around.”
Then came the lockdown. Three months confined to her apartment in Barcelona, writing her final dissertation.
She finished her thesis and in fact, she wrote more than the required length and had to negotiate with the faculty to have all of it accepted. “All the parts were relevant,” she says with a laugh.
The Skills That Stayed With Her
When asked which skills from her master’s she still uses today, Tansu’s answer is immediate: networking.
“I really learned at ESEI how to talk to people. Not to be afraid of introducing myself, talking about what I do, where I do it, how I do things, to many different people.”
Coming from a country where most of her professional world had been local, arriving in a classroom full of students from every corner of the globe was an interesting challenge at first. “I felt very different in the beginning,” she admits. “So many people from so many places.”
But working through that feeling taught her something that has stayed with her throughout her career. Knowing how to talk, when to talk, what to say, and having the confidence to do it in any room, with anyone.
Life After ESEI
Tansu had planned to stay in Barcelona after graduating. The pandemic had other ideas. She returned to the Kyrgyz Republic and picked up her legal career where she had left it.
Five years on, she has grown considerably within her field. She holds her advocate licence, has taken on a wide range of cases, and now works as an in-house corporate lawyer for a manufacturing company, handling civil, corporate, and occasional criminal cases across everything the business requires.
The global perspective she developed in Barcelona has not faded. If anything, it has become one of her defining professional strengths.
Her Advice for Current Students
Tansu’s advice to anyone studying at ESEI today comes directly from how she approaches her own work.
“Do not be afraid to talk to people you want to work with or connect with,” she says. “If you like a company, go straight to them and say, I really like what you do, I want to work for you. No matter the answer, it is always a good thing to do.”
It is the kind of directness that Barcelona helped her find, and that she has carried with her ever since.
“Do not wait for an opportunity. Create the opportunity.”
Explore ESEI’s Programmes
👉 If you’re considering starting your own journey in Barcelona, explore ESEI’s Short Courses, Bachelor’s and Master’s and MBA programmes and see how we can support you on your study abroad journey.
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