Hailing from the dry and dusty climate of Mauritania, a country in northwestern Africa, soccer player Fatima Ba’s home country has allowed her to find her own way in life.

When she moved to New York about six years ago, Ba was excited to know that she could get many more opportunities here than she could back in her home country.

However, that doesn’t mean that the transition was easy. According to Ba, it was a huge culture shock.

“Having lived over there, I feel people will have the idea that America is supposed to be like what you see on television,” said Ba, an accounting major with a minor in finance, currently enrolled in the five year program. “But when I actually got here it was very different than what I had imagined.”

Ba’s preconceived notions of America included an image of rich white Americans who get through life rather easily, “throwing money on the floor.” But she quickly learned it wasn’t like that at all.

“It seems kind of stupid now when I think about it, but that’s what I thought it would be like,” said Ba, “but very quickly I realized it’s a very capitalistic society. You have to work hard for everything; you need to pay the bills for everything, which sucks.”

That capitalistic thinking and having to work hard for everything makes American society a bit more individualistic, something that Ba finds very different from her country’s ideals. Whereas people here tend to just look out for themselves, Ba explains that back in Mauritania there is more of a communal feeling.

“It’s a very rural society where people really share more things with one another,” Ba said. “Everyone really shared their work with one another, they worked together, you know, it wasn’t just in the workplace.”

Another challenge that Ba faced as she made her transition to American culture was the fact that she did not speak any English.

When she came over to the United States, she knew how to speak Sulani- her native language-, Wolof, French, and Arabic, but not knowing English made her first few months rather difficult.

“I was taking three periods of ESL (English as a Second Language) everyday, but it was really hard because my sister and I were the only ones who spoke any sort of African language,” said Ba, who has two sisters, with Ba being the middle child. “All the other kids were Asian or Hispanic so they at least had other people that they could talk to in their language.

“I remember that I wasn’t even able to go to class most of the time because I was just so lost, I didn’t know where to go. And then my parents would get a call from the school saying I cut class, but it wasn’t that I cut, I just didn’t know how to get there. It was very frustrating because I couldn’t even ask anyone for help.”

Ba didn’t let that stop her, however, as her language barrier was the precise thing that motivated her to learn English. She was determined to learn the language as quickly as she could, and with much perseverance and hard work, she was able to do just that.

Although the transition from Mauritania to New York had its challenges, Ba came with an “open-mind” which allowed her to embrace change, knowing that she had many more opportunities here.

“Like I said, I was kind of lost in the beginning, but once you get your foot in the door then all of the other doors open up,” Ba said. “For example, I was able to get an internship with E&Y [Ernst & Young, an accounting firm] my senior year of high school and that ended up opening all these doors for me. I found what I wanted to do and I know that I wouldn’t have gotten that opportunity in my home country.”

That internship, which was preceded by a high school business program that gave Ba a taste of what the real corporate world was like, has given Ba a sense of direction for her life, as she hopes to work for E&Y after graduation.

As someone who wants to travel the world, Ba appreciates the organizational structure and universal language that comes with accounting.

“I just love how structured accounting is,” said Ba, who hopes to stay in New York for a few years before venturing off to other parts of the world. “You can take an accounting course, you can earn your CPA and you can go anywhere with that. You don’t have to relearn anything if you go to another country, it’s something that transcends on a global scale.”

High aspirations are within reach for Ba, thanks to her many years of soccer practice, which have allowed her to develop several skills such as networking, realizing goals, and learning to overcome adversity.

The path to the soccer field began when Ba was twelve years old, as she began to watch games on her television, becoming more and more interested in the sport after previously dismissing it, believing that it was “stupid.”

“When I was younger I didn’t really appreciate it because I just thought it was a bunch of people running around, kicking a ball,” said Ba, who transferred over to Pace after two years at a junior college. “But after I actually started watching it a bit more, it began to look a bit more interesting. And then I started to go outside and play and it was fun.

“I would play with the boys in the neighborhood and I was always looking for ways to get better. If I saw one of the players do something that I didn’t know how to do, I would go outside and practice it until I got it right.”

Having finished her last season of soccer at Pace, Ba expresses mixed emotions, deeming her final weeks a “bitter-sweet” ending.

“It sucks because you wish you could go that extra yard, but at the same time I am happy that I can now focus on other things besides soccer,” Ba said. “But soccer is a part of me.”

A self-proclaimed tomboy, Ba is excited for what the future holds, but plans to stay involved with soccer in any way that she can.

“I plan to continue to play since I am not ready to hang up the cleats just yet,” Ba said.

No matter where Ba ends up, it is clear that her love of soccer and accounting are sure to bring her to new heights.