Students from Slovakia study at MSU-B

Students Roman Hadju and Jurka Orosová are currently studying at MSU-B and are in their second year of studies at C.S. Lewis High School, a five-year, bi-lingual program in Bratislava, Slovakia. They are part of an exchange program that allows students from MSU-B’s education program to do their student teaching at C.S. Lewis while students from the high school are allowed to attend MSU-B. Here, in their own words, is Roman and Jurka’s story:

Coming to study at a college in another country is an eye opening experience, yet alone if you haven’t even finished high school. But as odd as it sounds, that’s exactly what happened to us. Having two more years until graduation at our school in Slovakia, we flew over to Billings, MT to spend a semester at MSUB.

Since our majors are undecided, we are lucky enough to choose whatever course we want to and combine classes to our liking. We don’t have to focus on just one thing – in fact, our schedules are a healthy mix of fun and serious classes. We can basically try out anything we might possibly be interested in the future. As a result, choosing our actual majors will be so much easier because of this experience.

While getting to understand this diverse and different culture, our international group travels around the area almost every weekend. We got to explore Yellowstone, camp and hike in Glacier, take pictures with the presidents at Mt. Rushmore and so much more. Typical American holiday customs are new to us too – as much as we enjoyed Halloween, we can’t wait to see Thanksgiving.

We were only able to take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity thanks to Bill Simmons, who decided to fund our scholarships. We cannot express our thankfulness enough since these four months are surely to change our careers immensely and possibly will influence our whole lives.