I was born in Michalovce, a little town on the east of Slovakia, a few days before the final and official split of Czechoslovakia. I grew up listening to stories my parents told me about their lives in communism. Most of my life I’ve seen people transitioning from one regime to another. Many times, my grandparents would say, you don’t understand because you did not live at that time, which taught me a lot about listening to others and looking at things from more than one perspective. These circumstances shaped my personality to a big extent.
When I was 15, I moved to second largest city in Slovakia to a boarding school. Since then, I feel like my life has been in a constant state of flux. I was in my second year of high school, when I applied to the United World College. My family could not support me financially, which lowered my chances for acceptance, because I eventually applied only for 2 schools. Fate, together with my national committee, sent me to a place far away from home, Montezuma, New Mexico.
UWC has been the most life changing experience for me so far. It helped me to learn so much about other cultures, taught me how to be a better person, gave me friends I will cherish forever and brought me to a girl I call my sister now. At the beginning I thought I knew myself well, but UWC helped me to get to know myself better and realize that I will be learning new things about me the whole life.
I chose Lewis and Clark because of the strong international program, beautiful surroundings and spectrum of opportunities in the study abroad department.
At Lewis and Clark I would like to major in International Affairs and Foreign Languages. I am a proud Eastern European and love Slavic languages, but am also interested in Italian, Spanish and German.
I believe that my experience at Lewis and Clark will provide me with basics for a successful life. I like to think about my life as a story that is being written by the pen in my hand and I hope my four years at Lewis and Clark will give me the opportunity to pride many unforgettable stories of my life.