Nina Slezáková. Photo by Simone Feyereisen.
Nina Slezáková’s semester In Minnesota
Have you ever thought of spending a semester studying abroad? Learning about a new culture and place? That’s exactly what junior Nina Slezáková is doing as she joins us for this 2024 fall semester.
Slezáková is from Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia. She is a student at Minnehaha Academy’s sister school, C.S. Lewis Bilingual High School. She decided to come to Minnesota to have more experiences and gain independence.
Her favorite thing she has done so far was going to the state fair.
“I felt like an American there,” Slezáková said. “I ate a lot of American stuff.”
Slezáková said her favorite thing she tried was the cheese on a stick but the alligator “wasn’t too bad either”.
She is staying with the family of junior Isabella Hobbs, and first-year Harper Hobbs. They both said they really enjoy hosting her.
“She’s super funny and very clever,” Harper said.
Slezáková described an instance of culture shock she and her host family went through.
“The thing we fight most about in my host family is the AC,” she said. “Because you have AC everywhere, and we’re not used to it, so I was sick for the first two weeks I was here, but now, I appreciate it.”
She joined her host sisters on the courts this fall, playing on the Minnehaha girls tennis team. Slezáková’s mindset is to go with the flow and try new things.
“When I have an opportunity to do something,” she said, “I go, but it just flows.”