Irina Balus Naviagtes a New Life within the United States

Each transition is different for each international student- athletes. Cavill’s story may hit home for many others like him, but no story is the same.

Especially for Duke women’s tennis player Irina Balus, whose transition hit her and her family much harder than expected. A native of Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, Balus struggled with the transition both on the court and in the classroom for her first year as a Blue Devil. 

 

Durham, North Carolina, offered quite the culture shock for Balus when she first stepped foot onto campus.

Duke University offers more than top-notch athletics, it offers a top-notch education in which all students, athletes or not, are held to the same standards. 

Having been a top athlete and student, Balus had struggled to find her footing in the classroom. 

 

“The first few weeks were tough, because I felt like my English was always good, but I never studied in English. 
So I liked writing essays and having discussions in English was tough, but I forced myself and challenged myself to be more active in classes, and I think that's the only way I will improve… School in America has a very different education system from what we have back home. The first three weeks were very challenging, but now I'm starting to like it. My team has helped in transitioning.”

 

Like school, Balus explained that tennis is also played differently than how she had grown used to back at home, saying that:

 

“I think what I was missing back home was playing a lot of matches and having a lot of practice matches. 
It was usually like individuals, and with coaches. So that's why I didn't have that rhythm yet. Now that we're playing so many fun games during practice and playing a lot of matches, I have gotten that rhythm, and I don't have to think about tennis when I am playing the match. That mindset helped me a lot in this since I feel like I improved, like I got more competitive, and I got more confident in my game.”

 

However, no matter how much easier the transition had become regarding school and tennis, Balus explained that what never gets easier is being so far from home.

Having now been in completely different time zones, talking to her family has been limited to a few 20-minute phone calls a day. 

 

“I'm very, very close with my family, so we talk twice a day for like 20 minutes. 
So we have to figure out times in between classes and in between practice, because when I'm free in the evening, it's like in the middle of the night there, so I can call them. So it's been really hard, but I think I'm managing pretty well.”