Imagine you are a freshman in college having to adjust being away from home for the first time. Now imagine your home is 5000 miles away in another part of the world, and in addition to living on your own, you are also adjusting to speaking a new language and learning a new culture.
Such is life for Stetson University volleyball freshmen Karmen Reivik and Eva Deisa, who arrived in Florida a month ago from their respective homelands of Estonia and Latvia in Eastern Europe.
“The whole culture here is different,” Deisa said. “For example, everybody says hi to you and is smiling to you. You can talk to a stranger without hesitating. You can talk to anyone on the street and ask for help. Back home, if you are strangers, then you are strangers.”
When it comes to American food, each one has a slightly different take on adapting to the new cuisine.
“The food is different,” Reivik said. “I am used to eating vegetables and no (fried foods).”
"I like it," Deisa said. "I can't wait to go to Wendy's, to Chipotle, and places like that."
Head coach Kristina Hernandez learned about Reivik and Deisa through an international scouting service. Hernandez reached out to both players via email, but Stetson was just one of several opportunities the players had to attend college in America.
Reivik decided to visit DeLand this past spring and was immediately impressed.
“I visited in March, and I really liked the campus,” Reivik said. “I liked the girls. They are so supportive. For me, the weather in Estonia is not so good. Here, it felt like heaven, like paradise. I had never seen palm trees and stuff like that before. (Stetson) is good academically, too.”
Unlike Reivik, Deisa made her decision to attend Stetson "in the dark" without visiting first.
“There were a lot of opportunities, but I chose Stetson because it is in Florida, and we can also play beach volleyball,” Deisa said. “I did not talk much with coach. I just knew it would be a good place. I felt it. The classes are small. It is a little campus. It's cool.”
Reivik and Deisa did not know each other prior to their recruitment by Stetson, but they soon struck a friendship on Facebook. Both said they would have come to Stetson even if the other one had chosen not to, but coming together made the transition a little easier.
The Hatter players and coaches have also helped with the transition, welcoming in the pair immediately and making them feel right at home.
“I am absolutely happy,” Deisa said. “I really like our girls on the team, they are really cool. What more could I ask for?”
“The coaches really support us and care for us,” Reivik added. “That is a really good thing to have here.”
While dealing with the differences in culture and food, one might think getting on the court and playing volleyball would be the easiest part of transitioning to America. However, that too provided its own set of challenges.
“It is definitely a different game,” Deisa said. “It is like learning a new volleyball. For example, we can't pass with our hands here. The defense is different. The block is different. The libero can serve. For five years we have been taught something else, and now we have to break those habits. That is hard.”
They have also had to learn a lot of new volleyball terms and sayings that had been previously unfamiliar. It occasionally takes a few more moments in practice to explain a coaching point, but the extra communication is a benefit to everyone.
Then, there are some things that never get explained and have to be learned on the fly.
“Did you notice we played a game for two sets, and then we go to the other room and talk about it?” Reivik asked. “I didn't know what was happening. We are just running somewhere and talking. It was so new for me.”
According to their coaches and teammates, Reivik and Deisa bring a spirited energy and a fun personality to the court every day.
"Eva and Karmen have been a pleasure to have in the gym with their energy and a little comedy," Hernandez said. "Eva is quite the character and comes out more and more each day. She is really funny with some of her mannerisms, like she jumped on the wall one day after missing a dig, or she'll twirl around the pole after missing a play. It's her competitive 'come on' to herself, but it's funny to the rest of us.
"Karmen works so hard for the team. She is a sweetheart and I don't realize how different some things are until she tells me. Both want our team to do well and they are so appreciative of being here and being a Hatter. I give both of them credit for being courageous enough to leave their country and be far away from family so that they can play volleyball and get a great education."
This weekend, Reivik, Deisa, and the rest of the Hatters will travel to Asheville, N.C. to participate in their third tournament of the season, the UNC Asheville Invitational. Stetson (0-7) will face Alabama A&M (1-8) on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and then will play Asheville (2-2) and North Carolina Central (0-3) back-to-back on Saturday at noon and 2:30 p.m.
Live stats will be available at UNCABulldogs.com. Live audio of the NCCU match will be available at NCCUEaglePride.com.
The Stetson volleyball twitter feed and the HatCheck text messaging system will provde in-game updates throughout the weekend as well.
