“Magyarorszàgon nyaraltan,” or as it is expressed in English, Agota Csiki-Fejer is simply saying she vacationed to Hungary over the summer for school. After two weeks of study at a private school in Esztergom, a north-western city in Hungary, Hungarian junior student Csiki-Fejer returned from her summer class to the United States.

Her trip to Hungary was to prepare her for college there.

“The point was to evaluate how much I’m behind in the Hungarian school system, and just give me a view of exactly what I need to do in order to get into the college I want to go to and my friends want me to go to,” Csiki-Fejer said.

The school in Hungary is different than Parkway West High. Students have a different schedule with different classes every week, requiring a flexible learning process. Nineteen different subjects are studied in total.

“[It] was a lot more competitive, taking into account that you have to take an entrance exam and have a social conversation with some of the administrators in order to get in the school,” Csiki-Fejer said.

The only thing that remained constant for Csiki-Fejer were her classmates.

“The class was always the same. I was always with the same people. It was a very close group. Classes were considered basically your extended family, and it has been the same way for about seven or eight years for most people,” Csiki-Fejer said.

Altogether, Csiki-Fejer was gone for two months, traveling outside of Hungary to Germany and Italy as well.

“It feels relieving to be back in St. Louis. But I miss Esztergom. A lot. As much as I didn’t think I would, I miss it,” Csiki-Fejer said.

Csiki-Fejer’s brother, freshman Matyas Csiki-Fejer, has his own opinion on how the trip changed her.

“She has seen a lot of things,” M. Ciski-Fejer said. “[She’s] competent. Multi-faceted. And Experienced.”

German teacher Michael Kloster has also observed changes in A.Ciski-Fejer after the summer.

“She’s more ready to go. After the bell rings, she always has her books out,” Kloster said.

Additionally, being bilingual, A. Csiki-Fejer speaks Hungarian at home and English fluently at school.

“When one speaks another language, they have an advantage over others because they know how the learning process works,” Kloster said.

A. Csiki-Fejer plans to apply for college in Hungary in the fall of 2015.

“My parents suggested that I go back to school, considering I may as well go to college there–not necessarily the same college, same city–but the system doesn’t change much. Our family will eventually move back to Hungary,” A. Ciski Fejer said.