I can still see my 18 year old self sitting on the couch with my parents, pondering whether or not he should take the chance to go to the USA to combine swimming and school. I wish that I was able to tell him that he is about to make the best choice of his life.

During the EJK in Hodmezovasarhely in 2016, I received a message on Facebook from the sprint coach of NC State, he was impressed by my swimming times and wanted me to swim for his university. At that point I just showed my parents and laughed, but this ended up being the first of many posts from American universities, but the fact that it was the first made me think it was special. At one point I was so overwhelmed by all the emails from universities that I definitively said no to the offer to go to America.

A year passed and I got a new offer in the mail, one from the University of Hawaii. This intrigued me, who wouldn’t want to live on a tropical island and enjoy nature and the beach for 4 years for free? From that moment on, I started considering it again, and had a couple calls with universities one of which was the sprint coach NC State (then #4, now #4). I also considered other schools such as Arizona State (then #20 and now #1, led by the coach who raised Michael Phelps, Bob Bowman), Harvard University (then #18 now #unranked, for its insane academic opportunities) and the University or Texas at Austin (then #1 now #6, because my current coach Marcel Wouda had good contact with the head coach). I ended up taking a trip to NC State and it immediately felt at home, the boys radiated fun and I noticed the eagerness of the program.

Ultimately, I ended up having some of the best years of my life in America. I had grown on all fronts, as a swimmer and as a person, and completed a degree in Materials Science. As a swimmer, I have learned how to rise above myself at the most important moments and how to deal with the enormous pressure that comes with being a college athlete, I have learned how to push myself through the toughest moments in training, I I have learned how to plan out my life, and I have learned how to be a teammate, not only to improve myself as a swimmer but also to inspire my teammates to improve as swimmers. And therefore improve as people. It JS hard to put into words what exactly life as a student-athlete does to you, the only analogy that comes close is that student-athlete life is like a 4-year life boot camp where you earn tools that you then put in a giant toolbox. These tools you can then use throughout the rest of your life. In America, being on a college swim team is highly respected and your chances of getting hired by a company are higher because they know what tools you have. I am extremely grateful for that enormous toolbox that I now have.

I have accomplished a lot as a swimmer at NC State. In the 4×50 medley relay I became national champion in a national record. Here I swam the second fastest 50 butterfly split in history. In addition, I was part of 9 other top 5 performances with NC State relays, one of which I ended up splitting the 4th fastest relay split ever in the 50 free. Individually, I finished in the top 12 at NCAA championships 8 times.