Five undergraduate students from Slovakia are calling Iowa State home for the spring semester.

Jozef Bajkai, Zoltan Balogh, Jan Maly, Milan Beno and Radovan Okenko arrived on Jan. 2 and will spend the rest of the semester studying at ISU.

The men are here on a student exchange program with the University of Agriculture in Nitra, Slovakia and live in Linden Hall.

Bajkai, Balogh and Beno are majoring in agricultural economics while Maly and Okenko are agricultural engineering majors.

Iowa State is significantly larger than the University of Nitra, which has a population of about 5,000.

Both the opportunity to improve on their English and learn more about different cultures encouraged the men to participate in the exchange program.

“It is good to recognize a different style of living and take courses that will help me with my future job,” Beno said.

One of the biggest differences between college at the United States and Slovakia is the teacher-student relationship.

“In Slovakia, the government pays for college,” Balogh said. “The teachers have a better attitude because their job depends on it.”

“Teachers here look at you as an equal person,” Bajkai said. “The students also have a better attitude because they are paying for their classes.”

In addition to taking classes, the men also hold work study jobs. During spring break the men will be traveling to Virginia and will volunteer in a mining town.

All of the men will continue to study when they return to Slovakia. Beno is in his final semester of undergraduate studies, and he eventually hopes to earn a Ph.D.

Maly and Bajkai have one year of college left, and Okenko has one and a half years left while Balogh has two years of school left.

“This has been a great experience and a lot of fun,” Balogh said. “Everything different is a good experience.”

Okenko joined the ISU hockey team when he arrived at ISU in January. “I appreciate the coach and the team and all they do for me,” he said.

For the past five years, Iowa State and the University of Agriculture in Nitra have run a reciprocal academic exchange program.

Five undergraduate students from Slovakia spent the fall 1995 semester taking classes at ISU.

In the spring and summer semesters of 1996, five ISU students went to Slovakia to live with a host family.

“We learn things about Slovakia as they learn things about Iowa,” said Eduarda Becerra, secretary of the International Agriculture Program at ISU.

“We hope to bring more students over and send other students back to Slovakia.

The International Agriculture Programs are currently looking for ISU students who would like to spend six weeks in Slovakia this summer and earn six credits. The deadline to apply is March 7.

To apply, visit the Office of International Programs in 104 Curtiss Hall.