Laura Szorenyi went from her Hungarian home town that housed more than 1.7 million people to a state whose entire population is only slightly larger than that.
The differences between her native Budapest and Institute, where she's now a freshman on the West Virginia State women's basketball team, are plentiful. She loves those differences, though. They've eased her transition to Division II college basketball and helped her to quickly become an integral member of the Yellow Jackets roster.
Szorenyi and WVSU wrap up their regular season beginning at 5:30 p.m. today at the University of Virginia College at Wise, then at 2 p.m. Saturday versus the University of Charleston at the Civic Center.
This season wasn't her first taste of American life or American basketball. She played one season at Scott County High School in Kentucky in 2012-13. That's where Yellow Jackets coach David Smith, the former head coach of Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, first heard of her. And when he learned she wanted to come back to the United States to play college basketball, he made sure she knew she was welcome at West Virginia State.
That welcoming feeling is one of the things Szorenyi enjoys about her time in both Kentucky and West Virginia. It's not that Budapest is a harsh city, but it's like most big cities, where people are on the go and don't spend much time in idle chit-chat with strangers.
"They wouldn't just come up to you [in Budapest] and talk to you out of nowhere," she said. "It was so funny to me when we went to Wal-Mart in Kentucky. We were standing in line and my host parents started talking to random people and I'm like, 'What's going on? We don't know these people.' "
That hospitality really helped Szorenyi bond quickly with her Yellow Jackets teammates. She played on teams in Hungary, she said, where it was the new player's job to introduce herself and join the group. It could take weeks for a young player to muster up the courage to say something.
That wasn't the case at State, Szorenyi said.
"I got here and everyone was like, 'Hey, Laura! How are you?' " she said. "They were so friendly to me. 'We're going to Subway, you want to come with us?' That was the first day."
Szorenyi already has made herself at home as a scorer. Her 15.7 points per game ranks seventh in the Mountain East Conference. It helps that she's not the normal freshman for reasons beyond her birthplace. A 20-year-old, Szorenyi was a member of the Hungary under-18 national team and spent plenty of time mixing it up with players both older and bigger. She said the European women's game is tough and physical, a more physical brand of basketball than she has seen in the U.S.
When Szorenyi drives to the hoop, she expects contact and knows how to play through it.
"It helped me to be good here," she said, "because I learned how to play against teams who are aggressive, who foul you all the time and they never call it. It helped that I could adjust here."
Smith said her maturity as a freshman has been crucial in her ascension.
"Being older, she's more mature than a freshman coming out of high school," he said. "I think her playing experience enabled her to fit in a little quicker. She's a scorer and that's what she kind of expects from herself, so she was able to step up and do that."
As her first collegiate regular season winds down, Szorenyi understands she has plenty to work on for the future. She knows that it's not all about scoring, and wants to become a more consistent rebounder. The 5-foot-10 guard averages 3.7 boards per game, but has games where she'll pull down nine and games where she'll record none.
She also wants to add strength, which should help her down low and also improve her offense.
"I feel like, if I get stronger, there would be nothing to stop me driving and finishing," Szorenyi said. "Sometimes, when they foul me, I can't finish, and that's so irritating. I'm right there, they foul and I'm not strong enough to finish."
While she believes she can be a better scorer, Smith said Szorenyi already is effective in that department, not to mention confident.
"She's not afraid to take a big shot. She's not afraid to have the ball in her hands and say, 'Hey, we've got to get a basket, and I'll get it.' "