Sabina Oroszova had never tasted peanut butter before she arrived in the U.S. this summer. Now she’ll have it on her toast every once in a while.

The freshman forward from Slovakia has realized there are many different things about the U.S. compared to Slovakia – the food being one example.

“(Peanut butter) is fine,” Oroszova said. “I’ve never tried peanut butter and jelly.”

Since arriving in the states, Oroszova has realized she doesn’t like Mexican food because it’s too spicy, but she enjoys eating Chinese food with her teammates.

One of her teammates, sophomore Jordyne Crunk, said the team likes to eat out a lot, especially on off days.

Oroszova said some of the food is similar in Slovakia. Namely, worldwide chains like McDonald’s and Subway. There are even some similar superstores that resemble Wal-Mart in her native country.

“Everybody thinks Slovakia is some desert or forest,” Oroszova said. “Everyone asks me like, ‘Do you have McDonald’s,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah.'”

Oroszova said the climate in Slovakia is similar to Charleston – bitter cold winters and hot summers.

But Oroszova has also been surprised by some of the basketball equipment in the U.S. She said she’s been happy with a machine that passes basketballs to her and collects her rebounds. This way, Oroszova said she doesn’t have to spend half of her time chasing rebounds while she practices her shot.

A lot of the intricacies of a collegiate basketball program are similar to what Oroszova expected. She said she watched the movie “Love & Basketball,” while in Slovakia and saw what it would be like to be a part of a major college basketball program.

Through the movie, Oroszova learned what to expect; for example, Oroszova said her first knowledge of cheerleaders came from the movie.

However, just as Oroszova is learning and experiencing new things, her teammates are learning from her. Crunk said Oroszova sometimes teaches the team Slovakian words.

Crunk has also learned some unique things about her Slovakian teammate.

“Obviously her applesauce on her cereal,” Crunk said giggling.

The more Oroszova and her teammates get to know one another, the more Oroszova becomes comfortable, Crunk said.

At first, Oroszova got to campus and was a little shy, Crunk said. But once the team kept hanging out more and more together, Oroszova opened up.

“She got more comfortable being around all of us at one time, because let’s be honest 14 girls can be a little crazy,” Crunk said. “When you’re on the outside, we can get a little loud.”

Oroszova said all of her teammates have been great helping her with basketball, school and living in Charleston in general.

She said she was limited to what she could bring on her flight from Slovakia to the U.S. to fill her dorm room; however, she said her roommates, red-shirt freshman Katlyn Payne, has helped out a lot.

“Katlyn has a fridge, TV, so I can use it,” Oroszova said.

Crunk said Payne has to get a lot of credit for helping Oroszova get comfortable. She said Payne has always asked Oroszova if she wanted to go with her to do this or that.

Oroszova said she’s especially close with Payne and fellow freshman DeAnna Willis.

Oroszova also is thankful to assistant coach Rachel Galligan, who helped her get comfortable with the idea of coming to Eastern to play basketball.

“I talked to Rachel like every day,” Oroszova said of the recruitment process. “She told me about everything – school, basketball, the whole country.”

Oroszova said Galligan even helped Oroszova’s mom become comfortable sending her child to Eastern.

“(Galligan) told her this was a small school and so it was safe for me,” Oroszova said.

So Oroszova signed on the dotted line and committed to Eastern, and said she doesn’t hold back from telling people this was the best decision of her life.

Oroszova said Eastern’s coaches helped her get comfortable with their style of play but sending her game results and videos of the team playing, while she was in Slovakia.

Eastern head coach Brady Sallee said he can’t give Galligan enough credit for her efforts in recruiting Oroszova.

“Rachel had the ability, even though there might have been a language barrier at times, she was able to get Sabi to feel at ease with us and trust Rachel,” Sallee said. “I put her in that job for a reason and she’s made me look good.”

Sallee said one of the major reasons he was so interested in recruiting Oroszova was because she had a little bit of the American game already in her skill set.

However, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have challenges to overcome in the basketball transition to the U.S. style of basketball.

“The game is way, way different,” Sallee said.

Sallee said the American game is more physical and the helping defense is different than in Europe. He said the European style of defense is a lot of man-to-man, whereas Eastern plays a system based a lot of help defense.

Even so, Sallee said the sky is the limit with Oroszova because she has set goals to accomplish in coming over to the U.S.

“She wasn’t just coming over here to have fun,” Sallee said. “She has some very specific goals she wants to meet and this is going to help her do it.”

Oroszova said one of those goals is just to show this country what she has to offer on the basketball court.

Although she said she isn’t happy with her season so far, Sallee said he’s really excited about her potential. Oroszova has already showed her ability to block shots. She has 14 blocked shots this season, seven in the last three games.

“If she just continues to get better, one of these days it’s going to explode and everybody is just going to be shaking their head going, ‘How is that kid at Eastern Illinois,'” Sallee said.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].