Looking back, she sees her parents and brother trailing closely behind. Slightly panting, they continue upwards, their feet crunching under rocks and grassland that is native to the Czech Republic. They reach an outlook and stop to admire the vast landscape of the country. The family is at an elevation of 5,259 feet on the top of Sněžka. They have reached the highest point of sophomore Karolína Rooney’s homeland.

Every summer, she and her family leave Kansas City and return to the Czech Republic for three weeks to visit her grandmother and extended family. Although the atmosphere is different from Kansas City, she feels right at home. By now, Rooney is used to biking around the towns and trailing through the forests, visiting the castle ruins and experiencing the bustle of Prague.

“It’s funny because when we go people always think we are tourists until we respond to them in Czech,” Rooney said. “They are always surprised.”

Rooney was born in the Czech Republic, and her mother is a citizen of the country.  Although she left the Czech Republic when she was only a year old, she continues to embrace the Czech culture in America. She speaks Czech at home and eats their traditional meals. Her favorite meal is potato dumplings, pork and red cabbage.

“My family really tries to balance both cultures to experience everything,” Rooney said.

A 13 plus hour flight from Kansas City to the Czech Republic leaves Rooney feeling homesick when she isn’t there.

“Sometimes I wish I lived there, just because of all the fond memories I have,” Rooney said.

She hates being so far away from her extended family. Rooney tries to keep up with them through Skype at least once a month. The visits to the Czech Republic are much anticipated in her family.

“There is a seven hour time difference, so sometimes it is difficult to talk to them.” Rooney said. “The other difficult thing is planning time for travel, because we really have to manage our summers schedules around the trip.”

Rooney always eagerly awaits being able immerse herself in the slower pace of life, listening to old family stories and taking walks in the forest outside her grandmother’s house.  Located about 2 hours outside of Prague, the countryside is what Rooney says is indescribable.

“It’s like coming home.” Rooney said.

To Rooney, home is both places. Her nationality is American and Czech.

“I am American in the sense that I live here,” Rooney said, “but people here know something is different about me, and there is.”

At school, her classmates don’t immediately recognize her for her place of birth. Some see the accent over her name, but few know her origin.  

“It’s not something you would notice about her right away,” sophomore Reagan Amato said, “But it makes her the person she is.”

She looks out across the long ridges of the Krkonoše mountain range. High up on Sněžka, she sees far into her homeland. Surrounded by family, she realizes what a blessing it has been growing up in the different cultures.  She has found her stability and balance within both. And from her viewpoint, it couldn’t get much better.