College is a hard transition for most. It can be especially hard as a student-athlete, harder as an international student-athlete, and even harder still as a former home-schooled athlete.

Despite all the adjustments, Iowa women’s tennis freshman Anastasia Reimchen, who hails from Forest Row, England, is taking things in stride. She has only been on campus a few short weeks, but she is starting to get things figured out with help from her teammates.

“They’ve been a big part of my adjusting,” she said.

 Her teammates said they are more than willing to help.

“It’s good to try to help the freshman into college life,” said said senior Morven McCulloch, who is from Scotland.

After being home-schooled during her high-school years, Reimchen said one of the toughest parts about coming to America has been getting used to the classroom setting.

“It’s tough being surrounded by people again,” she said. However, she said, she has enjoyed being a college student and exploring Iowa City.

“I fell in love right away on my official visit,” she said. “I came in, and it just felt right.”

She said the food in America is very different from the food in England, and, generally speaking, Iowans are nicer than their neighbors across the Pond.

In addition to burritos from Atlas Restaurant, which, Reimchen said, are her favorite food in town, she has also gotten a taste of Big Ten football. She said she sat in the front row of Iowa’s season-opening win over Northern Iowa — which was also her 19th birthday.

But however different the classroom and the city, her sport, tennis, is the same across oceans, and head coach Katie Dougherty said that while it is still early in the season, Reimchen has had a positive effect on the team so far.

Reimchen hopes to be one of the top six players in the spring, and she seems to have a good chance of doing so. The top six compete individually in matches.

Before coming to Iowa, The 5-7 Reimchen toured Europe, competing in 17 countries on the International Tennis Federation Junior circuit and reaching a rank of number 503.

“She’s done a great job in practice so far,” Dougherty said. ”[Reimchen is] already a good teammate; she has great energy.”

Dougherty said Reimchen picked up the verbiage used by the team for drills right away.

“We clicked right away,” Reimchen said about her coach, and Dougherty said she is pleased with what Reimchen has shown so far.

Regardless of what happens, Reimchen has already made an impact on her coaches and teammates.

“She’s a super positive person,” Dougherty said. “She’s added a lot to the team.”