It doesn’t take much for junior Adam Pavlinek to fill up his time.

Living in two countries will do the trick.

Ever since his seventh grade year, Adam’s mom, a scientist, and dad, a professor, have jobs in both Omaha and Prague that allow for Adam to live in Prague for the first half of the year and Omaha for the second half.

In August, Adam returns to Omaha with his dad and sister. After six months in Prague, Czech Republic, his family is back into their new schedule.

Adjusting to his Omaha schedule, Adam goes home during his open mods just to talk to his mom, who is still in Prague. Because of the time difference, this is one of the only times he gets to talk to her. Unfortunately, it’s too late to talk to her when he gets home from school, so he likes to take every chance he can get.

Read the rest of the Lance Issue Three here:

“The moves are difficult for everyone,” Adam’s mom Gabriela Pavlinek said. “There are times when things don’t work out and we don’t see each other for up to two months, but otherwise the whole family makes the move twice every year.”

He also takes every chance he can get to do homework. While Westside students are on fall break in October, Adam is studying for his school in Prague. His teachers overseas send him assignments over email and luckily for him, however, some of the classes he takes at Westside count for credits at his school in Prague: classes like math, literature, history and chemistry.

This balancing act is nothing new for Adam. From first grade to fourth grade, while living in the U.S. full time, Gabriela taught him basic classes with Czech schoolbooks. If she hadn’t taught him, Adam’s move to a new country in fourth grade would’ve been a more of a culture shock, because of the difference in teachings. Now he’s adjusted to two school systems because of his families move back to Omaha during his seventh grade year, when he continued to study for both schools.

“[Being enrolled in two schools] is getting harder and harder every year because now in high school there is the same level of difficulty [between schools],” Adam said. “And now I’m responsible for doing my Czech school myself.”

That includes doing all his schoolwork, whether he uses the U.S. way of teaching or the way schooling is in Prague.

At Westside, according to Adam, he sits in math class not quite remembering the concepts as well. He’s not as used to America’s style of teaching where the teacher walks him through how to do the problem and then is assigned many problems for homework each night. To Adam, it’s easier to forget.

After Adam is back in Prague in January, he gets back into the swing things. In his math class in Prague, his teacher puts a problem on the board and says, “How would you solve this problem?” Adam learns the content quicker by working through the problem and figuring out the formulas through his own investigation. He goes home with little to no homework. To Adam, through learning the techniques himself, it’s harder to forget.

His investigation continues in July when Adam’s school takes their students to a week of learning outside the classroom. They call it “School in the Countryside.” But by doing two school systems, he misses their “School in the Countryside” trip in the fall because of his move back to America in August.

And that’s when the cycle starts over again.

As for Adam’s future schedule, it’s undecided. His parents want him to go to college in the Czech Republic because his citizenship there guarantees him free tuition. Since he’s a citizen in both countries, Adam wants to attend college in America because he believes more opportunities exist here.

The Pavlinek’s haven’t made a decision yet, but they have discussed a compromise. Adam would get his bachelor’s degree in the Czech Republic and then return to the U.S. to further his education and work towards a master’s degree or Ph.D.

For now, Adam will keep living on this schedule until he graduates, whether that be in Omaha or in Prague, and will continue to learn in both school systems.

“[By going to two schools I have] a different perspective on things,” Adam said. “I’ll have a very good knowledge of English and be accustomed to two different systems of schooling. It’s an interesting experience.”

This story first appeared in Issue Three of the Lance, which came out Friday, Nov. 7.