It would be fair to say students who go away for college have a tendency to miss home from time to time. But, try having your family in an entirely different country.

When NIU women’s tennis player Lilian Asuaje moved to DeKalb from her home in Monterrey, Mexico, she knew it would involve her parents not staying in the United States.

“All my life I had traveled so I had been away for a full summer before,” the senior engineering major said. “Freshman year was the hardest, living in the dorms and getting used to a different culture.”

Asuaje moved to DeKalb for school when she was 18. Nobody came to live with her, but her parents helped her move in and have stayed in close contact.

“My parents came to drop me off and get me moved into the dorms, then they went back home to Mexico,” Asuaje said. “I still talk to them and stay in contact. My sister was up here a few weeks ago and my parents came up last summer. They call me or I call them whenever we need to talk.”

Asuaje was born and raised in Mexico. When she was about seven years old she started playing tennis, following in the footsteps of her sister, who is nine years older.

“I was the typical younger sister and wanted to do everything she was doing,” she said.

While in Mexico, Asuaje attended an American school based in her hometown called the American Foundation School of Monterrey. The high school did not provide students with a tennis team, so she practiced in clubs and played on the national team in Mexico for eight years.

In her time on the national team, she placed third in singles and doubles and defeated the number one player in the country during her last national appearance.

Asuaje said the competition level in Mexico was tough, but said good players are easier to come by in the U.S.

“[The competition] is better here,” Asuaje said. “There’s more consistency here. There are still good players in Mexico but more really good players here.”

Prior to her days at NIU, Asuaje became friends with former Huskies tennis player Dora Delgadillo, who talked to the NIU coach about Asuaje.

“I think that made the transition easier. I already knew one of the other girls since I was 10,” Asuaje said. “Ever since, I’ve been hanging out with the tennis team mostly.”

Transitioning over to NIU was not a problem for Asuaje either. She said because her school was an American school, most of her teachers were either from the U.S. or Canada, so she was taught English at a very early age. She added that it never had an effect on her when she came to the U.S. for college.

“At home I would speak Spanish and at school they had us speak English, even during recess so we would learn it,” she said. “It probably made it easier to take classes here since I learned chemistry and that in English.”

Once she began taking classes at NIU, Asuaje decided to become an engineering major. She said math and physics were always her best subjects and that both her brother and sister are engineers.

When Asuaje is finished at NIU, she plans on either going for her Master’s or starting work right away. Her after college decision-making also involves staying in the U.S. or going back to Mexico.

“I don’t know if I want to stay here for a while or go back to Mexico,” she said. “It’s all up in the air right now, so we’ll see.”

Her future home may be up in the air, but Asuaje won’t be forgetting where she came from even if it means staying over 1,500 miles from where she calls home.