Going from high school to college in the fall means some big changes.

Even more for Marisa Ortiz, the daughter of Gretchen and Baltazar Ortiz of Seven Fields, who spent the last two years living overseas. She's noticed some changes in her country and herself.

Ortiz recently returned to Butler County after two years attending the United World Colleges school in Maastricht in the Netherlands.

In the two weeks she's been back, the 18-year-old former Seneca Valley Intermediate High School student said, “I think the day-to-day life is very different. In the Netherlands when I was with my friends and we were being bored, we would go to the city or go on a bike ride.

“It is very different living in the suburbs. The things to do revolve around going to parties or going to restaurants with your friends or going to movies,” she said.

Ortiz added, “In terms of freedom, I felt more free to do what I pleased in the Netherlands.”

Living with her mother and father again, letting people know where you are and who you are with, was a bit of an adjustment, she said.

Also an adjustment she said was the changing perception of the United States overseas.

“I remember the reaction to America in 2016 in a completely different way, “ she said. “The United States was looked on as a superpower for whatever reason and it used its power to do good things in the world.

“That perception quickly changed. I'm not sure if it is a comment on American politics but the United States is seen as more of a joke. It's retreated from being a superpower that did good,” said Ortiz.

She said echoes of the #Me Too and Times Up movement have crossed the Atlantic.

“The March on Washington (after Donald Trump's inauguration) spilled across. Everywhere there was a “March on Blank,” she said. “We took part on the Women's March on Amsterdam. It's really a huge movement.

“But it's ironic because the Netherlands has one of the greatest records on gender equality. The marches were made in solidarity, not because of necessity,” Ortiz said.

She missed homecoming and the prom during her time living in Europe, but said it was a good trade-off.

“Whenever I first decided to go I knew I was going to be missing out on all these things. But they (Seneca Valley) has homecoming every year. I had two of them,” she said.

“They had dances on campus and it was such a small school that I knew most of them better than I knew people at Seneca Valley. In the end I don't think I missed out on anything,” Ortiz said.

She added she was able to reconnect with her friends in the two weeks since she's been back in the country.

Asked what she missed the most during her time in the Netherlands, she said, “I missed American pop culture, how all consuming and intertexturalized pop culture is. It's very multilayer its music and movies and all facets of people,” she said.

Now, she's going to miss her classmates at Maastricht United World College.

She said the international student body was scattered to the four corners of the globe upon graduation, with some returning to their home countries and others going on to other countries to continue their educations.

Hannah Trumpel, the UWC director of communication and engagement in London, said there are UWC alumni groups at universities and in cities in the 160 countries the organization is active.

“We have 60,000 alumni worldwide,” said Trumpel “The alumni feel strong ties to the schools.”

“They have 5- and 10-year class reunions,” Ortiz said. “I am sure that will go back for them, because other than a small group that is coming to study in the United States, I won't be seeing any of them.”

She tended to call her parents every other day and since Maastricht was six hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time “we really had to work that out,” she said.

“I really miss the Dutch desserts,” Ortiz said, “In Europe they really had a chocolate culture. I thought I knew what chocolate tasted like, but I really had no clue.”