Almost every college student has experienced that first 'can I make it?' moment.

The time when they feel like they're sinking. Maybe it's after the first bombed test as a freshman. The work is piling up, the grades are slipping and homesickness is just beginning to set in. Thoughts fill the head that college might be too difficult as the pressure and stress mount to new heights.

Now imagine that scenario in a foreign land.

Your parents are half a world away. The language is different. The culture is entirely new. You're attempting to juggle schoolwork and varsity athletics.

Even the game you traveled around the globe to play, basketball -- which was supposed to be the one constant and natural transition -- might as well be football when compared to the game you grew up playing in the hometown gyms.

This harsh reality was Penn State men's basketball forward Milos Bogetic's life during the summer of 2005 when he flew to America. He had never visited the University Park campus, let alone set foot in the United States, when he accepted a scholarship to join the Nittany Lions.

"There were a lot of colleges calling me, but Penn State was the only one that got more serious," Bogetic said. "[Penn State assistant] coach [Kurt] Kanaskie decided he was going to visit me in my home, and that was a big difference to me. It showed me he was serious. I decided that if he could travel this much to meet me, I'm probably going to go over there."

Most recruiting trips are typically a couple hours in a car or a short hop by plane. Kanaskie however flew the 4,710 miles from University Park to Podgorica, Montenegro, twice. All the effort paid off as the Lions received a commitment from the 6-foot-10 forward with a soft touch who dominated the Montenegran leagues while scoring 30 or 40 points a night.

This sign of commitment not only impressed Bogetic, but his parents as well. Both college graduates, they played a huge role in his decision to come to America.

Bogetic said his parents weren't willing to just send him to a new country on his own. They were looking for people who were going to take care of their son, and when they met Kanaskie and head coach Ed DeChellis in person, they were impressed.

Bogetic's father constantly preached college to his children in order to secure their future, and Bogetic was going to fulfill his father's wishes.

Everything in Bogetic's life was great. He was coming to America to play basketball for a Division I program while earning a degree at a renowned university.

Then came the culture shock.

***

Bogetic said it was difficult adjusting to American life. The language is different, food is different even the basketball is different. He said it was very tough.

Even simple things that most high school basketball recruits take for granted, such as the large, hostile arenas and the amount of time and intensity demanded by coaches, were novel concepts to Bogetic.

He didn't even know the difference between the Div. III and Div. I programs that were recruiting him.

"I thought it was going to be more school than basketball," Bogetic said. "But when I came here, it's the opposite. It's all basketball all the time."

Abandoned in the hectic world of big-time college basketball coupled with a new way of life, Bogetic might have given up because the challenge was too great. But, the Penn State coaches were not going to let that happen.

Bogetic found solace and guidance in the form of the man who recruited him, Kanaskie, and director of basketball operations Eldon Price.

He said they invited him into their homes and showed him around campus. Price even went so far as to follow his new player and take notes of what he needed.

Price knew from the beginning that Bogetic would have a difficult time adjusting to the United States. He took it as a personal mission to make sure the transition would be as smooth as possible while presenting Bogetic with a welcoming environment that he would want to come back to.

"Freshmen, when they come in, are sort of wide-eyed and trying to figure everything out," Price said. "Now, add a whole other culture to that and you can imagine how wide-eyed he was and how many questions he had."

Price said that almost every five minutes Bogetic had another question. Although the freshman didn't understand most aspects of American life, he desperately wanted to do the right things and needed Price's advice.

While the coaches and players did their best to make Bogetic's shift as easy and painless as it could be, he was still a Serbian speaker in an English-only culture. Going to the store was a troubling experience, ordering food was difficult and the movies were unwatchable.

Even basketball was very different. The highlight DVD the Penn State coaches had sent him didn't show just how physical the American game was.

In Europe, it's common for big men to handle the ball, shoot threes and drive to the lane. Bogetic was having difficulty grasping the more athletic American style.

Kanaskie said the first couple practices with Bogetic were a learning experience for everyone.

"When he first got here, if you even got near him, he'd call a foul," Kanaskie said. "He wasn't used to the physical contact and how hard people played. He's really come a long way. He still has a way to go, but he has improved and gotten better in that area."

Then, one day, Price asked Bogetic a question that would totally change his entire Penn State experience.

***

During the summer session of 2005, six weeks into Bogetic's education, the Lions still had one scholarship remaining that the coaching staff hoped would add some depth to the guard position for the upcoming season. The coaches had narrowed their focus to a couple of high school guards from the United States and a 6-foot-4 sharpshooter from Belgrade, Serbia, Nikola Obradovic. But, before making their decision, the staff sought Bogetic's input.

"I remember [Price] asking me what I thought about Nikola coming here, and I said it'd be great," Bogetic said. "So [Price] wrote, 'Nikola makes Milos happy' on the paper he carried around."

Later that day, the coaches called Bogetic to the office and informed him that they would offer Obradovic a scholarship.

Suddenly, Bogetic could converse in Serbian, and more importantly, he had someone who understood the lifestyle of former Yugoslavia. He had a new friend who was facing the same challenges. Somebody to help push on during the difficult times.

Bogetic said it was a huge deal to have Obradovic in State College. Whenever either one felt homesick, they helped each other get through the hardships. Now there was someone who knew exactly what Bogetic was going through.

"We listen to the same music, play the same video games and watch the same movies," Bogetic said. "These may seem like little things, but it was a huge deal for me."

Obradovic's arrival not only gave Bogetic a language-partner; it also allowed him to become a teacher, too. Bogetic took Obradovic under his wing and helped him make the adjustment that he was forced to make on his own.

"He helped me a lot, it was a huge deal that Milos was here for me," Obradovic said. "There were a lot of things at school, outside of school and in the locker room that we didn't understand. So we helped each other."

During Obradovic's first session on campus, he and Bogetic shared identical schedules. From the same classes to practice and weightlifting, the two were almost inseparable.

As the pair began to become accustomed to their surroundings, they opened up and started to have fun with their teammates. Whenever they would speak Serbian with each other in the presence of a fellow Lion, they would, without fail, drop a teammate's name in the conversation.

"You hear them talking, they talk fast, and then you hear your name in it. You're just like, 'Yo, what'd you say man,' " Obradovic's roommate and Penn State guard Clay Scovill said. "You never know what they are saying about people."

But Bogetic swears that they never speak negatively. In fact, he said he and Obradovic could be talking about something totally unrelated, like the weather, and then just add a name just to get a reaction.

"We can't help it, because we are from the same country, we really can't speak [English] to each other," Bogetic said. "The guys don't like it, because they think we are talking about them sometimes, but it's just for a joke. It's all fun."

But Kanaskie didn't see the fun in the joke. He threatened Bogetic and Obradovic by telling them they'd have to run if they continued to speak Serbian. From time to time, a few words would slip out during practice, and Kanaskie would yell at them to start speaking English, but then practice would continue.

Bogetic and Obradovic thought nothing of it, thinking the running was simply an empty threat. Then, at the end of the workout, Kanaskie would say, "You two, on the baseline," and the pair would have run extra sprints while their teammates looked on.

***

Off the court, however, the two were free to speak in Serbian about a life-altering experience unfathomable to their teammates and coaches.

In the early 90s, during the break up of communist Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav People's Army destroyed the village of Ravno in Herzegovina. This served as a flash point for the unstable region and the beginning of the Bosnian War.

Though centered in the territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the fighting engulfed all of former Yugoslavia, including Serbia and Montenegro -- the home countries of both Bogetic and Obradovic.

Bogetic considers himself lucky. Born in Bosnia, his family fled the country and was able to escape the day before the war officially began. Had his family waited 24 hours, it would have been trapped inside the closed border, where a majority of the fighting and most of the carnage developed.

But only Bogetic's immediate family was fortunate, his grandparents and extended family were trapped in the war zone.

"It was terrible," Bogetic said. "It was really tough not knowing if they were alive or not. It became a common thing, but everyday there was a new list of people who died and everyday was spent checking the news to see if my grandparents were alive. Thank God they were all right after the war. But it was tough, having loved ones in the war and there was nothing you could do to help them."

Obradovic was not quite as lucky. Though most of his family escaped the conflict unharmed, Serbia was more violent and turmoil-filled than Bogetic's Montenegro.

"Growing up, the war was a threat all the time. You worry more about your friends and your families," Obradovic said. "My father would have to leave for work for a couple days at a time and we wouldn't hear from him until he returned. It was very difficult not knowing if my father was alive or not."

But now that the war is over, both Bogetic and Obradovic have used the war experience to gain new views on life.

For Bogetic, no matter what happens with his schoolwork or basketball, he is grateful just be in a country where he is safe and does not have to fear being drafted tomorrow and sent off to fight in a war.

"When I have a bad game or a few bad games and I'm struggling, I think about what life would be like back home," Bogetic said. "I would still be doing nothing. Going to school and always in danger of being in war. I know I'm in the right place when I think about that."

Obradovic, however, said the war generated great national pride, which is difficult to shed. After losses, he said he can't even speak to friends because it is "the worst feeling ever."

"In my country, it's all about pride, especially personal pride and team pride," Obradovic said. "So for me it's a huge deal when we lose. This came from the war. We generated pride for our country and our families. I have a lot of pride."

***

Though Bogetic has started to make the adjustments on the hardwood as well as off, there are still times when he gets a lonely feeling. It's natural, he said, when all of your childhood friends and family are on another continent.

"Sometimes it gets real tough and it's not just homesickness, there are a lot of factors," Bogetic said. "Maybe I don't play well in a game, and then I have an exam tomorrow and then you get that homesick feeling. There are a lot of things that come together and can really put you down.

"But you have to go through it because nothing's going to change, I'm going to have that exam and I can't go home right now, so I've just got to keep going and do my thing."

And though ten years ago, he may never have envisioned college basketball as part of his future -- he didn't begin playing until he was 13 -- he has no regrets with the path he has chosen. He said Penn State is the best fit for him, and he would not consider going back to Serbia anytime soon.

"I'll never regret [coming here]. This is a great opportunity for me," Bogetic said. "I'm getting better as a player and getting my school done.

"So I'm just very grateful for getting the chance to come here and it's going to mean a better life in the future because I'm going to have my degree. Hopefully I'll be able to keep playing basketball after this, but if not, I feel like I'm in great shape anyway."