She is an entertainer, athlete and linguist at the age of 23.

Wrapped in a warm coat, and a striped scarf around her neck, Katarina Claesson, freshman art major, is more than the average college student.

Claesson grew up on the countryside of the small Swedish village, Jönköping, with her parents, two brothers and two sisters.

In Sweden, all children are required to learn English, but it was not until she visited Spain in 1999 that Claesson became proficient in the language.

“I never knew how to pronounce things, and I was not so good at my English,” Claesson said. “But the first year in Spain, I had to speak English 12 hours a day, because everyone else there did.”

Claesson is a talented dancer capable of ballet, jazz and tap who has been studying since she was 4.

“I love it, but I don’t do it much now,” she said.

Her love for dancing sparked her interest in the entertainment business while living in Sweden. She filled out an application to work as an entertainer in a foreign hotel, was accepted and spent the next four months training.

She spent the next three years participating in sporting events, game shows and Broadway-style musicals, like Grease and Cats organized by hotels on the Canary Islands, Spanish mainland and several surrounding islands.

“I would go to the beach and play volleyball with the tourists,” she said. “You get to help other people have fun as a job.”

Besides volleyball, Claesson also plays tennis, football, archery and shooting.

In addition to English, Spanish and Swedish, Claesson also speaks German and French, but will humbly state she has forgotten all of it with her lack of practice.

In 2002, Claesson returned to Sweden to attend Mullsjö Folkhögskola University to study art for the fall semester. She transferred to Missouri Southern in January 2003 through the Bilateral Exchange Program. She is taking classes in drawing, watercolor, print making and photojournalism. The last of which is her favorite.

“I like being creative, and I think I can be most creative in photo,” she said.

She lives in the residence halls and works in the International Language Resource Center in Webster Hall. She stays busy tutoring Southern students in Spanish and teaching Spanish to high school classes in Webb City and Carl Junction.

Marcio Araujo, sophomore international business major from Brazil, has worked with Claesson this semester in the ILRC and is impressed with her international life.

“She has traveled a lot and is very experienced and intelligent,” he said.

After this semester, Claesson hopes to return to Sweden to join a design program and work as an interior designer in Spain.

Claesson, who studied nature and science during high school, never imagined herself where she is now, but all of her adventures will never change who she is.

“I’m a very honest person, I always tell people what I think, even if I shouldn’t. It’s true, I never lie,” she said.