Finding foreign exchange students is very easy in European countries, but for native Turkish speaker, Taylan Kucuk, America was the ideal place for him.
Kucuk is a junior at Buford, originally from Istanbul, Turkey. Kucuk came to America for an exchange program to improve his English and learn American culture.
“Istanbul is a big city. Here is more quiet and people are relaxed but in city life, there is a lot of traffic. Everything is crowded. In the city, you can walk everywhere you want, without a car,” Kucuk said. A change from a big city, like Istanbul, to a small town, like Buford, could be a hard change, but after a month of living in Fort Mill, Kucuk was living normally again.
Of course, it’s hard to live normally without people you know, like family and friends. “I’m missing my family and friends because they all live in Turkey now,” Kucuk said. Since he lives in America now, he doesn’t get to see any of his family. Even though he feels homesick sometimes, he just keeps in mind that he’s only here for seven more months, then he’ll get to see them again.
Since his family still lives in Turkey, Kucuk stayed with a welcoming family in Fort Mill. A welcoming family is people a foreign exchange student lives with while they’re getting into a host family,that works well with the student. After living with his welcoming family for a couple of months, he got moved into a host family. “They are taking care of me the time I live in America,” Kucuk explained.
Even though he misses city life, Kucuk is using the next few months to develop his English speaking skills, learn all about American culture, gain new experiences, and hopefully make some new friends along the way.