Nihan Can is no stranger to living in other countries.
The Turkish exchange student’s time at Syracuse University is the latest in a series of study abroad locations that has included Boston; Vila Real, Portugal; and Berlin, Germany. Can describes herself as a “super senior” at her university in Istanbul, Turkey, where she studies film.
Even with American culture pervasive in movies and television in Turkey, she wasn’t sure what to expect when she first headed to Northeastern University in Boston to learn English.
“I wasn’t expecting the same America that I saw in the movies before I came here the first time,” she said with a laugh. “But in Boston, I realized it is exactly the same.”
After Boston, she said, her semester in Syracuse hasn’t presented her with any major culture shocks. But she still is sometimes surprised by what she describes as an American sense of individualism.
“Not in a bad way,” she said, sharing an example of how Americans stand disinterestedly next to one another on public transportation. “Just different.”
And while she hasn’t completely adopted the American culture, having been born and raised in Turkey, she said she’s gotten used to it.
“I kind of prefer this way,” she said. “The American way.”
