Mert Oran is a Sophomore at LHS but also an exchange student from Istanbul, Turkey. “Istanbul is a bridge which connects Europe and Asia to each other,” said Oran. The city is very historical as it was the central capital of several empires in the last 1000 years. It is also a very diverse city according to Oran with people of many different backgrounds from around the world.

He has been going to school in America since September and has found that he enjoys the  nature and greenery of Oregon because it was hard for him to experience nature like ours at home. At his original High School in Turkey he has to apply to get in by taking a test. He got into the sixth most successful High School in Turkey. “I think our classes are more difficult than US high schools. You can think like you are taking ap bio, ap physics and ap chem at the same time and per high school year.” said Oran. Despite the challenging academics his High School is similar to LHS in the standing of clubs and sports keeping students active and social. “My school is so social. It raises us as social students. There are approximately 50 clubs in my school. And there are several concepts. I mean there is a club for communicating with vegan people also there is a theater club.” said Oran. 

He has really enjoyed being part of the school’s Symphonic band at LHS during the course of his exchange program. In Turkey it was much more competitive and difficult to get in but here in Oregon he could enjoy it and have more fun. One other reason Oran highly encourages anyone thinking about doing an exchange program to do it. He thinks that learning a new culture and speaking a different language is an “interesting and fun experience,”. 

“There might be hard times like being homesick but it’s worth it,” said Oran.