As the sun rises in Istanbul, Betül has already caught up with her afternoon in Taipei.
We interviewed our alumna Betül Özer, who, after graduating from Hisar in 2015, decided to join the Rotary Youth Program and moved to New Taipei City in Taiwan for a year.
Hisar: What was the primary cause for you to make such a decision?
Betül: I was accepted to colleges in the United States the year I graduated from Hisar. But, I also wanted to take a year off and gain a different experience before I started university. A Hisar alumni, Aras Fanusçu, who went to Chile with the Rotary Youth Program, had come back to school to share his experiences with us. When the time came for me to decide which country to live in, Taiwan seemed more interesting and divergent than the other countries I had been accepted to: Brazil and Mexico. I had been to East Asia before and this would be my third time.
Hisar: How is your family and school life in Taiwan?
Betül: Here, you stay with 3 different families within the year so you get to live with a new family every 3 to 4 months. The children of most of these families are also Rotary exchange students. My current host family has a daughter who is also an exchange student and they host students every year.
I am in 10th grade here. In Taiwan, the high school education is three years. Seniors spend all of their time sitting for exams and preparing for university, so I concluded that being a 10th grade student would be the best for me to have a real school experience. My friends call me ‘old lady’ at school because I am 3 years older than they are. I go to a public school here. Although the required courses are the same, public schools are considered better than private schools in Taiwan. School starts at 7:30 a.m. I leave at 5:00 p.m. but some students stay until 9:00 p.m. If your homeroom teacher wants you to stay, you have to stay. In my district, there are a total of 80 exchange students; I believe there are the same number of students in the other 7 districts, too. There is another exchange student in my school. In Turkey, exchange students are only in 3 districts. All of the exchange students in Taiwan come from 19 countries: Brazil, Mexico, Korea, Turkey, Denmark, US, Venezuela, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Equador, France, India, Japan, Italy, Lithuania, Thailand, Peru. I was told I had to learn a second foreign language so I studied Japanese for a year in Turkey before I arrived in Taiwan, and when I arrived here, I started learning Korean but stopped after a while. Now, I take Chinese with my school’s principal.
Hisar: Cameron Neader, who attends Hisar through the same program stays with your family in Istanbul. Are you in contact with him?
Betül: Yes. Cameron is one of 20 Rotary Club exchange students in Istanbul. There are 50 students in Turkey in all. Cameron had been in Denmark the previous year through Rotary. He is from Wisconsin in the United States. He has become friends with all of the seniors at Hisar. He takes studio art classes, does presentations on poetry in Turkish in his Turkish literature class, plays the piano, and will even sing at the year-end concert. He goes out every day to explore a part of Istanbul using public transportation from Göktürk. He plans to go back to Wisconsin for college after this year.
Hisar: How is life over there? What do you like about Taiwan?
Betül: People in Taiwan are very friendly. You feel safe here wherever you go. I like the food, my school, my friends and the social environment. I take trips and go camping with them. It helps that people do not speak English. This way I get to practise my Chinese. When I first arrived, people would say ‘hi’, take a picture of me and then run away. They wanted to touch my hair and were surprised by how curly it was. They wanted to know more about foreigners when we first became friends. Table manners are pretty different here. For example, they eat chicken and spit the bones out on the table.
Hisar: What can you say about their education system?
Betül: The system here is focused on memorizing everything and I can’t say I like it. English tests are about grammar only and lessons are conducted in Chinese. You have 10 required courses per year.
Hisar: Do you believe your year in Taiwan is a winsome experience you could recommend to everyone?
Betül: I am very happy that I did this year of exchange. Living in a different culture gives you a new perspective. You become a different person. It is much easier to adjust anywhere you go. You understand people better, and you become more open-minded and mature.
Hisar: Are there any changes to your future plans?
Betül: I’ll return to Turkey in 3 months. I applied to US colleges from Taiwan this year again and received my acceptances again. The universities I got acceptances from are more or less the same as last year’s. I still want to go to the US and study animation. I will be going to Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida. I feel like from now on, I could be happy wherever I go.
Hisar: We thank you for this enjoyable chat and the experiences you’ve shared. We look forward to hearing more about your experiences in the future that you share with the Hisar family.
Cameron Neader
A few of Betül’s drawings:
