After studying for a year in Turkey, Lindsey Ross is getting ready for her senior year at Bonny Eagle.

Ross, who is the daughter of Jere and Carolyn Ross, returned home on July 6. She spent her junior year at a high school in Istanbul, Turkey, in a foreign exchange program organized by the Rotary Club.

She said school was a struggle at first because she didn’t know Turkish, which she called a difficult language to learn. But she is now 75 percent fluent in Turkish. “I can carry on a conversation,” she said.

She didn’t find the language barrier a problem in the math and science program. “Math is math,” she said

Her studies included psychology, a Muslim religious class and English.

Ross said about half of the students spoke good English and she was able to help others. “I helped them in English,” she said.

The high school there had 1,600 students. Ross said it didn’t have computers and the building was much older than Bonny Eagle.

She said girls generally didn’t play organized sports there but the school did offer volleyball and tennis for girls. Ross plays lacrosse and soccer at Bonny Eagle.

During her school year in Turkey, Ross had two host families. One lived a 10-minute walk to school and the other was a 15-minute bus ride away. Her hosts drove expensive cars, BMWs and Mercedes Benzes.

One of the families she lived with had two daughters, who she later met in Turkey, going to school in the United States. “I was their temporary daughter,” she said about one of her hosts.

For breakfast in Turkey, she didn’t have eggs and bacon. Her hosts would serve goat cheeses, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers and small breads. “They have a different breakfast,” she said.

The Turkish families drank tea. “Always, always tea,” she said.

Ross acquired a taste for the Turkish teas, which she described as tasting different from the teas here. “I grew to like it while in Turkey,” she said.

Istanbul had American fast food outlets, reminding her of home. There’s McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken. “It was more expensive than the Turkish foods,” she said about the American franchises.

She described Istanbul as a “huge” city with about 15 million people. The city has a low crime rate. Although she didn’t lose anything, she said there was stealing. But she never heard of a murder or a stabbing, and there was little violence.

“It’s one of the safest cities,” she said.

Ross said that Istanbul is a very quaint city with many mosques, some converted from ancient churches. The Bosphorus River, which marks a line between Europe and Asia, splits the city in half but has two bridges. “It’s a beautiful city,” she said. “Istanbul is modern and western.”

In addition to the mosques, the city has Christian churches and Jewish synagogues. Ross attended Christian services on Christmas and Easter. She said Istanbul is about 98 percent Muslim. “They are very tolerant of other people,” she said.

Ross visited mosques, which she called large and beautiful, when services were not being held but still would often see Muslims praying in them. “They don’t want tourists disrupting services,” she said.

Ross said about 20 percent of the women covered their heads, some with neon green or pink cloth. Many of the people in Istanbul love MTV. She said 80 percent of the people there wear jeans and sneakers. “They look exactly like we do,” she said.

She said Turkey is in the cradle of civilization. Construction work often uncovers ruins of ancient settlements. She said many of the buildings date back to the Byzantine and Ottoman empires.

Turkey shares borders with Syria and Iraq. Ross visited near the Syrian border and found the people there more conservative with less speaking English and more in Arabic.

Turkey is opposed to the war in Iraq but she said the country wants a good relationship with the United States. However, they worry about betraying neighboring countries. Ross said Turkey is staying neutral and not helping the United States. “Everyone said ‘we love America, but we hate Bush,'” she said.

Her quest to be an exchange student began with the guidance counselor at Bonny Eagle two years ago. She filled out an application for the Rotary program. When she was accepted, she was given a choice of places but picked Istanbul, Turkey, because she wanted to go to a large city and a Rotarian recommended it. She left last year on Aug. 15.

Although she had to pay for her tickets and insurance, Rotary picked up much of the tab. Her parents gave her ATM and credit cards, and Rotary gave her a monthly allowance of $130. “Rotary provided a lot of support,” she said.

Ross corresponds with her Turkish hosts and hopes to return some day. But now she’s readying for school here, and she is preparing for college.

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