Support The Daily Orange this holiday season! The money raised between now and the end of the year will go directly toward aiding our students. Donate today.

For some students, moving to college is a long road trip or a quick flight with a layover. But, it was more than that for Kayra Oguz. He was traveling over 5,000 miles away from his home in Izmir, Turkey.

“When I got here, I only had my two huge luggages and one backpack, and I did everything myself,” Oguz, a Syracuse University freshman, said.

For SU students from New York or other states in the Northeast, Syracuse might not be all that different from home. But for students like Oguz, it’s a completely different change of pace.

Whether it be weather changes, language differences or food preferences, college in central New York has brought up some culture shocks for freshmen as they adjust to their first semester on campus.

Oguz said he applied to SU his senior year because of its academics, sports and overall “good reputation,” he said. He applied to schools all over the world, as did many of his high school peers, but landed on SU because he wanted something different than what he’d gotten used to at home.

Tallulah Heath, a freshman from Los Altos, CA, shared similar sentiments. She’s lived in California for most of her life and has had the same friend group since elementary school. During college application season, she knew she wanted to branch out and come to the East Coast.

“I got the chance to make new friends for the first time in a long time,” Heath said. “I think it’s really good to experience change.”

When moving to a completely new place, there’s bound to be plenty of culture shock, Oguz said. Some things immediately stood out to him, like drive-through banks, the prevalent football culture and “die-hard fans,” different American accents and the normalization of ice water.

He’s always been familiar with drive-through fast food, but was shocked when he could drive up to a Chase Bank. At his first tailgate for a football game, he quickly realized that it would be a full day activity. After meeting students from all over the U.S., he thinks Texans are the most devoted football fans.

Having traveled to countries all over the world, Oguz said ice water is “not a thing” anywhere else he’s been. When you ask for water at a restaurant, it’s never served cold or with ice cubes, and it was surprising to see that be a norm in the U.S., he said.

Starting college can be intimidating, Oguz said, but the welcoming environment at SU immediately stood out to him. Through extracurriculars like club basketball, he’s met and befriended many fellow international students and those from all over the U.S. It’s eased his transition into the community, he said.

“We have, I think 10 seniors in (club basketball) right now, and they’re all like big brothers,” Oguz said. “They all take care of you if you have a problem.”

Freshman Enya Olsen also wasn’t expecting people in college to be so friendly, but said she was pleasantly surprised to find such inviting people at SU. Olsen, who lived in Norway for a few years before moving and growing up in Guatemala, said she especially appreciated how open her peers were to getting to know someone from a different culture.

Mubarak Ishaku is from Lagos, Nigeria, but attended international high school in the United Kingdom. On a college campus, people are much more outgoing than they would be in a bigger city, like New York or London, he said. He appreciates the willingness of SU students in all grades to start conversation and make new friends.

“When I first moved to England, most people wouldn’t come up to you first to say hi, but here nobody really cares about being the first person to talk to anyone,” Ishaku said.

Having now spent almost a semester at SU, Ishaku said he’s picked up on some of the cultural norms that were shocks to him at first, like the way people speak. He’s learned Chicago and New York slang from his friends, and in exchange has taught them some Nigerian slang.

Oguz appreciates that SU’s community has made it easy to share and express his culture while also learning from others. Through clubs like Men Cultivating Impact, Ishaku said he’s learned to be more outgoing and connect with people over both similarities and differences.

“Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there,” Ishaku said. “Everyone else is trying to put themselves out there, so you’re no different from anyone else.”

Beyond college culture, some students like Ishaku are experiencing New York’s offerings for the first time. In the fall, Ishaku and his friends visited the Great New York State Fair, where he saw farm goats, tried gator meat and tasted all things pumpkin flavored. When he visited NYC, he made a bucket list to try the best bagels and coffee.

While dabbling in new foods is exciting, Olsen and Heath both said they miss the food from home the most. Olsen has frequented the Peruvian restaurant Inka’s throughout the semester, as it reminds her of meals in Guatemala. Oguz said homesickness can come in the form of missing food, friends or family, but it’s important to find new ways to cope with it.

“The best thing you can do is maybe just open up some music from your country and try to focus on something else,” Oguz said.

As campus slowly gets covered in more snow each week, some students prepare for a climate they aren’t used to. Oguz and Ishaku’s hometowns are warm all year round; Ishaku had never really seen snow before coming to Syracuse.

The snow brings new traditions for many first-years, like sledding down Crouse Hill and building snowmen, all things Ishaku did for the first time this year. Heath also had fun sledding after the first snow, but isn’t quite ready to start wearing her long puffer jacket and snow boots.

“I’m envisioning a blizzard,” Heath said. “I don’t think I can fathom what it’s gonna be like and I hope I’m prepared, but I doubt it.”

As the semester comes to a close, Oguz said his independence has grown while being far away from home. From figuring out how to open a bank account to booking flights by himself, he’s run into some challenges, but it makes his adjustment to life at SU all the more rewarding, he said.

“I built a home here by myself,” Oguz said. “From now on, nothing can beat me in my life anymore.”

Published on December 4, 2025 at 12:35 am