My name is Kausar Bakhitbyek. I’m a high school junior from Mongolia, spending my year in the United States through the F.L.E.X. program. I chose to do an exchange year not because I wanted to improve my English, but because I wanted to experience a completely different culture and challenge myself to grow more independent.
When I first arrived in America, everything felt…. different. Being a junior at Selma High School hit differently compared to being in my home country. The food, school routines, and the way people interacted was new to me. Even simple things like calling for the teacher felt odd. This was my culture shock in action.
At first, I felt a mix of both excitement and nervousness. From the jokes I didn’t get to the words I didn’t even know. I felt left out and on the fringe of the new community I was in. But gradually, I realized culture shock isn’t just about being in discomfort, but rather about the learning process. A quote used in the F.L.E.X. program that describes this is, “It is not worse, not better, just different.” The turning point came when I decided to immerse myself in the culture. I started to observe and ask questions, tried to join conversations, and tried local foods. Looking back, culture shock was less about being wrong or different, but rather about learning and seeing things from a different perspective.
It is fun being here, because I get to see how language, skin color and height isn’t as important compared to who you are as a person.
I’m still new here. I still make mistakes, get confused, and sometimes feel out of place. But that’s part of why the exchange year is special. It is teaching me to be comfortable with not knowing everything and enjoy being the ‘newbie’ who is just beginning to understand the large, unknown world.
As the saying in my exchange program goes, “Open your eyes and see what you can do with them before they close forever.”
Laugh at your mistakes, stay curious, and never be afraid to ask questions.
