DENIZ MADANOGLU Interview

DENIZ MADANOGLU

ADANA, TURKEY

“I CAME HERE WHEN I WAS 17, SO I LITERALLY GREW UP HERE.”

Deniz came to the United States at the age of 17, first went to Santa Monica College, and then transferred to LMU as a junior. Before coming to the United States, her dream school was the University of Southern California, but her adviser suggested that she went to a community college before moving to USC. As a result, she spent the first two years at Santa Monica College and then decided to go to LMU over USC because she knew she preferred a smaller school. Deniz had mixed feelings about staying in the state, she did not enjoy that much. She did not feel welcomed here and people were not as friendly as she expected. Her first year in Los Angeles was tough. She missed her home so much that she called her mother every day. When she is in need, she misses home the most because she has no one here to be there for her. Moreover, she never shares the bad things that happened to her with her mother because she does not want her mother to be worried. Deniz sees herself as a shy person, so it is hard to get out of her comfort zone and make new friends. Fortunately, she met Emre, who has been her boyfriend for almost three years. When they started dating, they adopted a dog and named him Cosmo. Deniz described him as his child, and Cosmo made her life better in the United States. Accompanied by Emre and Cosmo, she felt she had a home in the United States.

After studying here for 3 years, Deniz became more independent and open-minded. She said that she basically grew up here since she came at 17, and that was her maturity when she began to explore the life she liked and wanted. She experienced a lot of firsts in the foreign place by herself. However, she still regretted coming to the United States because she did not have many friends, and most of the time, she felt alone. She only had Emre and Cosmo. Instead, she would probably go to Italy.