At only 17 years old, Nicole Kuhn has already seen more of the world than some people will experience in a lifetime. Now about to start her senior year in high school in Istanbul, Turkey, Kuhn is spending a few weeks learning community journalism halfway across the world at the Portsmouth Daily Times.

Her father, David Kuhn, is originally from Oklahoma, and met his wife, Canan (Nicole’s mother) in her home country of Turkey. Nicole has never lived in the United States. She was born in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai, where her father worked at the time. His work then moved the family to London, England, where they stayed for 10 years. Three years ago, her family moved again — to Istanbul, Turkey, where Nicole enrolled in an international high school.

“That means you can’t enter the school unless you have a foreign passport, so fully Turkish students cannot go there because there aren’t enough English schools to accommodate everybody,” she said.

Her grandmother, Margaret Kuhn, lives in Portsmouth, and Nicole has visited with her family every year. She said it’s always a huge culture difference coming back to Portsmouth from her home in London, and now Istanbul.

“The first time I visited I was 6 months old,” she said. “I like for a few weeks to be in a sort-of quiet environment. When I come down I like walking down by the antique shops. I just like the atmosphere. It’s calm and homey.”

This year, she’s traveling across the United States to participate in internship programs, considering which type of college degree to pursue. She just spent four weeks studying business in San Francisco before coming back to Portsmouth to visit her grandmother again and intern at the Daily Times.

“I hope to learn what’s important when it comes to news; the ethics behind it and what we’re looking for in a great story. And how a daily newspaper is turned out each and every day,” she said. “The biggest differences I see between here and there is a lot of the media in Istanbul is repressed and not allowed to say as much as they’d like to. Also, in Portsmouth, the focus is not so much on global news. It’s localized.”

She plans to attend a university in the United States but isn’t sure yet which one. She‘s still exploring her career options, but said if she continues to pursue journalism, she would like to be a foreign correspondent for a major news agency.

In addition to Kuhn, the Daily Times also hosts local high school and college student interns interested in learning community journalism and the day-to-day operations inside a newsroom.

RYAN SCOTT OTTNEY can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 235, or rottney@heartlandpublications.com.