Kazakhstan: Larissa Foley (Our Global Classroom and Daily Life in Almaty)
Our Global Classroom
Having completed three years of my undergraduate degree, I thought I knew everything there is to know about how to study, take notes, and process information. That is, until I showed up to my first day in Kazakhstan with only a bookbag and a computer. My professors gently informed the class that we were going to need four notebooks (one for each subject), as well as pencils. This summer I used a pen and paper for the first time in what felt like forever. Throughout my entire college career, I have only submitted assignments on my laptop, so at first handwritten notes felt foreign to me. But by the end of the program, I fell in love with it. I found the more I wrote out new vocabulary words, the more likely I was to remember them.
Another classroom aspect that I was not at all used to was the class sizes. In our group, there were four students total, which meant a lot of individual attention on each student. The professors were very open with their commentary and corrected our mistakes as soon as we made them. At first, I found this daunting, but over time it became easier and easier to speak up. Our cohort became very comfortable with our teachers and their methods, and I can confidently say that my Russian improved by leaps and bounds. Although the learning experience in Kazakhstan is greatly different from the one I am used to, I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it extremely helpful in my language acquisition.
Daily Life in Almaty
The most important thing in my life is consistency. When I moved to Almaty, I made sure to establish a daily routine in order to help keep me grounded. Every morning I woke up at 6 to read, relax, and get ready for class. At 7:30, I sat down with my host mom to have breakfast and chat. This was one of my favorite parts of the day. We dipped chocolate in hot tea and talked about everything under the sun- the weather, current events, life, etc. Spending time with my host family was a nice distraction from the academic portion of the program.
At exactly 8 a.m., I would say goodbye and head to the bus stop. On my way, I had a mandatory stop at the corner store for a cold sparkling lemonade or a liter of water. Class started at 9, but I liked taking my time on the bus and arriving a bit early. We had four classes every day from 9-1, and then additional classes from 2-3 on certain days of the week. After class, my friends and I took it upon ourselves to explore the city. We went out to lunch at all different types of restaurants and tried lots of delicious food, including Kazakh, Korean, and Ukrainian cuisine. Going out to eat after the school day ended gave me something to look forward to.
In the evenings I returned home around 4 or 5 in order to start my homework. Then I would sit and have dinner with my host family, followed by tea and sometimes a game of Uno or Durak. Since I had to wake up early for class, I adopted what my host family lovingly called a “детское время”, or a “children’s bedtime”. At 10 p.m. every night I shut my lights off and got ready to do it all again the next day!
Larissa Foley
Hometown: Waukesha, WI
Major: International Studies on the Global Cultures Track, Russian Certificates: Russian, Eastern Europe & Central Asia Studies (REECAS), Gender & Women’s Studies
Program: Advanced Russian Language and Area Studies Program (RLASP)