Russian is written in a different alphabet, called Cyrillic, so many of the letters and sounds are pretty different from what we have in English. However, there are also lots of similarities. For example, the word “pizza” in English is just пицца (pizza) in Russian and is pronounced the same!
This semester, I am living and studying in Almaty, Kazakhstan! Kazakhstan is located in a region called Central Asia and is the largest of the 5 countries in the area. Since I am here to learn Russian, all of my classes are taught entirely in Russian! I have about 24 hours of class per week. It can be difficult trying to learn about topics like history in a new language, but I have learned so much from my classes. The university I am at is called Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, but students here call it “KazNu.” University life here looks pretty similar to that in the United States from what I have seen so far. In between classes, I often buy tea or coffee at the university cafe, and there’s a cafeteria located on the first floor. One distinction for myself and the other exchange students is our language pledge, which means that we had to promise to only speak Russian while at the university. My friends here and I also like trying new food and meeting new people.
Outside of classes, I live with a host family in an apartment. Like families in the United States, host families here come in all shapes and sizes. I live with my host mom and her two cats. Sometimes, her two children, both of whom are in their thirties, come over for dinner with us. My host mom is super nice (as are her cats), and I am really happy with my living arrangements!
