The KAZNU

Russian & CIS studies

200848044

Su-Min Shim

On March 16, 2009, I boarded a plane for Almaty, with my heart fluttering. Even though it was my second visit to Kazakhstan, it was as if everything had been new to me. When I visited Kazakhstan for the first time, I stayed only for a month with the purpose of a short language study. Thus, it was too short for me to have an in-depth understanding of the country which I was majoring in. For that reason, I was determined during my second visit.

The place where I studied for a year was Al-Farabi Kazakh National University located in Almaty, a former capital of Kazakhstan. Today Al-Farabi Kazakh National University is the first classical university of Kazakhstan and it was the first among Kazakhstani education institutions to be awarded with the Prize of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan “For outstanding quality achievements”. Al-Farabi Kazakh National University ranks first in the General rating of universities in Kazakhstan.

I took classes of international relations and politics, diplomacy and economy of Kazakhstan at the Department of International Relations with Kazakhstani students in Kazakh. At first, I had quite a lot of trouble understanding their unfamiliar teaching methods and language. However, I could gradually get adapted to my classes with the aid of my Kazakhstani friends; in this process, my fear of the language has gradually disappeared. After my decent previewing and reviewing every week for my classes, I could have good scores on the tests. 

More than anything else, I had chances to get along with my new local friends while taking classes, to visit their houses, to have some traditional Kazakhstani foods and to directly experience their culture, which were most memorable to me. According to their warm hospitality shown to their guests, they always greeted me with a smile and were surprised and pleased to know that I was able to speak their language. Once I had an opportunity to visit one of the Korean-heritage Kazakhstani friends whom I got to know by chance, they were exactly like the Koreans. Meanwhile, I was very touched by Korean foods that they had cooked for me.

Making a trip with my local friends was one of the great memories there. In particular, it was the most impressing for me to make a train trip to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Then, it was a really cheerful experience to converse with the people from other regions while accommodating in the train for 22 hours. Astana was a planned city so that all of its buildings were embellished flamboyantly in a European style; thus, I had an instant feeling that I was in a foreign country.

When I gathered data for my thesis, my local friends helped me a lot. After finishing all of my classes, I concentrated on locating the data for my thesis. I could find there the data that I had not been able to find in South Korea, which was a great accomplishment to me. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my local friends who went to the library with me every day and located data for me.

I believe that I had lots of invaluable experiences while studying in Kazakhstan for a year. I had to overcome the fear of my linguistic barriers to communicate with others and take classes and I could feel how the local people in Kazakhstan saw themselves, which would be very different from Kazakhstan that I had seen from the perspective of a Korean. Furthermore, I believe that it was a great opportunity for me to directly experience the tradition and culture of Kazakhstani people, while having some time together with them. I sincerely appreciate GSIAS and its 3+1 Student Dispatch Program for giving me such a wonderful chance.