{"id":2293,"date":"2025-04-12T20:11:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T00:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/german-russian\/?page_id=2293"},"modified":"2026-02-25T18:03:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T23:03:21","slug":"olivia-smith","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/german-russian-studies\/alumni\/olivia-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Smith (’26) on the power of language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For me, the impact of studying abroad was realized through language \u2014 without being able to communicate, I would have missed out on the sincerity of expression that one only achieves in their native tongue. I decided to study abroad in Almaty, Kazakhstan after my second week of Russian language instruction, while I was still figuring out the Cyrillic alphabet. Kazakhstan was appealing partially because I didn\u2019t know much about Central Asia and partially because of the opportunity to immerse myself in the Russian language which, at the time, I also didn\u2019t know much about.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"On<\/a>
On a group day hike to 3 Brothers Rocks. (Photo: Olivia Smith)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Almaty rests at the base of the Tien-Shan mountains and my bedroom looked out at them from a high vantage point, granting me a truly beautiful view of the mountains\u2019 colors in the fall, snows once October hit, and first lights of morning as they crept down into the city. The mountains themselves were accessible by an hour trip on a city bus, which cost about 28 cents. I made hiking trips in late summer and fall, and skipped class on Thanksgiving to go snowboarding. The city is very walkable and filled with parks and caf\u00e9s; it\u2019s also home to most of the country\u2019s universities.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"My<\/a>
My dad, ready to eat the dinner Malik prepared for him. A ram head is a symbol of respect, and each member of the table eats in accordance with the qualities they want to grow (e.g., eating the ears to become a better listener). The main course consisted of bishbarmak with plenty of konina (horse meat – a classic!). (Photo: Olivia Smith)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I was enrolled in classes at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU). My peers and I studied grammar, writing, speaking, phonetics, and the history and politics of Central Asia for 4\u20136 hours per day, entirely in Russian. We met twice weekly with \u2018language partners,\u2019 who were Kazakh students enrolled in the international relations faculty at KazNU. My language partner \u0416\u0430\u043d\u0435\u0440\u043a\u0435 (Zhanerke) introduced me to my favorite restaurants and coffee shops, attended the Kazakhstan-Austria soccer match with me, and even joined our group on an overnight train trip to western Kazakhstan. Because each student had their own language partner, we ended up with a friend group of roughly 50 American and Kazakh students, where invites were inclusive and plans abundant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to making local connections through the university, my host family made me feel like I was living in, rather than just visiting, Almaty. My host dad Malik is a professor at KazNU and was willing to engage with me in local political conversation, explain colloquial phrasings, and help me navigate the city or plan trips outside of it. When my family visited, he devoted many hours to ensuring that they would have the best time possible. Malik\u2019s daughter, Aigerim, is a few years older than me and was always responsive to what I demonstrated interest in; she accompanied me on my first trip to the banya (sauna), a three-story traditional nude bath house, and encouraged me to purchase a venik <\/em>experience (in which a masked woman beat me with a bundle of branches in a ~180\u00baF sauna room).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m incredibly grateful for the enthusiasm and thorough instruction of Cheryl<\/a> and Marina<\/a>, my professors at Bates. They encouraged me to pursue what initially seemed like a wild idea of studying abroad using a language I had just begun to study. My time in Kazakhstan demonstrated to me the power of language in cross-cultural interactions and is among the most memorable few months of my life. I enthusiastically recommend studying abroad – especially using a foreign language \u2014 to everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"The<\/a>
The Central Mosque in Astana, the capital city – it is the largest in Central Asia and was completed in 2022. (Photo: Olivia Smith)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Watching<\/a>
Watching a horsemanship show in the \u0413\u0443\u043d\u043d\u044b-\u044d\u0442\u043d\u043e\u0430\u0443\u043b  (\u201cGunny\u201d ethnic village). Kazakh horsemanship is a major part of the culture, as they were formerly a nomadic people. (Photo: Olivia Smith)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"My<\/a>
My friends and Malik from a distance, a few hours away from Aktau, which borders the Caspian Sea in western Kazakhstan. We spent two days off-road touring the fantastic natural and historic landmarks on what has to have been the coolest trip of my life. (Photo: Olivia Smith)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Thanksgiving<\/a>
Thanksgiving Day at Shymbulak! We ate lunch (horse meat and potatoes) at a yurt overlooking the city. (Photo: Olivia Smith)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For me, the impact of studying abroad was realized through language \u2014…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":331,"featured_media":2296,"parent":26,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_batesModPostContentOverride_prepend":false,"_batesModPostContentOverride_append":false,"_batesModPostContentOverride_append_before_footer":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"class_list":["post-2293","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/german-russian-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/german-russian-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/german-russian-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/german-russian-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/german-russian-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2293"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/german-russian-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2478,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/german-russian-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2293\/revisions\/2478"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/german-russian-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/26"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/german-russian-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/german-russian-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}