Thoughts from an international student

Yelnura, MA in Middle Eastern Studies, 2026

Moving to a whole other continent might be challenging, well...It was challenging.

I am from Kazakhstan, a very distant country from the United States.

I am Kazakh, the only Kazakh and maybe the first Kazakh in the history of my program.

I am Kazakh, maybe one of the very few you will meet on campus.

Up to this day and I believe, to many more days to come, I receive a lot of questions about my country and culture. Sometimes it is not easy to explain to people with distant knowledge of Soviet History how I come from Central Asia, but I am not Asian, but rather Turkic Muslim, and speak Russian as my native language. Sometimes it might have felt confusing and lonesome to not be able to follow conversations in class on America-specific topics, or to have to ask questions that seem very basic for the current context. Sometimes it felt fragile to act on things or say things without being sure that it is appropriate in the new culture.

To be an international student means being immersed in a new culture, surrounded by a new society with its norms and practices that are unfamiliar, and can only be learned through practice and experience. As a person who thought she mastered her English to the most proficient level, I came to see that I have so many words that I have never heard of and had to learn, words like thrifting or potluck (My first thrifting experience photo attached). These are the words that you wouldn’t necessarily use if you did not happen to be in the setting of university life in the United States. You learn as you experience.

To be an international student means not knowing how the bureaucratic system of another country works and being stressed about having a high chance of forgetting or missing out on important documentation. But, the Office of International Affairs (OIA) does a great job of explaining each bit of every process, so that the student feels comfortable in the new setting. Second best option is to have your new local friends explain it to you. There are people who can help you or who are there to help you.

To be an international student means coming to a new place where you most likely do not have any acquaintances, friends or family. This one tends to be the scariest and the toughest one at the beginning. However, my experience at the University of Chicago is that I met the most welcoming people in my life, who were as much willing to make new friends as I was. As one of my mentors once told me, you should make friends in the university, especially in the graduate program, they are the ones who share with you all the challenge and sometimes burden that follow your experience of education, who can help lift you up when you feel overwhelmed, and with whom you can still share the last bits of carefree moments of the student life.

After all, aren't the friends you make in the university the ones who usually remain for life? If not here and now, where and when then?

Now that I think about it - although moving to Chicago, had its challenges on me, it also brought many opportunities into my life. Even though, sometimes I might feel alienated in a new culture and a new society, I also look at it as an opportunity to introduce people to my country, our hospitable traditions and my language. I can claim that the past 5 months has been filled with the help of doing just that - conversations and comprehensive answers to the questions about my culture, joint Central Asian cuisine events with the Middle Eastern Students Association (MESSA) and Central Asian Studies Society (CASS), help in preparing coursework for the Turkic languages instruction at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. I am proud to be one of only a few representatives of Kazakhstan here and have an opportunity to help people learn about it.

Studying at the University of Chicago also taught me things that I never would have learned if I stayed in my country. Even though I might not follow all of the conversations on the region specific topics, I have met the most welcoming individuals who educated me on literature, history, politics and culture of the Americas. I can surely say that I learnt and obtained new perspectives on these topics because I got immersed in this new culture. I am proud to be a part of the community of UChicago who is always striving to learn, to teach and to respect.

To be an international student means having a lot to sacrifice for a short or long period of time. And it truly is challenging and overwhelming. But the things you get from that trade-off are the most valuable ones that you would not be able to obtain in any other way. And it is good to be challenged in the community that is ready to support, hold and lift you up, as it is in the University of Chicago. Suddenly, the challenge becomes bearable and the things that are left are your ambitions and aspirations to be better as a human.