I decided to take an embedded study abroad course this semester. That means that I took a typical class at Penn State with a class trip involved. My COMM 402 international reporting class would go to Kazakhstan over spring break.
I had been abroad before this class and I’ve had experiences that are supposed to be “life-changing,” like building a house for a family of eight in Guatemala, so I didn’t expect Kazakhstan to particularly alter my worldview.
It was a life-changing experience.Â
We departed from Penn State’s campus at 9 a.m. on Thursday to drive to the Newark airport, fly to Frankfurt, Germany, and then to Almaty, Kazakhstan. We arrived very early Saturday morning, accounting for a very long travel day and multiple time zone changes.
We rested up quickly and got ready for a full day ahead of us.
We toured the city, went to a women’s rights protest and ended up at the after-party for the aforementioned protest.
It was located inside of an underground gay bar in the city and it consisted of karaoke, dancing, music, drag performances and even Kahoot.
My classmates and I got to meet a lot of people our own age at this event. It was so interesting for me to be able to see the cultural differences in nightlife, which you can read more about here.Â
The next day, we got to work on gathering information for our stories.
My story, which is still in the production stages, is going to be focused on the revival of Uyghur culture in Kazakhstan, despite the ethnic group’s ongoing persecution and surveillance in China. Meeting with leaders of different aspects of Uyghur life was so inspiring to me.Â
The thing that made the trip the most special for me, however, was meeting my new “grandma.”
Religion is an important part of a lot of cultures, but it’s an especially important part of the expression of Uyghur culture, since the group can’t freely practice Islam in China. I was in Kazakhstan during Ramadan and I knew I wanted to highlight that part of the group’s culture.Â
I asked the Kazakh journalist helping us find sources to help me find a family to celebrate Iftar with so that I could break fast along with a Uyghur family. He was able to get me into contact with the female leader of a Uyghur community in Almaty, which was so inspiring.
When I entered the dining room, the entire table was covered with food, and that was just the appetizer. After we snacked, multiple courses of soup and tea and entrees were served.
I was welcomed into a stranger’s home with more love than I sometimes receive from my own family, which reminded me of the human kindness that we tend to ignore.
Leaving my new grandma’s house, with an invitation to return whenever I was back in the country, I remembered how much love I have inside myself, which was a complete reset for me.
Even though it was just one part of my trip and one interview for my story, that dinner changed my life.
My trip to Kazakhstan was truly life-changing.