Feel like home (China, Class of 2020)

Boyang Chen, Master of Science in Finance China

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I had been selected as a volunteer for China Pavilion in EXPO 2017. One of my friends back

then gave me a campus tour in NU and I felt: Why not? I’ll give it a try.

Now it proved that I made a great decision. Nazarbayev University is a utopia for me here because people in this community are more open-minded in comparison to the rest of the society, with world-class faculty, rich resources and brilliant students.

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What’s interesting for me is that Kazakhstani students seem to be raised and educated in a quite different way from Chinese students. Five years ago, before the University Entrance Exam, our day started at 6 am and lasted till midnight preparing for the exam, my life became almost a straight line with two endpoints - home and school, without much leisure time for hobbies or meeting with friends. On the contrary, Kazakhstani students have more time to cultivate passions and build solid friendships.

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During my residency in Kazakhstan, I’ve heard about local traditions and conservative

opinions. Women have more duty at home, youngsters in a family have more responsibilities

towards parents, dogs should not be kept indoors … etc. New to me, some of them are even

shocking to me. But I respect them and I do believe that people’s wisdom will take the

essence and discard the dross eventually.

Language barrier is a challenge for me, and it could hurt sometimes. When group discussions were in Russian, when invited guest speakers were sharing in Russian, when club event’s application forms are in Russian and Kazakh … not only me, but also certain international students, we definitely once felt isolation. Still, I am the lucky one, because my classmates are extremely supportive and helpful, they share so much with me just like brothers and sisters.