Making Friends on Your Year Abroad in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
Making Friends on Your Year Abroad in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
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Worried about making friends on your year abroad in Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan? Here’s honest advice from life in Almaty on meeting locals, speaking Russian, and building real friendships.This post will show you that, not only is it possible, but it is necessary to have a year abroad that helps you flourish linguistically, culturally, and mentally.Also, it goes without saying, this blog post is about meeting LOCALS, not other foreigners or tourists. They definitely have their place in your life whilst abroad, but there's so much more on offer when you have local friends.
Perhaps you’ve heard it all before: “Kazakh and Kyrgyz people are some of the friendliest and most hospitable people in the world.” At the same time, you might also have heard about some post-Soviet social quirks when it comes to talking to strangers: less smiling, more formality at first, and a slightly different rhythm to casual conversation.
It can all feel a bit confusing. To be honest, before my year abroad, I was terrified of coming across as strange and sticking out like a sore thumb. There were also points at the start of my time abroad when I really craved friendship and that feeling of familiarity in a completely new environment.
Fast forward to April 2026, when I went back to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to see old friends, make some new ones, and see how some of my former students were getting on with their social lives.
In this blog post, I’m going to talk about what it’s like to navigate life abroad and make genuine friends with local Russian speakers in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Did I actually make friends while abroad?Before I properly start, you might want to know whether I was actually able to make friends while abroad.What I can say is that I have just counted how many contacts in my phonebook have the Kazakh emoji beside their names… and I counted 79.
Would I call them all friends? No. Do I remember all of them? Yes. Would I hang out with them again? Yes — maybe with a few exceptions 👀.
Of course, numbers do not give the full picture. But they do show that throughout my time abroad, I definitely developed the skill of getting to know, getting to like, and ultimately getting to trust people who have become some of my best friends to this day.
(Seriously, it goes way beyond those two screenshots... ➡)
Would I call them all friends? No. Do I remember all of them? Yes. Would I hang out with them again? Yes — maybe with a few exceptions 👀.
Of course, numbers do not give the full picture. But they do show that throughout my time abroad, I definitely developed the skill of getting to know, getting to like, and ultimately getting to trust people who have become some of my best friends to this day.
(Seriously, it goes way beyond those two screenshots... ➡)
Teaching and volunteering can help you meet peopleMany of these friends were former students whom I taught English while I was out there. Teaching, volunteering, or helping people with English in mid-sized groups of people your age can be a really efficient way of meeting lots of people and potentially getting their contacts.While there are dozens of former students I still keep in touch with, I want to talk about one in particular, Sofia. She was the same age as me, originally from Shymkent, and had moved to Almaty for university.I was running some IELTS courses, and she was a student on one of them. I remember her saying that she had decided to enrol on my course because she wanted to experience a more Western style of language teaching. Not only did we seem to get on well in the classroom, but we also found that we had even more to talk about outside of it.Once the course was over and we no longer had the more formal teacher-student dynamic, we would occasionally meet up and show each other our favourite parts of Almaty. We bonded over not really fitting into the societies we were raised in, being nerdy about languages, and consuming a lot of the same media — including RuPaul’s Drag Race.We continued to speak every so often over social media and met up for the first time in several years last week. We spent around five hours having dinner, walking around the city, going to a midnight café, and then walking around the city even more until 2am.It was amazing catching up, and we really struggled to say goodbye this time around, which I know means that we will definitely meet up again when I go back.
Find your niche, not just any social groupAnother way of meeting people (and in my opinion, the most effective and enjoyable way of making friends) is by joining niche groups of people who share common interests with you.If you used to do a certain sport, join an adult club for that sport. If you enjoy arts and crafts, see whether there are any local get-togethers where people crochet and chat, or paint portraits of each other.I was not a gymnast back then, but I was still quite fresh from my pre-Covid life as a musician. When I found out that there was an English-language choir and theatre group for locals who wanted to improve their English while singing and acting, I immediately knew I wanted to get involved.That is exactly how I met my next friend, whom I’ll call Alibek for privacy. We met through that very English-language theatre group, called KELT, which unfortunately does not run anymore.Alibek and I clicked for three reasons. The first was that we were learning each other’s languages. The second was that we were both into singing and music. The third was that we had some shared life experiences as gay guys in our early twenties.Admittedly, even though we got on like a house on fire, we never really considered going beyond friendship. That platonic friendship was actually what made our connection work and stand the test of time.When I visited him last week, we were able to reflect on fond memories from the theatre days, catch each other up on our dating lives, laugh at some embarrassing moments, and then continue on our merry way singing Russian and Kazakh rap songs together.Whether you’re a fellow queer student who is into musical theatre, or a devout Christian already in a committed straight relationship, there is so much to be said for making contacts from all walks of life. Keeping as many of those contacts as platonic friendships can really pay dividends for long-term friendship success.
Want to hear my advice on dating while in Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan? Let me know and I’ll write a post about it.
What my old teacher told me
My final friend (that sounds sinister, doesn’t it??) is my old teacher, Karlygash Zinilabidinovna at Turan University.
Like many Russian teachers I have met, she seldom smiled in her first few weeks working with me and took her role as a teacher very seriously. However, once she realised that my classmates and I were serious about our studies, she began to open up more and more.
After I left Kazakhstan, we would message every so often about how I missed Kazakhstan and how she missed teaching us. We eventually decided to catch up over lunch, and she shared something very interesting with me.
She told me that my friend and I were among the most successful students she had ever taught. It was not necessarily because of our test scores or presentation skills. Rather, it was because we came to Kazakhstan with an open mind and a genuine desire to meet and engage with local people.
Keep people at the centre of your year abroad
This got me thinking about what I always tell students, and what I prepare them for on the Steppe with Confidence programme.
You need to have an interest in integrating into Kazakh or Kyrgyz society in some way or another. Without the desire to talk to people, you are only half-living.
Think about people who come to the UK, or to your home country, and only spend time with people from the same background. You do not want to be that kind of person abroad, especially as students of Russian/Post-Soviet Studies. Your job is to soak up as much of the local culture as possible.
Yes, that means getting in as much language practice as possible. But it also means getting to know what people really think and feel about where they live, what their country has been through, and what everyday life actually looks like.
And, in a more selfish sense, the better a network you can create for yourself while you are out there, the more likely you are to find work opportunities after you graduate. Internationally minded start-ups and organisations may value graduates who understand the region and can communicate in Russian, so “making friends” isn’t as trivial as it may sound at first.
Final advice
If you want to make the most of your year abroad in Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan, keep people at the centre of the experience. Cafés, food, nightlife, travel, and work opportunities all matter – but the friendships you build are what will make the place feel real.
And if speaking Russian with native or fluent speakers feels intimidating, you are not alone. That is exactly why two of the seven Steppe with Confidence modules focus on casual Russian, socialising, and integrating into local life.
You do not need to integrate into every part of society. But if you can find your niche, meet local people, and hold your own in everyday conversations, you will come home with far more than improved Russian. You will come home with stories, confidence, and friendships that can last for years.
Want help preparing for that? Drop me a message on Instagram or WhatsApp, and I’d be happy to chat.
Matt x
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