National Kazakh University Al-Farabi is in Almaty, the biggest city in Kazakhstan. In the past, it was capital of Kazakhstan, now it is still centre of finance of Kazakhstan. Almaty is in southeast of Kazakhstan, this city is like European big cities. You can find everything there, small local shops, supermarkets, local restaurants, but also expensive European restaurants. There are also bug shopping malls, cinemas, banks, two train stations, airport, …

Almaty is the biggest city in Kazakhstan. In the past, it was capital of Kazakhstan, now it is still centre of finance of Kazakhstan. This city is like European big cities. You can find everything there, public transport, small local shops, supermarkets, local restaurants and pubs, but also expensive European restaurants. There are also big shopping malls, cinemas, banks, two train stations, airport, …

Almaty is very close to mountains, you can go to the mountains by public transport from the centre of the city and it takes only half an hour. Mountains are very big, so if you like it you can spend there a lot of time. You can visit many waterfalls, Big Almaty Lake, or hike to many peaks. On the north of Almaty, you can visit city and big lake Kapchagay. On the east of Almaty, you can visit kanyon Charyn, Kolsay lakes and Kayendy lake. On the west of Almaty, you can visit city Tamgaly. We also visit Kyrgystan (Bishkek and Issyk-kul lake) because we have no visa and we can stay in Kazakhstan only for 30 days, so we have to go there in the middle of our stay in Kazakhstan.

National Kazakh University Al-Farabi, Faculty of Mechanical and Mathematical Engineering, Department of Space Technologies

I was working in a team with other IAESTE trainees. Our task was to build CanSat – Student satellite. My part of work was to program Arduino and connect all measuring devices. Our supervisor usually spend in our office only half an hour per week. So, we enjoy our time in office together, experimenting with all devices we had there and having fun.

Salary was 45 000 KZT per month. We had free accommodation. It is maybe enough for food in school canteen, but not if you want to eat outside sometimes, have a drink in a pub, or travel.

English good is enough here, people don´t speak English very well in Kazakhstan. The big advantage is if you can read Russian alphabet and you can understand at least something in Russian. Most people don´t speak English at all.

I lived in a student dormitory with other IAESTE trainees in university campus, so it was very close to our working place. There were rooms for two people - two beds, one table, two chairs and one wardrobe. We had our own bathroom with shower and toilet. In this dormitory was also kitchen, but with no dishes, only oven, fridge and cooker. As we lived all together, we usually met every evening in one room and talking, drinking and planning our trips. Accommodation is provided by IAESTE Kazakhstan and it is for free.

There is not many IAESTE members in Kazakhstan, so we usually spend time only with other trainees. But if need something, they were very helpful. They helped us with organizing trips, they recommend us the best pubs and restaurants and show us every important places in university and in the city.

As I already wrote before, we lived at same dormitory, so we met every day. We went outside to pubs together, we planned our trips together, we travel together.

In university campus is gym with swimming pool. If you like running you can use very nice path along river near university campus.

Typical food for local people is Plov (mutton or beef meat with rice), Manty (dumlings filled with minced beef or lamb meat) and Shashlik (grilled meat on skewer). You also have to try horse steak, horse milk and camel milk.

Internet connection is not problem, it is almost everywhere. You can buy local SIM card with internet (15GB) for 2000 KZT per month. But in many places out of city is no signal, so be prepared for it.

If you know basics of Russian language and you can read azbuka, it is very big advantage for you. Don´t be very serious about your work there, they have they own tempo.

You can buy everything here, even some brands of Czech beer (Kozel).

You can see different culture, different way of life and get to know very nice and interesting country.

I was accepted very early. But then it was very hard to get some more info about work, about arrival and so on. Luckily, I didn´t need visa. After my arrival, everything was OK.