9. Daily Life as an International Student in Kazakhstan — Food, Friends, and the Famous Winter

Glossy university brochures do a great job of making campuses look like postcards. They do a poor job of telling you what Tuesday at 7 p.m. actually feels like. So let's talk about the texture of everyday life — what international students in Kazakhstan are eating, where they go on weekends, who they hang out with, and how on earth they survive their first winter.

Your first 30 days

The first month is always strange. The currency feels like a video game (1 USD ≈ 470 KZT in 2026 — "thanks for the 50,000" will mean roughly 100 dollars and you will get used to that quickly). The keyboard layout in internet cafés has Cyrillic next to Latin. Yandex Go replaces Uber. WhatsApp is everywhere; Telegram is even more everywhere.

Universities run an orientation week — useful for the admin paperwork, less useful for the cultural side. Most students learn the city through their roommates, the international student council, and the simple act of getting lost on a bus.

Food — better than you've been told

Local cuisine

Kazakhstani food is meat-forward — beshbarmak (the national dish, with lamb or horse meat and pasta), kazy (horse sausage), plov (rice with mutton and carrots), manti (steamed dumplings), and the universal samsa with beef or pumpkin. Tea is taken with milk and bread is treated with near-religious respect — never throw it out.

Halal availability

Most local meat in Almaty, Astana, Shymkent and the regional cities is halal, and there are dedicated halal restaurants, butchers and supermarket sections. For Muslim students, dietary practice is straightforward.

Vegetarian and vegan

This used to be the harder side, but Almaty and Astana now have full vegetarian cafés, plant-based menus in modern coffee shops, and large international-supermarket selections. Vegan students adjust within weeks.

International food scenes

Indian, Pakistani, Korean, Turkish, Chinese and Italian restaurants are well-established in both major cities. You will not lack for biryani in Almaty or Korean BBQ in Astana.

Language: the real one-month story

Most international students arrive knowing zero Kazakh and zero Russian. By month two they have learnt the words for "please," "thank you," "how much," "the bill" and "sorry, I'm a student." By month six many can hold simple conversations in shops and on buses. Kazakhs are unusually patient with foreign learners — far more so than locals in larger global capitals.

Was the language hard? Honestly, less than I expected. The Cyrillic alphabet has 33 letters and you can read most signs in a week.

Making friends — the part that surprises people

Kazakhstani students are friendly and curious but often reserved at the first meeting. Friendship here is built slowly — over shared meals, shared notes before exams, helping each other carry groceries up the stairs. Once a Kazakhstani classmate becomes your friend, they are your friend forever. The friendship runs deep.

International communities form quickly too. The Indian Student Association, the African Student Union, the Turkish, the Pakistani — every major city has them, and most run weekly events that double as a soft landing for newcomers.

The winter — let's be honest

If you are coming from Pakistan, India, sub-Saharan Africa or the Middle East, the Kazakhstani winter will be the hardest part of year one. Astana goes below –30°C. Almaty stays milder but still drops to –15°C. The first time you breathe outside in January and your eyelashes freeze, you will think the country is broken. It is not. It is just winter.

The survival kit

• A serious down coat rated for –30°C (do not bring a fashion coat from a warmer country)

• Thermal base layers — top and bottom

• Proper winter boots with grip

• A hat that actually covers your ears

• Gloves and a scarf you can pull over your nose

• Vitamin D supplements — daylight is short between November and February

You can buy all of this in Kazakhstan, and it is cheaper here than at home. Many students leave the heavy shopping until they arrive.

Weekend life

• Almaty: hiking in the foothills, skiing at Shymbulak, day trips to Charyn Canyon, café culture in Dostyk avenue

• Astana: Botanical Garden, Khan Shatyr, weekend bus to Borovoe (the lakes)

• Trains across the country are cheap and surprisingly comfortable — overnight to Almaty from Astana for about USD 25

The small annoyances nobody warns you about

• Banking apps default to Russian — keep Google Translate handy in week one

• Some online stores still require a local phone number for delivery

• Cafés and shops close earlier than you expect outside Almaty

• Heating is centralised — flats can be either too warm or too cold depending on the building

• Air quality in Almaty is poor in the winter due to a temperature inversion — an air purifier in the dorm helps

The good surprises

• Public transport is genuinely punctual and cheap

• Hospitality at family meals is overwhelming in the best way

• The mountains in Almaty are stunning year-round

• Cinemas play films in English with Kazakh/Russian subtitles

• Internet is fast and reliable

• Healthcare for students is straightforward — most universities have on-campus clinics

If I could go back and tell first-year-me one thing

Start learning twenty words of Russian or Kazakh per week from day one. Not for academic reasons — for the social ones. The Kazakhstani student who shyly invites you to their grandmother's house for plov is not joking. Show up. Eat too much. Say something in Russian, badly. They will laugh kindly and your year will quietly become unforgettable.

Official applications and resources

All international study applications and accredited programme listings in Kazakhstan are coordinated through the official portal of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan: studyinkz.kz.

studyinkz.kz is the single authoritative source for accredited universities, current scholarship deadlines, foreign branch campus admissions and the official invitation letter required for the C9 student visa. Apply through any other channel only after verifying that your programme is listed on studyinkz.kz.