Hello, my dear readers,

I hope you're all doing great and having a long beautiful walks outside - I heard spring has finally reached Almaty :)

I wanted to dedicate this post to 1) the question I received a while ago about how you come about making American friends, and 2) things I'd really love you to know that are not necessarily related to the life in America.

 But let's not get ahead of ourselves and let's start with the question: How one makes American friends?

As you remember, in my previous post I mentioned that having a few American friends will help you a lot to overcome the initial culture shock. However, the point here is not just to make friends with Americans in order to avoid the culture shock (it is inevitable, trust me), but rather make yourself more comfortable with the American culture and its values by interacting with people who basically carry that culture.

So, the easiest thing to do is to join a student club or organization that interests you (not just because it's cool, but because you actually care about it). Chances are you will meet people who share the same interest as you do, and there you have it: (1) it's easier and better to be friends who share the same passion and values as you do, and  (2) it will be the topic of your first conversation (which can go something like this: "Hey! My name is _____ [your name]. So, you are also interested in ______ [whatever your club is about]"). That's it! You are already crossed the line of being strangers and swiftly approaching the bffs (best friends forever) and buddies territory :) Now pat yourself on the back - you deserve it*.

*One note: don't be shy to start the conversation. Even though your English might not be perfect and you may misspell every second word in your sentence (as I did the first time), people will appreciate your courage and will be more eager to continue the conversation. Actually, don't be conscious about your English proficiency level at all: it is natural to make mistakes, especially if it's your second language, and those mistakes are not necessarily embarrassing - sometimes they are the things that will make other people be drawn to you, as in my case. My friends are still fascinated that, despite having a great vocabulary and no accent whatsoever, I still misplace almost all of my articles. Of course, at first I was very embarrassed about that, but after a while it became just a thing that we all laugh about. One of my friends actually told me that she only approached me and started talking to me because I was constantly using "the", and she thought it was funny :D

 To wrap up, (1) join the club you share common interests with and (2) start the conversation. It's that easy!

 As for the second surprise part: I am a very avid TED Talks viewer. I love the concept behind this event, and I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered TEDx Almaty. I watched one presentation there which got me thinking, and I hope you will enjoy it too. Watch the talk here TEDxAlmaty - Aruzhan Sain (Аружан Саин).

That's all for today now!

Peace and Love,

MK