Guliza Aitkulova, originally from the Talas region, shared her impressions of life, study, and work in South Korea, as well as her plans for developing education in her homeland.
The girl, born in 2001 and raised in Talas, currently lives in Seoul with her husband Kanaybek Asanbekov. “After my bachelor's degree, I took a year off and am now preparing to apply for a master's program at leading universities around the world, studying English online. My husband is also from Talas; we met in Seoul when I came here to study in 2021. He graduated from UNIST and has been working as an ATI engineer in Seoul for 5 years,” Guliza shares.
Guliza completed her education at secondary school No. 2 named after R.Ya. Rysakova in Talas, and spent her 11th grade in the USA through the FLEX program (2018-2019 academic year, South Kitsap High School, Port Orchard, Washington). From 2020 to 2024, she studied "Integrated Systems Engineering" in English at Inha University in Incheon, South Korea. Since 2017, she has also been conducting private English language courses.
During her studies in the USA, Guliza met Dan Radion, her programming teacher, who now works at Google's Swiss office. He organized a class trip to the Google campus in Seattle, which inspired Guliza to become a programmer. After returning to Kyrgyzstan in 2019, she applied to foreign universities, learning from friends about the opportunities to study in South Korea and the availability of grants.
After successfully passing three stages of the competition and an interview with a professor from her university in Bishkek, Guliza received a full scholarship to study at the engineering faculty of Inha University. She began her studies in September 2020; however, she attended online classes from Talas during the first year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2021, before the start of her second year, she moved to Korea and from that moment on studied offline. It was then that she met her future husband, who had just graduated with his bachelor's degree.
According to Guliza, her parents, who did not have higher education, managed to create all the conditions for her studies. “They worked various jobs to support us and always said they wanted us to get an education,” she notes. She also mentions her English teacher, Vladimir Sergeevich Shalagin, who inspired her to study the language and participate in Olympiads, which eventually led to her studying in the USA.
Now Guliza lives in Seoul, where she continues to teach English online and plans to apply for a master's program at leading universities in America and Europe. She emphasizes that Koreans are strict about order and cleanliness. “At the bus stop, they line up, which caught my attention. I have already gotten used to polite greetings and bowing,” Guliza shares her impressions.
“Korea amazed me with its cleanliness and safety. For example, I left my bicycle unlocked, and it stayed in place for several days. This shows the level of trust and consciousness of people,” she says. Guliza also notes the developed infrastructure, including grocery delivery, and the high competitiveness in the job market.
As for the climate, Guliza admits that it is hard to get used to. “Summer temperatures can reach 40 degrees, and in winter it can be cold and windy. However, spring and autumn are very beautiful here,” she says.
According to her, there are about 7,000 Kyrgyzstani people living in Korea, and they actively communicate, gathering for various cultural events. “I dream of opening an English language academy in Kyrgyzstan and hope that the experience I gain will help me improve the education system in the country,” Guliza adds.
Gallery: Guliza Aitkulova. Life in South Korea.
