Uzbekistan native finds life as a regular UM student

Yelena Ablaeva’s brown, two-inch high-heels click along the cement floor of the University Center. On a day when most students struggle to find a sweatshirt to match their slippers, she is dressed impeccably.

Her black silk shirt is accented with pink and white flowers. Pink earrings dangle from her ears beneath her styled red hair, echoing a sparkling pink pendant resting between her collarbones. A tan jacket with a fur-trimmed hood matches her messenger bag perfectly.

She knows she’s overdressed, but she can’t help it.

“You should see our girls,” she says with a lilting Russian accent. “It’s like a fashion show.”

Ablaeva is referring to the trendy girls at the universities in her native country of Uzbekistan. The 22-year-old communications major, called “adorable” and “super-cool” by her friends, now attends the University of Montana as an exchange student.

It’s tough for any international student to get permission to come study in the United States. As a student from a country with a tense relationship with America, Ablaeva said she knows she is especially lucky to be in Missoula.

She went through a rigorous application process in Uzbekistan, which included interviewing with Uzbekistani and American officials at the U.S. Embassy. She beat out thousands of applicants to be one of 13 students allowed to participate in the program.

“I was afraid I wasn’t going to get it,” she said humbly, raising her voice slightly to be heard over the din of the UC.

Barbara Seekins, a programs manager in Foreign Student and Scholar Services, said Ablaeva’s admittance to the program was no luck of the draw.

“She’s the cream of the crop from Uzbekistan,” she said, noting Ablaeva’s strong academic skills as well as her friendliness.

Ablaeva endured the painstaking application process because she wanted to get an education in America. In Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan, she attended the World Languages University, majoring in English literature.

But she was unhappy with the educational treadmill she was running on in Tashkent.

“Once you choose a career, you can’t change your path, your classes,” she said.

When she arrived in Missoula in 2006, she found she wanted to study communications so she could better relate to people around her.

International programs on campus, like the International Student Association, organized events that made her feel more at home.

She met her boyfriend of 18 months, an Italian student, at one of these functions.

“I came here; I was totally by myself,” she said. “They helped me a lot.”

It was this strong sense of belonging, coupled with the communication courses that led Ablaeva to want to work with foreign students and organize exchange programs.

She intends to run in the International Student Association election next week for a representative position. If she wins, she’ll get experience organizing events for international students.

When Ablaeva first came to Missoula as a student sponsored by the State Department, she felt limited by the speech barrier, she said.

That fear kept her quiet in class.

“Some people are really curious, and some people may think you have less knowledge than they do,” she said with a smile.

But the cultural challenges come on the tails of larger political ones. America’s relationship with Uzbekistan has been strained in part due to the transition from Soviet rule.

Tensions have run high in a small country trying to maintain its independence. So high, in fact, that Ablaeva says many exchange programs to America were cut-off. But even so, the program she is studying under, one sponsored by the U.S. government, is still up and running.

Despite the trials of getting into the program and a tense political situation, Ablaeva maintains the life of a regular college student at the University.

Ablaeva lives in a dorm room with Gabriela Farias, a Mexican exchange student. Like every other room, it is decorated with pictures of family and friends, along with the occasional Ritz cracker box. Here, Ablaeva giggles about her boyfriend and talks about shopping.

Farias, who has been living with Ablaeva since January 2008, said it was great being placed with her.

“She’s very outgoing. She likes to make friends,” Farias said, adding with a laugh, “She’s very talkative.”

Like many college students, Ablaeva is constantly pressed for time. Between working on campus 19.5 hours a week and studying, she rarely finds time to relax. But when she does get a chance, Ablaeva likes to spend time with friends, hip-hop or salsa dance or watch romantic comedies.

But, unlike a majority of students at the University, Ablaeva knows her days in the U.S. will end.

She is set to graduate in May 2009. Her student visa will expire soon afterwards.

She is considering going on to get a master’s degree, something uncommon and potentially profitable in Uzbekistan. But even an extension on her visa will run out eventually.

When that time comes, Ablaeva knows she will have made the best of her time here.

“I’m a hardworking person,” she said, in a rare moment of immodesty. “I try to do everything perfect as well. I hope there will be no mistakes.”