MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS Correspondent Dmitry Osipov/. The number of foreign students coming to Yakutsk's North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) has been growing. The young people are not afraid of an unfamiliar country or of staying in Yakutia's capital that is built on permafrost. The city is known as one of the coldest places in the world, where winters continue for almost six months, where the air temperature drops below minus 60 degrees. We have discussed with foreign students how they live, study and work in the city of frosts and fogs.
From hot Egypt into minus 40 degrees
Five years ago, Shadi Elamrussi from Egypt came to Yakutsk to study medicine. He remembered how frustrating it was to take the first step out of the plane into the thick blanket of white fog that covered the airport. The first week was the hardest, he added. However, the language barrier turned out to be yet a bigger problem than the frosts: the Egyptian had come to Yakutsk to take an English-language program without taking a prior preparatory course, and it was real tough to do without knowing Russian. "I can remember funny episodes: imagine - I am asking for a pillow, but use a different word, which sounds very alike, and the hostel's staff was shocked to hear I was asking for a granny," the student laughed.
He started working as a cook in a small bar to improve skills in Russian. It was not easy to work and study, but as the time was moving on, he found a job of an English teacher. The schedule fit him well.
"Sure, for those coming from southern countries, the biggest thing is to get used to the frosts. We all want to learn the language, the city and culture, but at the same time it is important to mind the safety and not to stay outdoors for too long in severe frosts," he said.
His tip for first-year students from tropical countries is not to work in the first year: it is much more important to get adapted. Other important aspects are to undergo a medical examination, to monitor the health and to buy warm clothes: a thick down jacket, a sweater, and insulated pants. "When it is minus 40-50 degrees in Yakutsk, only open parts get frozen - the face, hands, if without gloves, or legs, if you have to be standing for a long time. In addition to covering heads, many locals cover their faces - not to have icy eyelashes," he told us.
Medical scientists share this opinion. Natalya Borisova of the University's Medical Institute stressed during the first year, foreign students undergo both social and biological adaptations. The institute's researchers have selected a group of students from Egypt, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan to see how the extremely low temperatures may affect health conditions of the foreigners visiting Yakutia. The scientists observe the students during the most acute phase of adaptation - the first couple of months after their arrival. The research will continue for several years.
"Adaptive reactions have developed over the evolution. For some, those reactions proceed without disruptions, since the body has huge compensatory and adaptive mechanisms, while others may experience certain disruptions. Our task is to identify the first signs of such a breakdown, to understand how, why and in what cases they may occur. If the body is healthy initially, then moving to other climatic conditions, including those with a cold climate, cannot cause a direct threat to life," the scientist said.
Dipping in ice water on Epiphany Day
Shadi enjoys traveling around Yakutia. The biggest impression has been from a dog sledding tour near Yakutsk. "The travel agency gave me a wolf fur coat, a fur hat, padded trousers, and I was not cold. These are traditional clothes, nobody would wear them in the city," he explained.
Shadi has volunteered to go to Yakutia's Megino-Kangalassky District to give lessons in first aid skills to local kids. There, with other volunteers, he was taking free HIV tests. Shadi runs the NEFU International Student Club. The club invites foreign students to winter and summer trips, to exhibitions and fairs - to help them get adapted to life away from their homeland.
The student does not regret he has chosen Yakutsk. He has got many friends, interesting studies and a job. He even has started learning the Yakut language. He admitted that he had got used to frosts and was no longer afraid of minus 40 degrees. On the Epiphany Day eve, he even dipped into ice water. "It wasn't cold at all," he smiled.
The young man plans to stay in Yakutsk after a post-graduate course - to work as a doctor. He is not sure yet about the direction, but anyway the dreams are to become either a cardiac surgeon or an ophthalmologist. He continues learning Russian. Another dream is to have his father, a trauma surgeon in Alexandria, see Yakutia.
"The locals were very surprised"
N'watango Conde from the Republic of Guinea is a fourth-year student at the University's Motor Transport Department. He had taken a preparatory course. The young man has come to Yakutia under an intergovernmental agreement on training between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Guinea. "I was shown a list of universities. From that list, I have chosen the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, the coldest city in the world," he said.
It was for the first time that he saw snow - in Yakutia, in October, 2019. "It was minus 10 degrees then. The first winter was difficult: I had only a thin jacket and sneakers. In December, I had to buy winter clothes and shoes suitable for the Yakut winter. In a sense, I was lucky - the coronavirus started, and we switched to distance learning, so in 50-degree frosts I was locked down at a hostel. On the other hand, in the isolation and with the fear to get sick, I lacked communication and at times even thought of returning home. But as the restrictions were lifted, I began to get used to the city and to my studies," he added.
In the second winter, he knew Russian and the city much better. In extreme frosts, he used an app to track buses. "I went outdoors only when the bus was approaching the stop," he said.
A future road engineer from West Africa is the only representative of his country in Yakutia. Over the years at the university, he has not been home - too expensive. In Yakutsk, the young man studies and additionally - gives lessons of French to children at the International Arctic School.
Students from Africa help each other, he continued. "We get together for New Year celebrations, we help each other. In Yakutsk, I've met students from Cameroon, Congo, Somalia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia and other African countries," he added.
What he lacks in Yakutsk is the usual fruits and vegetables. "First of all, everything is top expensive. For example, I was shocked to see prices of bananas, mangoes, pineapples. At home, we may take them for free. Avocados are very expensive. Secondly, many items are not available. Every time that I visit Moscow, I go to the African Market in Tyoply Stan (a district in south-west Moscow - TASS) to buy okra, bananas for frying, fonio seeds (rich in calcium - TASS), peanut butter," he said.
Every summer, he joins practical courses. One year, his group went for two months to the remote Oymyakon District in Yakutia's east. "The locals were very surprised - they must have seen a black man for the first time. There were very many mosquitoes, but I liked it there quite a lot," the student said.
City of Northern Lights
Zhang Xiaohong, a graduate student from China, was born and grew up in Harbin, the country's northernmost province. "Now that it's 40 degrees below zero in Yakutia, it's minus 13 in my hometown. In China, we do not wear hats in winter - but it's impossible in Yakutsk," she said.
She came to Yakutia in 2017, studied Russian for a year and then joined the graduate school. "It was, of course, difficult. I didn't know Russian well - when shopping I used Google Translate. But later on, I got adapted and, in addition to the postgraduate studies, I worked at the University's Department of International Relations, taught Chinese at the Institute of Foreign Philology and Regional Studies. I am grateful to all my colleagues and teachers for their support, especially to Lyudmila Pestryakova, running the laboratory for the Arctic ecology studies. If it weren't for my colleagues and their patience, I wouldn't have overcome the language barrier," she said.
The student had chosen Yakutsk due to her studies in hydrology and permafrost. "Yakutsk is one of the global centers for permafrost studies. China's permafrost is mostly seasonal, while this city has been built on permafrost," she explained. Xiaohong is finalizing the thesis on dendrochronology - a science about methods to date events, natural phenomena, based on analyzing annual rings of wood. She has collected more than 400 tree samples in the Lena River's middle and lower reaches.
Her tip to foreign students is to buy clothes in Yakutsk. "For example, in China it is not easy to buy clothes for 50-degree frosts. First of all, you need a good down jacket with a warm hood with a fur edge. Unfortunately, I could not afford buying unty boots (traditional boots made of reindeer skin - TASS), which cost more than 20,000 rubles ($223). In frosts, always wear a scarf and a snood, to protect the face from frostbites. Cover the face up to the eyes," she said.
"Yakutsk is a truly good city, but you need to be mentally prepared before coming here: winter continues for almost six months, and thus the time for activities and for being outdoors is short. But this does not mean you should not travel to Yakutsk. Right now, I am no longer afraid of frosts and, in addition to work and studies, I enjoy jogging in a gym," she added.
The lowest air temperature Xiaohong witnessed was in January last year (2023) - it was minus 54 degrees in Yakutsk. "To me, it does not really matter whether it is minus 48, 49, 53 or 54 degrees - the feelings are similar," she said. "Simply put on warmer clothes."