"Please look after this bear. Thank you."

As Aunt Lucy bade Paddington goodbye, a horn sounded. The little bear quickly ducked under a tarp, setting off on an adventure to the other side of the world.

Well, on 4th July, I followed in Paddington’s pawprints and set off on my first big adventure. As a commuter student, this was the first time I’d been away for over two nights. With the same mixture of trepidation and excitement as a certain young bear, I waved my parents goodbye, and set off on a month-long adventure, five thousand miles away in Almaty, Kazakhstan to study at a Russian summer school at Al-Farabi National Kazakh University, a programme organised by Uni of Birmingham.

And just like Paddington found the Brown family, I found friends and community in Almaty. Our Russian teacher was so kind. And, each Sunday, I crossed the city to mass at Almaty’s only Roman Catholic Church. This became a real highlight as, each week, I was delighted to find I understood yet more than before.

Now, a wise bear always keeps a marmalade sandwich in his hat in case of emergency. But, whilst the food in Almaty was glorious (think heaps of dough-noodles, meat, and veg - Kazakhstan’s national dish, бешбармак/beshbarmak), I didn’t quite fancy putting it under my hat!

My emergency marmalade sandwich was Yandex maps, Russian Google Maps. With its help, I discovered many fascinating museums, countless stunningly beautiful Orthodox churches, parks full of lively red squirrels, simply magical mountains and lakes, and the bazaar where anything you could want was hidden away in the labyrinth of stalls, just waiting for a haggling match in Russian – that really got my brain working!

And, just as Paddington found “ear brushes” actually had quite a different purpose, I found surprises in Almaty. This began with the first day’s discovery of Kazakh attitudes to car safety... let's just say a little more relaxed than in the UK! With this in mind, slightly hair-raising Yandex taxi trips with more people than seats gradually became more normal, and, on a trip to Қайыңды көлі (Lake Kaindy), I was prepared for some fun when told we’d take a small bus from the main road down to the lake.

Our coach piled into ancient, slightly battered-looking Soviet minibuses, and, balancing on planks acting as extra seats across the aisle, we set off at phenomenal speed. All fine... then, we took a sharp turn and bumped along a cliff edge on a tiny dust track with more potholes than road for the half hour down to the lake, the whole bus singing at top volume to the driver’s Kazakh song tracks. Definitely unexpected, but I don’t think I’d ever smiled so much!

A month I’ll truly never forget. My Russian improved immeasurably, and, whilst I was glad to return home to see my family and Brum, as Mr Brown says, “it doesn’t matter that [it’s on] the other side of the world”, Almaty and my friends there will always have a place in my heart.