My brief attempt at social integration in Armenia
Most Toronto Armenians visit Armenia during the only two months when Toronto has nice weather. Well, that season is finally upon us.
Whether you choose to visit as a tourist for two weeks or take a longer trip working and volunteering with various organizations, you stand to gain wonderful memories and a better understanding of a country you might identify as your ‘homeland.’
I was not one of those diasporans who grew up visiting Armenia every summer, but I was fortunate enough to have my parents’ support to spend my summer break last year in Armenia doing a volunteer work placement at the Matenadaran (The Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts). It was deeply impactful to explore longer-term ‘living’ in Armenia in a stage of my life where the exact circumstances of my future career and family are still fluid. Although I don’t have all the answers to what life in Armenia could be like, through talking to locals, repatriates, and expatriates, I have found answers to many of the questions I had.
One of the most pressing questions I had was whether it would be possible for me to integrate into Armenian society. Through some first-hand experiences and second-hand descriptions, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s definitely possible. In this article, I aim to share the mindsets and practices that supported me in seeking social integration within the short timeframe I spent in Armenia. I am in no way seeking to give a prescription or ‘advice’ on how anyone should approach social integration in Armenia, or even suggesting that this is a goal all diasporans should aspire to. Every diasporan has unique life circumstances that impact what the ideal approach to adapting to Armenian life might look like.
Still, I benefited from hearing the perspective of people who transitioned from North American life to Armenian life, and I hope to pay it forward, albeit from a much less experienced and limited perspective.
1. Adjusting mindset: Aiming for integration, not necessarily assimilation
I would like to begin by explaining what I mean by social integration. My goal was not to change myself completely to become indistinguishable from a local born and raised in Armenia. I have accepted that I might never be able to fully assimilate, that two decades of living on another continent will forever have some impact on my mannerisms and thought processes. When interacting with locals in Armenia, they might always be able to tell that I wasn’t born there, and that’s okay. There might be some aspects of Armenian culture that I never adopt or even like, both material (such as greasy khorovats/barbeque) and immaterial (approach to beauty standards).
However, this doesn’t mean that my behaviour and language skills are set in stone, or that I am not open to evolving. During my short time there, I noticed that my conversational Armenian improved, and I began adopting more of the Yerevantsi dialect that surrounded me. As well, I feel like I have a lot to gain by adopting many of the values and practices of the local Armenian culture (communalism, hospitality, solidarity, etc.).
But overall, it would be incredibly unrealistic to set my goal as complete assimilation into the broader Armenian society. Instead, I choose to view Armenian society as a diverse ecosystem, and ask myself, can I find a habitat here? Can I adapt to contribute meaningfully while having my physical and social needs met? This concept of active participation in broader society is what I aim for when I consider what social integration will look like. Setting a realistic goal and giving myself grace to ‘stand out’ a bit helped me get over minor culture shocks and microaggressions.
2. Using (or attempting to use) public services I would use in Toronto
When visiting Armenia for the first time, you will likely be guided to download Yandex Taxi and/or GG. I’ll admit that taking taxis can be a convenient option for tourists. However, as a transit advocate and daily public transit user in Toronto, it was essential for me to learn how to use public transit in Yerevan.
Personally, it’s not sustainable for me to solely rely on taxis/driving personal vehicles for transportation in the long run. There was not a massive learning curve to adapting to Yerevan transit—a beginner just needs a few hundred drams for fares and Yandex Maps for wayfinding. Yandex Maps was a great resource because I could plan my trips in advance and see real-time bus arrival times in English (Armenian and Russian are also available). Knowledge of spoken or written Armenian is not required to navigate public transit, as buses are numbered and directions can be found online in other languages. During a train trip to Gyumri, I met a Japanese tourist who travelled all over Armenia exclusively on public transit, using a simple guidebook for wayfinding help. I feel like he was a major inspiration to me, because if he was able to use Armenian public transit, any visitor can!
Using public transit makes staying in Armenia sustainable, from both an environmental standpoint (fewer carbon emissions) and a financial one. Public transit fares are far cheaper than paying for taxis, and you never need to deal with a price surge. Since the bus network in Yerevan is quite thorough, you can find cheaper accommodation in a suburb in Yerevan instead of staying downtown and still manage to commute comfortably to where you need to go.
The quality of public transit is quite high in Yerevan. It’s overall safe and clean, with thorough transit coverage and frequent service. Experiencing high-quality public services in Armenia was crucial for me to begin building trust in local institutions and realizing that my needs could be met through existing structures.
Using public services, such as public transit, also fosters some level of social integration in local third spaces and promotes a deeper understanding of local issues. Through daily use of public transit, I was able to observe how local Armenians interact in a communal third space and gain a better understanding of the high-trust, caring social attitudes prevalent in Armenia (social attitudes I greatly admire!). I also gained firsthand knowledge of local municipal issues and transit improvements. It’s easy to understand why efforts to modernize the bus fleet are important when you immediately compare riding in a marshrutka (an old-school converted van) to riding in a big, air-conditioned European eco-bus. Most of the bus fleet in Yerevan is now modernized, and while I’m nostalgic for the old-school trolleybuses, it’s a sign that investments are being made into the city, which is exciting to see.
Investments naturally come at a cost, and the fare system in Yerevan has evolved since my last visit. When I was there in the summer of 2024, the fares were 100 drams (around 35 cents CAD) for standard metro/bus, and 50 drams (around 18 cents CAD) for trolleybuses. I could pay the fares in cash, which was fairly convenient as someone with no access to online payment systems in Armenia. In early 2025, the fare system was reformed. Yerevan is transitioning away from a cash-based fare system towards a unified ticketing system with options to pay with QR codes, a mobile application, reusable bus cards, and bank cards. Fares have increased, with options for monthly, quarterly, and yearly passes with different rates for physical and digital payments. One-way tickets are now 150 drams, and tickets valid for 180 minutes cost 300 drams (this is important to know because most commutes require transfers). There are options for free or discounted fares for certain groups, including children, students, pensioners, and national heroes.
Overall, the new system is more complicated and nuanced, and a testament to how quickly things can change in Armenia. I have not personally navigated the new fare system, so I cannot attest to whether it is convenient or accessible for visitors. I encourage anyone who takes public transit in Armenia this summer to write a letter to the editor sharing whether they found the new fare system intuitive for visitors.
I also don’t feel qualified to comment on whether the changes implemented are a net positive. That’s for local transit users to decide. A minor culture shock for me, however, was that there was no prominent local transit advocacy group to collectively advocate for the interests of daily transit users. In Toronto, I volunteer for TTCRiders, a local transit advocacy group. I am still not sure whether Yerevan transit users would benefit from a similar non-profit structure or if things like canvassing bus stops, community reporting, and public deputations would be welcome.
Yerevan’s transit has different features than Toronto’s, and with it, different issues. Modern buses have WiFi, which we don’t yet have on the TTC. Also, transit activists in Toronto devote a lot of energy to talking about public safety on the TTC and discriminatory fare policing, while those things that are not really issues transit users face in Yerevan. However, there’s not really any night bus service in Yerevan, while there is in Toronto. After midnight, taxi prices surge as people look to get home without access to transit. I haven’t seen that issue be addressed, while bus fleet modernization and bus-only lane expansion is a constant topic of conversation. Still, I had an overall positive experience using public transit in Yerevan, and look forward to witnessing the continuous improvements that are happening.
This is not to say that all Armenian public services are amazing. I had also attempted to use public library services in Yerevan, and found that they weren’t a good fit for me; trying to access books (even just to browse) was too bureaucratic to justify doing during a shorter stay. However, I believe an important aspect of my attempted social integration was testing various public services similar to those I use in Canada and exploring what was possible.
3. Taking part in the subculture(s)/communities that interest me
One thing about life in Armenia is that Armenian is the default language. The vast majority of people are Armenians, and the dominant culture is Armenian. I know it’s very weird for me to emphasize this, given it’s obvious, but I want to make sure we’re on the same page.
Armenia is the one place where—unlike Canada, Russia, the States, France, or any other country—Armenians are the majority, not an ethnic minority. So, when seeking out a community, I can socialize with Armenians in a space that is not explicitly for Armenians. So rather than go to an Armenian school, church, or community centre (not that there’s anything wrong with going there to socialize!), I could attend events centered around other personal interests and expect to find like-minded Armenians there.
As someone who’s passionate about technology, I found no shortage of tech conferences, open source contribution events, guest lectures, coworking spaces, tech-themed cafes, and other spaces to hang out with the IT-itchnik (Armenian slang for IT worker) crowd. I was able to form genuine connections with people working in fields that interested me (data science, machine learning, quantitative finance) in different settings (from more established institutions like banks to startups).
“It would be incredibly unrealistic to set my goal as complete assimilation into the broader Armenian society. Instead, I choose to view Armenian society as a diverse ecosystem, and ask myself, can I find a habitat here? Can I adapt to contribute meaningfully while having my physical and social needs met? ”
Quite possibly the highlight of my trip was attending the female tech conference FemInno. The conference tickets were a gift from a dear friend, and thanks to his support, I got to see the tech interests of young local Armenian women. I got to hear from Armenian high school students who are working on personal projects way cooler than anything I have ever done as a student at a top engineering program in Canada; foreign tech leaders like Ida Tin (co-founder of Clue) who flew in for the event to give talks on trending topics like femtech and EU AI regulations; and Armenian angel investors and the aspiring startup founders vying for their funds.
Exploring Armenia’s tech community fulfilled both my social and intellectual needs. The tech community in Armenia is diverse, with a not-insignificant number of foreign workers and a high level of English fluency. Most events I attended were English-language-dominated, and I felt very comfortable socializing in spaces that felt similar to what I experienced in Toronto (tech bros seem to be the same in every country). I feel it’s a unique privilege to have my personal interest community in Armenia to be so open to ‘foreigners,’ and I hope to explore other subcultures in future trips to see if this is a major outlier.
Overall, I feel that I learned a great deal during my trip to Armenia. Some things may seem like very trivial everyday life skills (getting from point A to point B on a bus), but they were important milestones for me to navigate sustainably and meet my needs in a new place. I was really lucky to have the support of many people during my trip, including my coordinator at the Armenian Assembly of America, my coworkers at the Matenadaran, my family members in Armenia, my (newer) friends in Armenia, and my family and friends here in Canada. I felt remarkably safe and optimistic in Armenia, and it’s in no small part due to the many people who wanted me to have a meaningful experience in Armenia.
I feel like I have so much more I want to learn and discover. I’ve really barely scratched the surface and would love to return for longer trips. I’d like to experience staying in a city other than Yerevan (such as Gyumri, Vanadzor, or Kapan), and I’d also like to experience the colder seasons in Armenia. I’d like to experience less traditional work environments in Armenia and explore subcultures beyond the tech sector. I’m fortunate, and I hope to have ample time to accomplish this over the next few years.
Building a reciprocal relationship with a society you weren’t born into takes time. Social integration takes time. I tried to view it as a culture exchange on equal terms: I learned a great deal of best practices from the local Armenian society, and I attempted to embody within myself the aspects of North American culture that I like best. This culture exchange will be ongoing for the rest of my life, as I figure out to what level I can integrate. It might seem incredibly pessimistic to some to open with “I will likely never fully assimilate, therefore I will settle for integration”, but for me, it was liberating to see that I didn’t really need to change myself to find a habitat in Armenia. Having an endless list of prerequisites—learning (Eastern) Armenian, adopting local tastes, and having exhaustive knowledge of all social customs and culture—will prevent people from buying their plane ticket.
Being on the ground was the best way for me to learn, and everything needed came with an open mind, humility, and a sense of adventure. ֎
This piece was published in Torontohye's July 2025 (#215) issue.
