Last week, I moved from Brisbane QLD, Australia to Atlanta GA, USA so I'm a very fresh immigrant; but is not my first international migration. I was 6 years old when my parents, brother and I left Kazakhstan (yes, the same one as Borat!) and moved to Australia - a country that adopted us and swallowed us whole. Since we were so young and both starting school at the primary level, I think it's safe to call my brother and I Australian; but our parents did their best to ensure that we retained as much of our Russian heritage as possible. Now that I'm older, bilingual and have been exposed to such different ideologies and cultures, I consider myself blessed beyond belief. For as challenging as it was sometimes to grow up feeling like an outsider; I now see that this adversity helped shape me into a stronger and more open-minded person.
My parents are also responsible for the travel bug within me, since from our very first month in Australia, they always took my bro and I somewhere different and interesting on weekends. We would go to the beaches, mountains or State parks that surround Brisbane; on road trips to other States; or simply attend cultural landmarks such as museums, art galleries, theatres and concert halls... we always went somewhere! The repercussion is that now, regardless of where I am permanently stationed, I become restless and need to travel; or at the very least explore the localities surrounding me.
I had thought that once I visited those places within Australia I had always wanted to see, that Europe would be my next destination. I didn't ever imagine I would end up in Atlanta USA... or that I would be living FOUR HOURS drive from a the ocean - which had long ago become somewhat of a lifeline to me... But life had her own plans and so last year, I met an American boy named Will, fell madly in love and married almost instantly. Will calls Atlanta home and brought me back with him, now making it my home too.
This means that soon I will be exploring Atlanta and its surrounding areas, so I wanted to start a blog of my adventures and acclimation into a new country and home. Of course I know it won't be easy and there'll probably be a few soppy posts about homesickness and the like; but hopefully you'll stick with me, give me lots of feedback and enjoy being a part of my new world.
My parents are also responsible for the travel bug within me, since from our very first month in Australia, they always took my bro and I somewhere different and interesting on weekends. We would go to the beaches, mountains or State parks that surround Brisbane; on road trips to other States; or simply attend cultural landmarks such as museums, art galleries, theatres and concert halls... we always went somewhere! The repercussion is that now, regardless of where I am permanently stationed, I become restless and need to travel; or at the very least explore the localities surrounding me.
I had thought that once I visited those places within Australia I had always wanted to see, that Europe would be my next destination. I didn't ever imagine I would end up in Atlanta USA... or that I would be living FOUR HOURS drive from a the ocean - which had long ago become somewhat of a lifeline to me... But life had her own plans and so last year, I met an American boy named Will, fell madly in love and married almost instantly. Will calls Atlanta home and brought me back with him, now making it my home too.
This means that soon I will be exploring Atlanta and its surrounding areas, so I wanted to start a blog of my adventures and acclimation into a new country and home. Of course I know it won't be easy and there'll probably be a few soppy posts about homesickness and the like; but hopefully you'll stick with me, give me lots of feedback and enjoy being a part of my new world.
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| Photography by Michael Corey Studios Atlanta |
it is interesing to see how a person preservs their looks (Russian in given case) even after the whole their life spent in another country - you are a typical Russian girl!!!! :)
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