the End. the End?

Life-changing

It all started with a simple thought, with an ordinary idea. It has grown into a life-changing journey of discoveries, conversations and beauty.

Ukraine. these flowers are considered to a national attribute of the country.

Why life-changing? There is an obvious side: what has been happening in Ukraine is fascinating to everyone all over the world, it has changed the life of Ukrainians forever. The not so obvious, the more personal one, is that it has been life-changing to me. I have met extraordinary Ukrainians all over the world and had the honor to live through some wonderful parts of their life. My name is Kateryna Kostiuchenko and I became inspired by all the power and beauty that young Ukrainians showed during the Revolution of Dignity. Young. Inspired. Ready for action. Such Ukrainians I met in December 2013, when I came back to my home country after having lived abroad for around three years. It was the moment, when I had the idea to start this blog and I have never regretted it for a single moment ever since. Today, I would like to tell you about what this blog has been for me. Recall the incredible personalities I have written about and remind you one more time of why they are special and why I have written about them. But first, I would like to thank Melody Gilbert, who has been helping me through this journey. She has demonstrated, with her own example, what it means to be an outstanding journalist. She has shared her cinematography career (as a director and producer), journalistic tips and simply set an example as a wonderful woman. I started my blog with a question in mind, which basically gave the name to my first post: WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?

Kyiv, Maidan. 3013

It all started with a concept of portraying the real events back home. Interviewing family and friends, who are in Ukraine and through them, giving you, my dear readers the first – hand insights of the events in Ukraine. Although, it turned out that almost all of my Ukrainian friends now live outside of Ukraine, as I do myself. So that was the turning point in my blogging journey with the post, called: THE COUNTRY OF THE FIRST CONSTITUTION IN THE WORLD.

Maidan. 2013

In that post I have given some of the most important fact about Ukraine, which are actually not very known to most of the people. I have also interview the political science professor at the American University in Bulgaria, who gave his opinion on the situation as a professional. Then, there was the EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY post.

I interviewed a really close friend of mine for that post and had the pleasure to share some personal stories with her, while hearing her point of view on the established situation in our home country. Next, I have met Katya, the student at AUBG, who inspired me to create: “WE DON’T SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE” OR IS THERE UNDERSTANDING? post.

The post that addressed the issue of the disparity of the languages in one country and explained why the issue is not as simple as it may seem to be. BOOM OF NATIONAL PRIDE

was a true boom at our University, as everyone fell in love with the dance, Ukrainian students prepared for the Taste Fest at AUBG. It was also the time Evheniia Melekhovets told me about her passion of design and how she has spread the message about EuroMainad thanks to it. HE PHOTOGRAPHS THE SOUL

opened up the remarkable story of the French photographer from Paris, whose parents are from Ukraine. He has been photographing the ATO zone and all the major events in Ukraine, as well as the EuroMaidan in Paris. “When you have a photo camera in your hands – that is one thing, but when you have your eye behind the lenses – that is a completely different thing. That is what makes you a photographer,” says Youry Bilak. SILENCE OF THE WIND

permitted me to experience what it truly means to be writing while traveling. I believe I have another passion in my life now, which is precisely travel writing. I was going to Switzerland to one of the EYP conferences and the interviewee of mine was actually another Ukrainian girl, who has just returned to Ukraine from one of those conferences. “SO MUCH OPTIMISM”

was precisely what I felt at that time. “Wow, finally, changes. So much optimism. We are the generation that made the change,” Ira Garbuz. It was the post all about her. THE GENTLE ONE post

was a discovery of a young lady, who currently lives in Berlin, but is originally from Ukraine. She writes. She writes beautifully. She has published three books of poems already and I had the pleasure of transforming one of her poems onto a video. Then, I MET HIM AT THE TIME OF CHANGES

was about a friend of mine Illya, who now lives in Canada. We share a passion for camera and photographing, people, streets, anything that catches our eyes. And my final post so far was about Max, who said: “YOU KNOW, I’D NEVER THINK YOU ARE UKRAINIAN”

this post was rather a profile of the young man. It was interesting to be discovering exciting things about his personality. Feel free to visit it again 🙂

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Throughout this experience the initial question of “What is happening right now?” has changed into “What life do Ukrainian expats live right now and how do they keep up with what is happening in Ukraine?” You can see why it changed. It just happened naturally, and I am happy, I had a chance to share with you all I did here. So far that’s it my dear readers. For the millionth time in my life: I cannot believe how fast the time flew by. There was always something special in each of the personalities I have met. Each of them brought something fresh and exciting, each of them had a reflection of me. Thank YOU, dear readers, for staying with me throughout this voyage, I hope I brought something exciting and interesting into your lives. Again, I am proud to say that I am from Ukraine, I am proud to say that Ukrainians are incredible people, who carry love in their hearts and insatiable desire to bring the beauty into the world and achieve something wonderful. And it doesn’t matter in which part of the world they are, they will always shine, as their eyes are the brightest and their hearts are the warmest.  I hope that this journey has been as interesting and special for you, as it was for me.

Sincerely yours,

Kateryna

P.S. Here is just a short personal video I have created. I really do hope that this blog has made an impact on some people’s lives.