Natalya Chernova
Hi, my name is Natalya and I`m from Russia, from heart of the Tatar world – the city of Kazan. In my opinion, this city is unique because it combines two different cultures, two languages (Tatar and Russian), two religions (Islam and Christianity). Kazan is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, with a population of more than 1 million people. Tatars and Russians have lived in peace and friendship for many years, creating the atmosphere of tolerance. Quite often, when I try to explain to foreigners from which city did I arrive, I tell about football club “Rubin”, and football fans immediately begin to shake their heads approvingly, the others interrogatively shrug their shoulders.
So, how did I get from the Tatar city to Ljubljana? Yes, it is very simple. Sometimes it is necessary to believe in your dreams. The small, but amazing country captivated me even before arrival.
What did I know about Slovenia before the trip? Practically nothing, I only heard about the incredible beauty of this country, however ignorance didn’t exempt me from the feeling that I surely have to arrive to Slovenia and BE here. It became possible thanks to European Voluntary Service and the non-profit organization “Movement for decent work and welfare society” (“Gibanje za dostojno delo in socialno družbo”). Our volunteering project is funded by the European Commission that provides an opportunity for young people to become long-term volunteers in another country. The most important are desire and mood to do something useful.
I was interested in the project proposed by the “Gibanje”. First of all, it is a research project whose subject is a burning issue in the modern world – unemployment and development of the precariat. As a sociologist and a person seeing my own future in social sciences I couldn’t miss such an opportunity. After my graduation I became post-graduate student and started to work in the Volga International Center for European studies at Kazan Federal University. Of course, the focus of my work has influenced my scientific interests. I hope that my experience in the scientific environment will help the project at “Gibanie”, as well as the fact that for the last half of a year I have worked as a journalist, and I made documentary movies about various issues and subjects. Probably, it is not necessary to describe in detail about my interests and vision of the world, all of this can be seen in my blog, which will become a regular update on my work, I hope. I can only tell that I usually am a person with a plan and an idea to get something done, staying in one place is not a characteristic that defines me well. At the same time I like to study, find out new perspectives, I love sport, especially snowboarding and volleyball. And, of course, I like to travel and learn more about everyday life in other countries. Slovenia is an amazing country. Being here for two weeks, I noticed some differences of daily practice of Russians and Slovenes. But you can read more about that in the articles to follow.
