- Citation Information
a. Dariia Yahorova Interview, History 150 Spring 2016, Conducted by Erin Thorn, A Different Continent Alone, March 22, 2016.
2. Transcription
a. This interview was conducted in person in Duke Hall in an empty classroom. I did have to edit it a lot because she would often start a sentence and then start another sentence in the middle of the other one. I just decided to transcribe the completed sentence. I did not transcribe the entire interview either because some of the information seemed unimportant. Another thing that is important to know is that she never talked in short sentences. Her responses were more of run on sentences, so I typed it like that accordingly.
I contacted Dariia on Facebook messenger and she was very happy to help. Since we are both art majors and empty quiet classrooms are easy to find, we decided to meet there on the 22nd. There was only one other person in the room who was quiet during the entire interview.
b. Dariia is from Kiev, Ukraine which is a country facing a lot of political, economical, and social problems at the time. Her family, who she rarely sees, is still living in the Ukraine, including her younger sister. She actually informed me that she wont see them for another 4 years. Dariia described the corruption in the government and how she was never promised a tomorrow in her old country. Due to the terrible living conditions and violence in the Ukraine, she is happy to be living here now.
c. There is a large division between citizens who live in the east and citizens who live in the south. This division creates a fault-line beneath the country that puts both groups against each other. The country also faces many riots and protests for social reform and a better life within the country. This has made the country very unsafe and unstable and not an environment one would like to live in. For a better life, Dariia’s parents wanted her to move somewhere where she could have an education worth paying for that has facilities for what she is interested in.
d. Transcript:
ET: What is your name?
Dariia Yahorova: Dariiaa Yehorova
ET: How old are you?
Dariia Yahorova: I’m 18
ET: Where are you from?
Dariia Yahorova: I’m from Ukraine. Kiev, that’s the capital.
ET: What was your old country like?
Dariia Yahorova: It’s quite different from the U.S., it has a completely different, not only cultural feeling to it but also level of development and political and economical situation, so it’s quite different.
ET: How do you think the levels of development are different?
Dariia Yahorova: It’s not really about industrial development I guess, we’re quite good at that, just our economical system is not developed, social system, social security, just in general. So, we have a lot of problems with corruptions, where as international politics. So, it kind of effects the lifestyle there.
ET: Why did you come to the United States?
Dariia Yahorova: I came mostly for education because education is another system that isn’t that good in the Ukraine right now. And also, I wanted to study either art or psychology and both of those areas don’t have a good basis for that kind of education and don’t have any facilities for development areas.
ET: If you go to college in the Ukraine, what are the main things that you study?
Dariia Yahorova: Mostly people go to study, economics, accounting, IT, law school. Medical school is not popular at all and was a big difference I saw between the Ukraine and here because in Ukraine health care is free so doctors don’t make even close to the amount of money that people do make here so it’s not that popular in Ukraine.
ET: Is it popular to travel somewhere to go to college there?
Dariia Yahorova: Its not so popular, no its kind of popular… its not that popular as US, but still a lot of people go and study abroad if they have the chance because its understandable because we don’t really have any basis for either sciences or arts. Like we don’t have any facilities or future career perspectives.
ET: What were the biggest struggles and frustrations or events you had in your old country that made you want to come to America?
Dariia Yahorova: I mean another thing, because of the revolution that happened in Ukraine, political system is kind of unstable. So, my parents really make me try to move to another country because, first, it’s just safer and because Ukraine is just very unstable because of sedation and the revolution, economics, and in general most of the systems in Ukraine are very unstable right now so that kind of effected my decision as well to move to a country with more stability and structure and somewhere you can kind of rely on the next day. you never know what will happen the next day.
ET: How does the United States compare to your old country and why?
Dariia Yahorova: Its different not only with the point of structure but also people are different and mortality is different and culture is different so its interesting to explore those differences. its interesting to gain both perspectives on the same things.
ET: What are some opportunities you have had in America that you didn’t have in your country?
Dariia Yahorova: Universities here are way nicer, like in Ukraine mostly when you go to study mostly anything you go and study it in theory. Our education system, again, it’s nice because its way cheaper than the U.S. but at the same time we don’t have any facilities or anything to gain practical skills so you would study Biology in theory you would study Chemistry in theory, Physics in theory so some things you would never image studying in theory you would study through the books that they’ve had since [for a] really long time, so it would kind of be old fashioned for the science that keeps developing which is kind of sad.
…
ET: How long did it take to adjust to American culture or the English language or anything like that?
Dariia Yahorova: Probably my adjustment period and cultural shock and stuff was for about a month because you realize you don’t know anyone and you’re alone on this continent and you are questioning your language abilities and you are just 17 year old girl who doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life and just, ahhhh this is terrifying!
…
ET: What do you like the best about the United States
Dariia Yahorova: I like that here people have respect for individual and individuality and people are not trying to push you to be the same, you know? cause like thats one more reason that my family and I generally wanted me to study in the the US specifically because it just has freedom of individual expression because in Ukraine its not socially acceptable I guess to be different we don’t really have that much freedom, for example people [don’t have respect for] different sexual orientations or for women. I cant really say for different nationalities because we don’t really have different nationalities so the whole concept of racism is kind of.. I kind of understand it but not, you know? we just don’t have people of different nations in my country, not much at least. But, yeah,like the people here encourage you to be different and to express yourself and be yourself, thats definitely a big one and I really admire that.