was born in Moscow at 1983, and for 18 years I had lived there. I came to New York with my parents 9 month ago, and I am still getting used to it. I miss beautiful Russian places and my friends, but I also begin to think of America as of my other home. Right now I am 19, and I’ve got through many things in my life. I think that baptism into Orthodox Church, controversy situations at the Moscow Technical College, and my arrival to New York had the most influence on my beliefs, values and attitudes, affected to my behavior and made me who I am.
I didn’t belong to any religion before I was 12 years old. By that time I begun to search, and asked questions about meaning of life and communication with God. My friend told me about Russian Orthodox Church: we had several conversations about it, and we went to one church together. I liked it, and I was baptized. Since that time I consider myself as an Orthodox Christian, and I try to follow the rules of the Christian life.
I just like this religion. I feel peace and comfort when I go to the church, and I try to go there as often as I can; usually it is more or less than four times a month. I feel free to pray and ask God to do something for me, and, I believe, He does.
Studying at the Moscow Technical College was a really painful experience for me. It was like in a rude jungle, with mean teachers and mean students, stereotypes and prejudices, gossips and small wars. At the beginning I was just studying and ignoring other people. I had A’s, but I didn’t have friends. Instead, one half of the class spent time making fun of how I look, how I walk and how I talk. I didn’t understand where a problem was. So, I kept studying, and schoolmates kept laughing. I stopped helping them with homework, but it only made things worse. They began to blain me, and being more rude.
At that time I’ve got a first friend, a male classmate whose position in class was like mine. The difference between us was, that he didn’t give up and tried to communicate with classmates. Ilia had a girlfriend at our class; she was very sexy and flirted with guys a lot. Zhenya wasn’t my friend then, I though she was stupid and I didn’t understand why he spends so much time with her. Nevertheless, when they went out together, Ilia often made me to go with them.
A new year has come. Suddenly before the first class Zhenya and I decided to share a desk. We shared a desk at the next class, and at that next class, and at the next class. By the end of the week, I realized that we sat together on each subject except English, and Physicall Training.
For the first time, she ran away each break to chat with her friends, and I was alone or with Ilia. Some classmates made fun of me, and it was really horrible. I heated breaks. Later, Zhenya began to stay and talk with me. I helped her with homework; she helped me with socialization. She pushed me to join a dance club, and there she led me. She touched me how to use make up, and took me to the parties. I worked on her education. I pushed her to study more; I explained her rules in Mathematics, English, and Economics and in the rest of the subjects. I invited her to my home to practice with computer. Sometimes we went out together without Ilia. She became my best friend.
At the last year of college, my position at college had been changed. I felt like I had a new power, and I was ready to face my problems. My classmates had changed too: they grew up. I could establish normal relationship with them, and Zhenya and Ilia helped me. I became closer with some of my classmates; we studied and had fun together. I changed some of my attitudes, and they liked it. There other classmates were told to stay away form me, if they didn’t want to end their life in jail. Zhenya’s and my friend, a former military sergeant and a present military instructor at our college, had a “men talk” and cool down some heads at my school.
I went down and up. I became an adult.
I came to New York at August 28. Life here is like a melting pot. I have friends from different countries. I communicate in English. I listen to a different music and eat different food. I have more responsibilities at home. I eat out sometimes.
It wasn’t easy to adjust to a new life. First I had to speak English all the time. I had to pass TOFEL and ACT, and be very concentrated to do it quickly. Luckily, I had two new friends at English program; we studied and shared lunch together. I also became much closer to my parents, we became a new team and I spend a lot of time with them.
First feelings of America as a home were when I found an Orthodox church in my neighborhood and when I began to work as a volunteer for Mimi Blaber at the LaGuardia’s English Immersion Program. I’ve got mental and physical work, a new friend; that’s why I didn’t have time to go crazy.
Right now I am a freshman at LaGuardia CC. I listen to Eminem and Britney Spears, have a lot of new fiends, go to gym and swimming pool, date with guys, and sometimes come home late. I still go to the same American Orthodox church and work for the English Immersion program. I like my daily life.