TATIANA SHABELNIK
A JOURNEY FULFILLED
How far West can you go ? My journey to the West started with my huge curiosity about what ‘ The West ,’ or Western culture , meant for someone born in the Soviet Union under the Communist regime . When I was a child , we had little to no information about what life in ‘ The West ’ was like . Every country and political system has pluses and minuses , and I can honestly say that I feel blessed that I was born in the Soviet Union because I received an excellent education . Our culture was very rich , but economically speaking , it was not the best situation . That did , however , make us stronger , and we appreciated more of what we did have . For those of us who grew up in the former Soviet Union or Eastern Europe , traveling to ‘ The West ’ wasn ’ t easy ( if not impossible ). I knew that I needed to become fluent in English , so while I was a student at the Library School at the Belarusian University of Culture , I turned the study of English into my passion . The process of learning a foreign language was fascinating to me . I attended many events where I could meet people from Western Europe , England and the United States . It was my German , Dutch , and American friends that helped me believe that visiting ‘ The West ,’ one day , was attainable .
“... when people ask me about my philosophy , I express it in two simple words , ‘ Dream Big !’ If you have dreams and you really want to accomplish them , there is no reason why you can ’ t .”
In 1992 , I was invited by the Rotarians from the Netherlands to spend my summer as a Rotary youth exchange student . The Rotarians took the initiative and organized my trip . I managed to get a visa for West Germany , and my host family helped me get to Holland
Photography , MUA & Hair : Maksim Leonov Design : Tatiana Shabelnik Model : Tatiana Shabelnik
January 2017 ZENSATIONSMAGAZINE . COM 13 `