From Saint Petersburg To The Netherlands: A Russian Expat Tells Her Story
Empress Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great, once said, “ I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster. ” This is what Kristina did after moving to the Netherlands: take courage, find her lost self, and begin again. From Saint Petersburg, a city in Russia of more than five million people, our young expat fell in love, packed her bags, moved from Russia to the Netherlands, and began an unexpected journey with a heartening ending. Here’s her story. If we’d like to comprehend what’s behind Kristina’s radical career change, from graduating as a medical engineer and completing a master’s degree in Entrepreneurial Information Technologies to being a resolute and committed physiotherapist student in Eindhoven, it’s fundamental to revisit the culture she comes from and the electrifying life she’d led. It’s only then that perhaps you’ll agree with me: she was meant to pursue a healthcare career and, unexpectedly, she did. LIFE IN SAINT PETERSBURG Having grown in