The first 18 years of my life spent in Kyiv, Ukraine have shaped my cultural sensibilities – and my understanding of places in crisis. I moved to California on my own as a college student and earned my Bachelor’s in English from UC Davis. After one COVID year spent back at home, I found myself unexpectedly teaching English Language Arts at an inner-city public high school in San-Antonio, Texas. Over the course of two years, I have grown into that community, learning from my at-risk students, basking in the support of my colleagues. Teaching had become my second identity, and I had taught writing more than I had practiced it. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine and a cancer diagnosis finally brought me back to Europe. Now, at 27, I am pursuing a master’s degree in Anglophone Literatures and Cultures at the University of Vienna, making a living by tutoring, and finally picking up a pen again. As somebody who’s never lived in one place long enough, I hope to share that experience of transience in my pieces.