Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother. She is my superhero. That's
why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities,
their perspectives, and emotions about this world. In these difficult times in human history,
we need to bring the cultures of the world together. And when we listen to real people,
to real lives of women from other countries, we connect our humanity without our differences
or stereotypes, and we get inspired by their stories to live a better life. That's what this
podcast is all about. My guest today is Alice Simtseva. Alice is a Ukrainian girl from Mikolayev,
living now in Vienna, Austria. Alice loves dancing. She has danced for 10 years professionally.
She loves reading poetry, playing piano, swimming, and boxing. Alice won many competitions in dancing,
Olympiads in German language, and read poetry for big audiences. Alice, how are you today?
Hello, Aziz. Firstly, I'm really grateful for your invitation. And already ready and prepared
for our conversation. I'm happy. I'm honored. I'm very lucky to have you here. And to begin
knowing you more, let's begin with this nice question. If your friends could describe your
personality, what would they say about you? Well, they would surely say that I'm talkative,
sociable, supportive. I am the one they can rely on. They can trust like this.
Thank you. And since you're sociable, does it mean it was easy for you to make new friends from
Austria when you went to Vienna? Or because of the new culture, the different people,
it wasn't so easy to make new friends. Can you share your experience? Maybe other girls who need
to go to new countries can learn what to expect. Luckily, I managed to meet some friends here.
However, they are more Ukrainians than locals. And it's probably because of the difference
between cultures. For sure, it influences. But when it comes to the advice I want to give to everyone,
it's probably don't be afraid of anything. Just try to talk to other people, even if they speak
other language. If you make some mistakes, it doesn't matter. They will help you. They will
support you. They will answer you for sure. So just don't make any restrictions, any stops in your
head, any barriers and go out from your comfort zone. So try everything and not be afraid of it.
I agree 100%. And is this what motivates your learning of German language and other languages?
And did you find that what you learned at school in German made it easy to communicate with
Austrian people in German? Or do you find it's so different classroom language learning compared
to speaking people in real life in a new country? Of course, school education helped me here in
Austria. But real talking differs from the things we were able to learn at school. However, I can
say that if I didn't have any skills in languages, I would never learn it from zero.
I understand. And can you tell me more? How do you spend your day now in Vienna? How is your
schedule? When do you wake up? What do you do at first? What do you do? When do you do your hobbies?
And is it different to when you lived your life in Mikolayev? Or are you trying to keep
the same schedule like you had in Ukraine, even in a new country?
In Ukraine, I used to always move to visit a lot of clubs, dancing, music, and so on. And here,
I can't catch up with everything I used to do. And moreover, I am to finish the 11th form right
now, the Ukrainian 11th form. So I can't just forget about my school, get rid of it. And that's
why I'm trying to get up early to make my lessons. If I have to, then I usually have online school.
And after that, I work with my friends or just go swimming and have some lessons after school.
It smells German English. That's so interesting. And you spoke about spending time when you are
in Ukraine, dancing in different clubs, et cetera. Are you a girl who loves new emotions? You don't
like to be bored. You like to be entertained to do always interesting things. And if you stay doing
the same things, it feels boring to you. Or it's something else. Can you describe and explain more
that excitement of doing many activities, meeting new people, et cetera?
Yes, you're 100% right. I hate being alone. And I even can't be alone, I think. Of course,
it isn't useful in every situation. And I have to get used to it to make up with the fact that
sometimes I have to be alone. But my cup of tea is being surrounded with a lot of people. And I'm
really fond of talking, speaking to different, to new people. It really appeals to me sharing
emotions and so on. And as you've already said, I do love being entertained and not bored.
I love that. And I have so many questions. One of them, does it mean you love all emotions?
Sometimes do you love to watch a sad movie just to cry, a horror movie to be scared,
a murder documentary, and you love to feel pain and unhappiness and depression and happiness
and surprise and positivity, all of the emotions? Or do you try to keep only good emotions,
good vibes in your life? I'm a person and I can't just stick
to one thing and to one emotion and just live with this. So I have sometimes just to
chill out from this positivity and feel sadness, even not depression, but a light version of it.
I don't know, to regret about something. However, I am proud to say that these things
don't really take a lot of time as I find time really valuable. And I think it could be
wasted easily and I don't want it to be in such a way. So I force myself to live differently,
really interesting and entertaining. Of course. And I'm curious about something.
When it comes to people that you meet, new people, two things. One, do you have what many
Eastern European girls often have, which is the poker face or resting bitch face where they look
angry, even if you're happy inside, was this your situation? And when you meet new people,
do you look for people who are living a life of adventure? They have many passions, always moving,
always doing exciting things, or you like to balance with calm people so that your emotions
will not become too chaotic? Firstly, I can't act like I'm so sincere that I can't imitate
everything. If I am feeling myself happy inside, I will never show like a poker face. I don't know,
I'm an angry one. Never. I promise you. And when it comes to balancing your life with different
people, you see, I don't even pay any attention to this. I just talk to them. I always support
relationship. I walk on it in order to let it last longer. And it is about everyone. I don't divide
people into different groups and search someone who I will talk to. Never.
I love that. That's such a wonderful attitude. And when you meet people, do you notice the
chemistry that maybe you can have with them? Do you feel their energy? Are you an empath that can
feel their soul and you think, oh my God, this person has such good vibes and such a beautiful
soul? Or is it more for you about the stories when they tell things, do they say things that are
similar to what is interesting for you or things that are thrilling and you don't just feel their
energy without too many words? For me, energy is the most essential,
important and so on. I know that there is a chemistry between different people. And even
if you are going to say that there isn't this, no, I will object to you for sure.
I am really fond of feeling this. I don't know how can I even describe it, but probably, yes,
energy. And it is even on some level when you don't understand how you've come up to it. So
it's just really hard to explain how it goes. I agree. And since there are many things in the
world that cannot be explained very well with words, are you a spiritual kind of girl? Do you
feel in destiny, manifestation, karma? Do you think about how life is that everything happens for a
reason? Maybe you do some tarot, et cetera. Can you tell me about your perspective?
How is the world? What is the energy of the world? Do you see things as destiny? How do you perceive
it? You've guessed it. I am the one who believes in all these things, visualizing,
manifesting, and so on. I believe in it. And I think when you believe in such things, they come
true. Only when you believe, like truly really believe. Tarot, I had an opportunity to try
to make something with them, but I'm a bit afraid of this kind of things. So I haven't succeeded in
it. That's wonderful. I'm sure if you try it, it will be an exciting new experience that gives you
many, many emotions. And I would love to know more about your dance experience. Throughout the
years, what was your favorite thing about dancing? Is it like when you're having a hard day and
you're thinking, yes, soon I will go dance and I will feel so much better. So it motivates you
and makes the day more sunny. Or is it when you're dancing and it feels like the time stops,
you're just feeling your body, you're almost watching yourself moving and feeling everything,
every moment, every emotion, and losing all the past and the future and the problems. That's what
you love. Or maybe you dance with a team and it's the emotions that you share, the energy,
the people, the stories. That is the best part. What for you is the most beautiful part about your
experience of dancing? As for me, dancing was more about achievements, competitions, and friends,
probably. We had a really huge team that used to win different kinds of competitions. And the fact
that you see the results on which you have been working on really hard with the whole team, and
you can see it, other people notice it, and it's just the feeling that gives your breath away.
It enables you to feel yourself probably successful and just proud of the things you've done before.
Thank you. And how is that experience of feeling successful, proud of achievement,
similar to your interest in swimming and boxing? Does it give you similar emotions?
Is it different? Tell me more about similarity or differences of something you have done for
10 years so much, which is dance, compared to other things like swimming and boxing.
To tell the truth, since early childhood, I had the dream to become an Olympian champion. However,
my parents didn't allow me to do high professional sports. And so even after dancing for 10 years,
I decided to switch to sports, and it was my desire. I just put all my efforts in every training,
which was for sure incorrect, and it wasn't necessary. And I'm really happy with the fact
that right now I'm more relieved. I am not so focused on it. And when it comes to comparing
dancing and sports, it's like they have real lots of similarities, both in dancing and in sports,
but you have to work. You aren't allowed to pay attention to the things that you don't like,
results, achievements, and so on. So your dream and your efforts that are leading to something
is much more important than this whole way. Thank you. And if I understood you correctly
as a person, is it correct to think that for you, those steps when you're doing something
to be successful, to feel proud of yourself, they're exciting and interesting so you don't
feel bored. They give you new emotions because you don't know what's going to happen. You're
discovering also new things about yourself, which is interesting, so it keeps your life exciting
like an adventure. Is this, if I understood correctly, an expression of your personality,
or is it something else? Yes, you're right. It's all about my personality, about the one
who I am, how I feel myself, and without such activities, I will probably be bored all the time,
tired and inactive to all these bad moments. Thank you. And though to ask specifically,
because a lot of people who love new emotions, who get bored easily, they don't stick to any
thing too much because they feel bored. So it's difficult to study, it's difficult to learn
German, it's difficult to master poetry, it's difficult to do something like swimming or boxing.
They want to do 50 activities and every hour a different thing and never stay with one.
How is this like a part of you, but you force yourself to stick to a few so that you become
excellent, you do it at a high level that makes you feel proud, or you never feel bored because
the journey to you is so interesting. It's like watching a TV series or a drama. The high and the
low and the winning and the losses is all interesting for you. Or how is that related?
Because people usually who get bored, they don't do one thing for a long time. They want to do
100 things a little bit here and there. I am really lucky with the fact that I'm
disciplined. I was grown to be such one, and so I've used to it and I can get rid of this
kind of character. It's helpful in different disciplines. However, sometimes it even bothers
me as I can't switch quickly to something else. So I will always think, I will compare if it's
the right decision or not. That's why it's much easier for me just to stick to some time in order
to receive things I want to. Thank you so much. You're absolutely a wonderful person. I encourage
your success, but we will speak now about something a bit more negative, but it's important,
which is the horrible situation in Ukraine. And yes, the war started in 2014. Some people say
it was always there. It never started or ended. But on February 24th, there was this invasion,
this big bombing and problems and Russians invading Ukraine. How was that day for you?
What did you feel? How was your experience? And tell me everything. Did you believe it?
Did you not believe it? Did you feel like, no, no, this is not true? What happened?
And tell me the story of you until you moved to Vienna. I will say in four heads that the story
will take some time. It lasted quite a long time until I moved to Vienna. So on the 24th,
my mom just woke me up and I think it was around 7 a.m. Yes, 7 a.m. She just started to collect
everything she noticed around, even the things we didn't need at all. It was just because of
this not understanding what is going to be, what's all about. And the moment I've noticed planes
near my window, I understood that, no, it's not a dream. It's a reality. We have to face everyone,
everyone, every Ukrainian. Then we collected everything we found at home and went to our
friend's house where we were, I think, one week. Yes, one week we spent there. And after that,
we decided to go to Austria, where we were lucky to find a support. And since that, we were to
get used to new environments, to new people, to new obligations. However, it may sound quite easily.
I just don't want to get into all these details. It's quite hard for me to describe all this,
to remember all this stuff. It's just the thing. I will never wish to someone, even to the worst
person on this earth. I just understand that the war started and the war in your home, in your
country, it's the worst feeling I've ever experienced in my life. I can feel your pain.
And all I can say is Slava Ukraini. Thank you, Alice. This was my privilege, my honor to include
you in this project. I wish you success. I wish every Ukrainian peace and to the Ukrainian nation
victory. Thank you again. Thank you so much.
