We all have our rational and irretional fears; I have a lot of irretional ones. Especially when it comes to airports, passports, moving places. My exposure therapy in the past few years worked well — I travelled by myself a bit and encountered these fears of mine a lot. Yet, the stuff that I mention in the episode is still concerning for me all the time I travel solo. Those “fears” are the reason I still carry my expired covid certificate everywhere, prefer walking and taxis to public transport, and try not to jaywalk on the streets of an unknown country. Don’t get me wrong — all these thoughts are JUST running through my emotional mind, my rational mind is rational at those times :) Enjoy!

When moving around the world, interacting with different cultures, and being required to fit in distinct societies, I have noticed one interesting thing: my personality changes. The Alina you may know from Canada is not the same Alina you will encounter in Ukraine. Wondering why that happens and sharing my thoughts on this topic in the episode. I am also talking about an observation of basically noticing people in other people. Enjoy!

From experiencing high prices and not the most developed public transport system to feeling lonely and distant - I am discussing the downsides of life in Toronto. This city will always have my love and adoration, but taking off those rose colored glasses is important too. I felt like the beautiful picture on the Instagram and me always talking about Toronto being one of the best places I have been to may skew the perception towards this city being ideal. Hence, I wanted to share the other perspective so that you have a global picture. Enjoy!

My therapy is going on long walks around the city. At one of such “therapy sessions”, I was wondering about why I feel like am stuck in my 18s — whether it is a memory problem or a deeper issue. Spoiler: my memory is ok, and so is yours if you can relate to the same concerns. I am also sharing the thoughts on leaving Canada, liking random words that make me happy, and language barriers in terms of non-translatable notions and cultures rather than non-translatable words. To be relevant, I am also discussing the video generative AI model released recently and thinking of robbing a bank (jokes). Enjoy the episode!

Starting the episode as in “5 minute English” so that you can learn a new idiom for today - you will not use it, though. Here I am sharing tips that helped me to learn several languages throughout my life. Incorporating these small things in everyday routine might help you too - or might not - if you are a foreigner studying Ukrainian. As per credible sources, an English speaker would need about 1100 class hours to become fluent in Ukrainian, so advice in this episode applies to other cases but this. Enjoy!

Trying out talking to myself and sharing these recordings with public. In this episode, I'm sharing my background and reasons to start this podcast as well as other podcast ideas. I am also discussing a topic of challenging relationships with people in the context of moving abroad. How was it to leave people behind and make new connections in new places - mentioning that and more! Enjoy.