Irina Lutsenko

Writing helps people process events and feelings. Written by a student who wanted to remain anonymous, this piece helped them process some of their memories. I loved it so much I thought it deserved a much wider readership than just me.   ✽✽✽ The image of that graveyard is hard to forget – the parched knee-high grass, the scorching August sun, the rusty metal crosses and memorial plates with Russian names (some illegible, some with bullet traces). I can still remember that acute feeling of nonbelonging. The thought “I gotta get out of this city” was pulsing in my head. The mountainous Chechen Republic, so advertised in our local travel agencies, has indeed a lot to offer, especially for those who are brave enough to go off the beaten track and face its grim history. It was my first visit to Grozny, the name that translates as “fearsome” into Russian. The city used to be my mother’s home, and I was curious to see it with my own eyes. My suitcase was filled with humble long sk...

This is my second piece about Dublin (third overall) written for the creative writing contest by American Center in Moscow . What can I say, I love this city. ♡ ✽✽✽ “St Stephen's Green. Alight here for the Grafton Street shopping district." I decide to alight here and walk across the O’Connell bridge. I'm walking to "Chapters," the best bookstore in the city. The best bookstore in the city is located in arguably the worst place - amid modern, shiny, cookie-cutter shopping centers. Not on the ground floor of a quintessentially Irish house, not next to the Temple Bar pub, not across the road from Trinity College. I've checked them all. I can testify to their inferiority. I swiftly navigate the busy streets full of shoppers with branded paper bags, diving in and out of small pockets of free space. Agonizing over countless book choices, debating back and forth, I buy two, well aware I would have to carry them around all day. None of these books are Oscar Wilde, b...

This is the second piece I wrote for the the "Good Night, Moscow" creative writing contest by  American Center in Moscow . In this piece, I wanted to sing my love to Dublin, but also let my imagination run wild. The result is this fairy tale. Enjoy! ✽✽✽ As the airport bus whisks me to the city, I try not to doze off. It’s been a long day. Fields, trees, shrubs, hedges that are 50 shades of green flash by as I lean my forehead on the cold window. It’ll stop me from dozing off. Goosebumps gradually cover my body, the contagion spread by the window. One thing about Ireland is how surprisingly lightly people are dressed. The bus is standing at the crossroads, waiting for the traffic lights to turn green, and what do I see, wearing my northern sweater and trying to contain the spread of goosebumps? Teenagers wearing shorts and t-shirts. It’s +2. I get even more goosebumps at the sight. The traffic lights turn green. Entering the city. Crossing the O’Connell Bridge. More traffic li...

This is Part 2 of Olesya Komarova 's guest post about travelling in Britain on a tight budget. It is the second part of a story on how to make your dream trip come at a dream price and not only in your dreams.  In part 1 I told about my Wwoofing experience  and some hidden gems of Somerset, in this part we’ll get across the whole island from the very South to the North. As if amending for the hideous amount of tourists, August in GB repays with warm pleasant weather, becoming the only month for beach season. Yes, they put up tents on the beaches because of the never-ending wind. Yes, the water is bitter cold and you WON’T get used to it. Still, English coastline has some magnificent charm that captures you for good. Stone benches on the cliffs  so that all generations could enjoy the Charm :)  It was supposed to be a direct trip from Bristol to Swanage - a tiny scenic sea-town I learned about by hanging on Airbnb. Then it turned out you need to ma...

I am thrilled to present a guest post by Olesya Komarova , an avid traveller and English learner. In her post, she shares her experience of travelling in Great Britain and making the most of it on a tight budget.  Somerset This is a story of how to spend 16 days in a country with average salary 10 times higher than yours and get the most of it.  You know this nice motivation-movie scenario: young people tired of wasting best years of their lives one day hit the road to prove the world how free and independent they are. I used to listen to such stories with awe, until I realized - they were not true. First, you can hardly call ‘freedom’ absolute dependence on other people’s benevolence (that is what hitchhiking is actually about). Second, sometimes this benevolence fails (that is when the ‘adventures’ begin). But being stuck on a road in the middle of nowhere having nothing to eat and nowhere to go is not exactly the type of adventures I was looking for...

I am now preparing for the C2 Proficiency test (fka CPE) and writing like crazy. I know most people get the lowest score for the writing component of English exams ( find out why here ), which is not something I want to happen to me, so I write. In this post, I want to share my Writing Part 2 article about being close to nature. Task:  A magazine is running a series of articles on people’s experiences of being close to nature, for example, visits to beautiful lakes and mountains, or encounters with wildlife. You decide to write an article in which you briefly describe an experience you have had when you were close to nature, and explain what you learned from this. You should also evaluate the role that contact with nature plays in people’s lives. ( Cambridge English Proficiency 2 , Test 1, Question 4). My answer:   Out of all the countries I have visited, Ireland stands out. Nowhere have I seen such scenic and serene places so close to city life. The country is li...