Cummings 1

Aaron Cummings

Professor Cox

English 1102

20 July 2019

The Girl with the Snake Tattoo

This essay serves as an analysis of a person, in order to answer the question: who is this

person? But really, I am here to show you who is this person to me. The materials used in this

process have been gathered through interviewing the subject person, research, and analysis. Full

consent has been given by the person who is the subject of this research.

I am a nineteen-year-old student studying computer science at KSU, my name is Aaron. I

commute to KSU from Cumming GA, which is about an hour-long drive in good conditions. My

situation led to me being a pretty distant person from any social activities on campus, but I can

vividly remember passing by a stunning young woman with an eye-catching tattoo of a snake

across her arm which I thought was bad ass. It was such a distinctive tattoo, but it probably stuck

out most to me because of my affliction for reptiles. I keep several snakes, lizards and turtles

myself, because of that I wondered if that was something we shared. I never bothered to talk to

her since college life is busy and I saw her in passing once or twice, but after the semester started

wrapping up, I thought I would try to meet some people. So, I signed up for tinder per the

suggestion of a co-worker to meet some people around campus. Eventually after a few weeks I

matched up with this girl with the snake tattoo to my surprise.

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Her name is Arina, she just turned twenty, and she is a chemistry major at KSU as well as

an immigrant from Russia. Of course, I had a great pick-up line for her “Your tinder kindled a

fire in my heart. Are you some sort of pyromaniac?”. She responded very quickly with a dark

sense of humor that I very much enjoy, “No, but I do enjoy setting living people on fire”. We had

been getting to know each other for a while and right as this class started, we began dating, and I

saw this profile essay and immediately thought it would be a great way to get to know her even

better. However, she is a very open person and frequently starts up conversations like this one

from one of the first times we talked with each other.

“I already have my wedding planned; it’s going to be on Halloween. I want

everyone to be there in costume too. The whole thing will be spooky and Halloween

themed.” This is the third or fourth time I had met up with Arina. She arrived at my house

and I had been waiting for her, leash in hand, ready to walk to the lake side trail down the

road for a late evening stroll by the shore. She was dressed in all black, probably not the

best attire for a walk, let alone in the dark on a muggy evening with the humidity of the

lake air in the consistent but weak breeze. We are walking through a short trail that I

frequent with my dogs when she interjected with her wedding plans. She often does or

says things that aren’t quite what you would expect. A lot of people might think of a
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Halloween wedding, or even really talking about a wedding when you’re first meeting

someone as weird, but I find it quite intriguing and one of the things that makes her so

enjoyable to get to know and be around.

“People have all sorts of wedding and proposal stories about how they did some

huge thing to make a moment of it. But no one does Halloween for a wedding, and I love

scary things. It would just be fun.” Her idea made me think of April the parks and rec

character, who loves Halloween. When April was giving birth on Halloween, she was in

a costume and wearing make up to look like a bloody witch, and the doctor asked a nurse

to wipe her make up off. She stops them to say, “No! I put this on after I went into labor.”

She then asks her husband to play her birth playlist, and it starts playing the monster

mash. I’ve always liked her character the most because of the weird and creepy things she

does, so it’s no surprise to me that Arina reminds me of her with her quirky Halloween

wedding.

I tell Arina this thought, and she says, “I’ve never seen that show, I haven’t

watched American shows.” The thought that she hadn’t seen the comedy gold show never

crossed my mind, but it made sense, why would she have seen it given she was from

Russia. Which makes me wonder what other things she might have not had in Russia that

are here and vice versa. In reaction to this interjection about her wedding, she gets a little

frustrated; interruptions are one of her pet peeves. After a moment of silence, she moves

the conversation back to the wedding topic.

“I won’t marry anyone unless they propose with a pit bull puppy, because if two

people can raise a dog together, they are probably in a good position to get married.” She
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practically yells to me as she moves her hand around violently. At first it might seem like

she is upset when people converse with her, but she is just very articulate.

I responded, “That makes a lot of sense, to raise a dog together you would both have to

make the commitment to raise the animal and be in a spot economically where this is

feasible.” I feel like we really started to connect over the moment of shared opinion. It

takes small moments like this to draw people together.

As I have been reflecting on this moment we had together, she had texted me

about her Sims that she is making. They are us, and she asked if we are roommates, siblings, or

married. I said married, but she said roommates because we can get married later, and that she

wants to make the sims wedding Halloween themed. I can’t emphasize enough how central this

is to her life plans. She is the person who wants to be and do things different from the norm in

some way. It would just be like getting married at a Halloween party with all your friends and

family. This also really showers her affection for creepy, scary and dark things. At any rate, who

really enjoys weddings, they are almost cookie cutter events. Every wedding is just about the

same, so why not make it more lighthearted and enjoyable by having it on Halloween. It is more

than just her wedding that she has planned, which she continued to elaborate on.

When we sat down to continue talking through the interview, she ran through exactly

how she plans her life to go. She also seems to have thought a lot about her future and put a lot
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of thought into what she needs to do to succeed and to meet her aspirations for her career. During

the interview she very easily goes through and states what direction her life is going to take,

where she is going to live, where she is going to get her masters, where she is going to take a job,

what kinds of jobs she is going to take, how she is going to network with people in the industry,

how she will make a name for herself. This shows that she has a strong appreciation for the

opportunity that moving to the US has given her. That she taken time and effort to know what

she needs to do to be successful. Once her mind is set, she makes it happen. It’s hard to say if

this is determination, stubbornness, or good planning skills. Once she decides that she wants to

do something she rests at nothing until it is done. Since the interview she has recently bought a

new laptop. For merely a couple of day this seemed to be the only thing on her mind until she got

a laptop. A better example is probably how we were hanging out at home. We had just sat down

to play a video game, and she says, let’s go to taco bell. Then she rested at nothing until I agreed

that we would go to taco bell.

Why such an importance on the future? Well if you are given the opportunity for higher

and better things in the US, why not stride for it. That really is the American dream, however

saying that I think most of us, including Arina, might grind their teeth. Ambition is important if

you want to succeed, and Arina plans to make it far. I think that is one of the qualities that makes

her such an intriguing person. I think that this comes from a level of maturity that she had to

reach at a young age. When she became a young adult, she lived on her own as soon as she

turned 18. During this time, she had finished high school with exceptional grades, and was

admitted to college, which she is putting herself through all on her own. She realized that she had

to do these things all on her own and gave herself the means to do them. In a lot of ways, she is
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self-made. All her success is only because of herself, without any reliance. I think that comes

from the independence she had while living in the city while she still lived in Russia.

This is an image of Saint Petersburg, the city where Arina grew up. It is known as

the cultural capital of Russia, and as the Venice of Russia due to the many canals

modeled after Venice Italy. There are many churches, museums and other cites that date

back into the early modern era of Russia as we know it. In My Teenage Life in Russia,

Victoria gives a wonderful description:

“I think that Saint Petersburg is the most beautiful city. So when my friends from

other countries ask me which city I recommend them to visit first I always say: “Saint

Petersburg!” It’s the cultural heart of Russia. People call it “Northern Venice” because

there are a lot of rivers and channels and the architecture really looks like the best places

of classic European. From 1703 to 1917, St. Petersburg was the capital of the Russian

Empire. There are a lot of museums, churches, cathedrals and historical buildings. The
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real beauties of St. Petersburg’s places of interest are Peter and Paul fortress, St. Isaacs

Cathedral, the Admiralty, Kazansky Cathedral, the Church of the Savoir on the Blood.

There is also beautiful Vasilievsky Island with its monumental stock exchange building

and old-fashioned gas-lamp-lit houses.” (Hulick and Zhivova 30)

The church of the Savoir on the Blood is shown above. When Arina describes the city, it

is much like Victoria’s description. She will reminisce about the many museums that she loves as

well as the art galleries. Her favorite painting is The Last Day of Pompeii, which is on display at

The State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg. It depicts a very unsettling scene of the citizens

of Pompeii in horror as they witness their demise. Which is right up Arina’s ally, she enjoys dark

art and humor, much like horror.

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One of the things we have discussed at length during her interview, is her schooling in

Russia. Which was very different to the experience in the United States. When I say different, I

mean different in the sense of the social climate, course structure, and the physical quality of the

schools. For instance, she was shocked that lockers existed in public high schools. For a better

understanding of the social climate I want to describe, here is one event she told me about that

honestly shocked me.

“I’m walking out of the school building in Saint Petersburg. Its very snowy and

cold like half the time in Russia. This group of boys is waiting outside for people to come

through the doors and throw snowballs at them. And as I was walking out one of the boys

hit me right in the face, and he had packed a ball of ice or a rock with the snow. It made

me so mad. I threw down my coat and started chasing him. Around the edge of the school

was a fence and I caught up to him there. I grabbed him by the head, and just started

beating his face against the fence until is was all messed up and bleeding.”

“In Russia you have to show that you are tough. If you go home complaining

about being picked on your parents would tell you to suck it up or hit them back harder.

That is what we were all taught.” “After I went after him, no one would pick on me.” As

she explained, her face would get tense, she would pound her hands together, and her

voice escalated.

There are a couple of points that she seemed hesitant to talk about like this one during the

interview. She had mention previously that she had transferred schools several times in Russia.
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And I think that had a profound impact on her life, to my knowledge she only has one friend

back in Russia that she still talks to on a regular basis. She mentioned how you must show that

your tough if you don’t want to get picked on in school, and I think by switching schools it

caused her to get into several fights. Aside from that time she went after that boy, she stabbed a

bully with a pair of scissors for picking on her constantly about her hair. During the interview I

could see on her face the hesitance to elaborate about the fighting in the schools and her personal

experience attending school in Russia.

The collapse of the Soviet Union had a major hand in the way that the school system is

structured. During soviet times you could expect equal education across all schools with just a

few schools for the elites. In Russian Education Policy From the Late 1980s Though the Early

2000s: Declarations and the Practical Impact on Inequality in K-12 Education they provided a

firsthand account of these “gymnasium” or elite schools from school officials, “… the

gymnasiums (which were called special schools) were elite institutions. You could only get into

them on the basis of your connections. There was no way to quality on the basis of merit.”

(Kosaretsky et al. 746). After the collapse the government of Russia passed legislation to take

it’s hands out of the education system. As a result, the gymnasium style schools became more

prevalent where your attendance is based on connections and fanatical backing of the schools

since they receive no governmental funding. The system is privatized which has led to what we

could consider some shady business practices. Because of this it is not uncommon for students to

be transferred around in order to try and find a better education. Which probably played a small

part in why Arina had changed schools many times in Russia.

On the other hand, I think that school in Russia may have given her motivation to achieve

higher education here in the states. Because of the way schools are structured there, it gave her
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more of a chance to explore things she might like to study further as well as a further education

than people of her age here in the states. When she moved here, she states that she was surprised

to see that in high school they were studying things that she had learned at a much younger age.

She did very well in school here before college. I believe that she even got the Zell miller

scholarship.

In Russian Emigration at the Turn of the 21st Century during the time that Arina

Immigrated to the US the major motives for emigrating from Russia was family reunification and

educational opportunities. Of which Arina falls into both categories. When I asked her when she

found out that she was moving to the US she caught me by surprise and said “Depends. I found

out that my step-father, mother, and sister were moving here first, and then it took several years

for my paperwork for me to come.” Her family moved for work opportunities, into an area that

had already established a strong Russian community. Both of which were the most common

reasons for emigrating during the years that they moved before her. It was, and still is, very

common for families to separate when emigrating out of Russia. That is why the wave of people

emigrating with Arina were mostly leaving Russia to be with family. The migration of people

here during the time when her family moved came to fruition due to the collapse of the Soviet

Union. The new government made it possible for Russians to be able to leave, and still return if

they wish. Many people took advantage of this in order to find work and later for a free

education the US due to the state of the privatization of the school system in Russia after the

collapse of the Soviet Union.

“It’s not better here, it’s just easier.” was her response to the question “What do you like

better about the US?” She sounded disappointed. Her response refers to the quality of life here.

In Is Immigration a Culture? A Qualitative Approach to Exploring Immigrant Student

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Experiences Within the United States they interview many immigrant college students from place

all around the world to better understand the nature of immigrant life. Of course, being college

students there is the agreement among the students interviewed in this paper that the educational

opportunities are the biggest benefits from immigrating into the US. But across the board they

also identify that most of them agree that the adjustment to the culture was a major obstacle,

something that I have heard from Arina as being as difficult as some of the students describe. In

Russian Emigration at the Turn of the 21st Century it is discussed that they saw an increase in

immigration due to the now pre-established Russian communities that exist in the states. I

believe that because of this Arina and her family have had a much easier time adapting to the

new culture and maintaining their native culture. Which in the conclusion of Is Immigration a

Culture? A Qualitative Approach to Exploring Immigrant Student Experiences Within the United

States it is proposed that better systems to help immigrants adapt to the culture would be a major

benefit to the students and their families, something which I think Arina has been fortunate to

already have in this area of Georgia.

Arina is an enigma in my eyes, her hard work and perseverance are her most defining

qualities. It’s no doubt that her early life and immigration played a huge role in her life, even to

this day. Her personality is a product of her life, which has created this person that is so unique.

It is really something special to get to know her.

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Annotated Bibliography

Bryullov, Karl. The Last Day of Pompeii. The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.

Image of The Church of the Savior on the Blood. WallpaperAccess. https://wallpaperaccess.com/st-

petersburg.

Hulick, Kathryn. Zhivova, Victoria. My Teenage Life in Russia, e-book, National Highlights Inc.

2018.

In this short text Hulick goes over several topics relating to the life and culture of people

in the Russian society, and interlaces that information with firsthand accounts told by Zhivova.

Who at the time of writing in 2018 is 15. Zhivova lives in Saint Petersburg and frequents long

stays in Moscow, which both have a large presence of historical places, a very modern society,

as well as a strong Russian culture. The work frames Zhivova as a part of a generation that will

see major societal development in the close future that will be heavily influenced by the younger

generation.

Kosaretsky, S. Grunicheva I. Goshin, M. “Russian Education Policy From the Late 1980s

Though the Early 2000s: Declarations and the Practical Impact on Inequality in K-12

Education” Russian Education and Society, vol. 58, no. 11, Taylor & Francis Group,

LLC, November 2016, pp. 732-756, doi.org/10.1080/10609393.2016.1342196. Accessed

29 June 2019.

The goal of this text was to show the researcher’s finding in a study about the educational

system of Russia in the specified time period. They reviewed the legislation that was supposed to

reform the system post-Soviet Union, as well as interviewed current and former officials and

specialists involved in the reforms. They revealed through their research that without the backing
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of the plans by the state, and the reigns freely handed to the free market and the people who

stood to gain monetarily from the system, would result in stratifying effects on the education

system. It has become that in Russia in order to receive quality educations you must have ties or

“bribe” the schools by signing up for voluntary courses that garmented entry.

Brady, Shabnam Etemadi. Stevens, Michelle. “Is Immigration a Culture? A Qualitative

Approach to Exploring Immigrant Student Experiences Within the United States”

Translational Issues in Psychological Science, vol. 5, no. 1, US : Educational Publishing

Foundation, March 2019, pp. 17-28, dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000187. Accessed 29 June

2019.

The researchers of this article attempt to explain the culture of a US immigrant’s life with

the narrow field of culture of origin. Essentially, to attain a better understanding of the unique

changes to their personal culture as a result of migrating. They look at a combination of direct

migrants as well as first generation Americans. All of their participants are college students. In

the study we are given quote from their responses describing what it is like on them and their

families to immigrate. The study found that immigrant culture and collectivist culture was a

commonality within their data.

In the next article Russian Emigration at the Turn of the 21st Century it is shown that

Russian emigration increased due to established communities in the host nations. I hypothesis

that this is because it helps ease some of the issues that cause stress when immigrating that were

mentioned in this article. That would certainly promote immigration to certain areas and the

community would give much needed information and guidance to accepting a new culture to live

in.
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Vorobyeva, Olga. Aleshkovski, Ivan. Grebenyuk, A.. “Russian Emigration at the Turn of the 21st

Century” Filosofija, Sociologja, vol. 29, no. 2, Lietuvos mokslų akademija, 2018, pp.

107-118. Accessed 29 June 2019.

The authors of this article talked about the emigration trends, processes, and reasons at

the turn of the century until now. One of the key things they discuss is the discrepancy between

the records of emigrants in Russia versus the immigration records of other countries showing

over 4 times the number of people leaving Russia. Biggest reasons for emigrating based on the

records are economic and social. People desire better standards of living, better education, better

labor conditions, better pay, ect. Currently the trends show that one of the largest reasons for

emigration is family reunification. Most of the people who left Russia for job opportunities often

left their families behind who are now moving to live with them. This also has created better

incentives for other emigrants to travel to specific area’s due to established communities.

He previous article Russian Education Policy From the Late 1980s Though the Early

2000s: Declarations and the Practical Impact on Inequality in K-12 Education helps show some

of the key reasons for emigration into the US from Russia. Getting a better primary, and a free

one is a huge incentive to move to the US. As well as prospects for a secondary education and a

career. The development of inequalities expressed in the previous article after the collapse of the

Soviet Union line of with the emigration trends in this article for education purposes. However,

with the collapse of the Soviet Union brought the freedom to relocate, this might be another topic

of interest to research.