“I saw mostly big buildings and literally beautiful things,” Ivanna recalls from when she arrived at Rotterdam Centraal. “I came here because of the invasion in Ukraine. It was very scary so I decided to flee.”
She travelled from Kyiv to Amersfoort. “One of my friends lives there with her boyfriend. She offered help on social media.” The journey to her friend took two days. “I took the train to the border with Slovakia. There were many big refugee camps there, but everything was full. So I had to move on. There I met a man travelling to Utrecht. People warned me about criminals and abuse. For example, people can take away your passport and use you for prostitution. So I decided to travel on with this man.” Via Vienna and Hanover, she arrived at her friend’s house in a student dorm. “I thought it would be for a short time, but I’ve been here for two years now and it’s still not over.”
Saving angels
Soon she felt she had to leave. She sent another friend a message and she connected her with a host family in Rotterdam. There she stayed for six months. “They changed my life: how they helped me… what they did for me… those people were my saving angels. I am still so grateful to them.” Eventually, Ivanna did want a home of her own. ‘I have always lived on my own,’ she says. But it was difficult to find a house because her contract was only for six months. “But when I found a nice house, my host family called the estate agent. And then it was settled,” she says happily.
Busy
She loves Rotterdam. “This city may be smaller than Kyiv but it is still nice and busy and I like that. It’s nice that it’s not as busy as Amsterdam.” In Rotterdam, she gets around mainly by public transport as she cannot ride a bike yet. “My host family told me it’s important to learn to ride a bike so I took lessons. But I fell really often and had bruises. So now I’m a bit scared, especially with all those bikes and mopeds on the road.”
Friends
Making new friends is going better for her. “It is difficult though but there are also many opportunities. For example, you can volunteer to meet people.” For example, she volunteered at the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam and the MOMO festival.” This also allows her to practise the language. “I speak a little Dutch but I need more practice. Now I’m taking lessons for that again, but with only Ukrainians. That’s not convenient because then you talk Ukrainian outside class. In my previous course, I had lessons with different nationalities. Then you speak Dutch with each other faster.”
Back
Meanwhile, she still hopes the war will end. Then, hopefully, she will also have a place to go back to. “Now I still have my house, but a bombing destroyed the windows. Thank God no one was present in the house at the time.”