– Tell us your story in America, please. Where did you live and work before Texas?
Nice to meet you. My name is Liza Vyazentseva.
I moved to America about 4.5 years ago. The first city I visited was New York. The city was friendly. There I studied, worked, and met many new acquaintances, including foreigners from different countries who, like me, had recently arrived in America.
In New York, I worked as a vocal teacher in a Russian-speaking school, from which I began developing my music business in America. And also, in New York, I worked as an event photographer, shooting important moments for people, like birthdays and weddings.
– How did you end up in Austin?
I’ll tell you the story from the very beginning, how I ended up in Austin. In 2020, as everyone knows, a pandemic began, and the city of New York shut down for an indefinite time. As a result, most people lost their jobs, including my family. Our work was directly related to commissions and working with people offline, so we were all devastated and uncertain about the future.
The city was empty. People were afraid to contact each other. There was widespread panic and tension. At that time, my husband was able to arrange a job in Texas, in Dallas, and we decided to leave New York temporarily until things calmed down. We lived in Dallas for a while and finally decided to sell everything in New York and move to Texas.
Texas fascinated us after living in New York with its cleanliness, well-groomed greenery, and good weather. And the most important thing is the people! People in Texas are very open and smiling. A stranger can greet you and talk to you. Texans are ready to come to the rescue and help if you asked. Everyone was very kind and sympathetic. Our neighbors helped us more than once and generally gave us a lot of New Year’s decorations and garlands, having learned that we gave everything to friends in NY when we moved here.
We lived in Dallas for one year, I had a vocal studio, and I continued to develop it. Then, I went to American College to improve my language skills and started to work with American students. After a year, my husband got a job offer in Austin, and we again had to think of moving. It was not easy for me to leave our new house and my studio in Dallas. But as a family, we decided to move to Austin. Before that, we were in Austin only passing through, and, honestly, it seemed to us that we were going nowhere. Our friends from Austin praised this city, and we read many positive reviews and articles on the Internet about it.
– What do you like most about Austin?
Austin has a lot of good things. It is a lovely small town with beautiful nature. Indeed, if you compare the nature of Austin with other cities in Texas, with Dallas, for example, its nature is more diverse and rich. The city is located in a hilly area, in the center there is a river, in the western part there are beautiful lakes, and steep hillsides surround them. The city has many natural parks where you can go for walks. What I also like about Austin is that if you want more, there are many bars downtown, many of which have live music. The architecture downtown is very nice. Old buildings show the city’s history, and there is a lot of graffiti on the walls, making the town colorful and bright.
– Please tell us about your profession and your work.
I am a professional vocal and piano teacher, founder of the “Rising Star Studio,” a singer, and a professional photographer. I opened my studio when we moved to Texas from New York. At first, due to the pandemic, many were still afraid to come to classes, but no one forgot about music, and people still desired to be creative, despite the restrictions. And also, parents wanted their children not only to be at home but to continue to engage in their development.
So my studio started working online, and then students slowly began to come to me when quarantine relief had already started. Thus, the pandemic, even to some extent, helped me to expand my boundaries and start teaching voice and piano online. I realized that there is nothing to worry about, and the quality of learning from online classes does not change.
Now I work with students not only from the city where I currently live but now my students are from different states. They continue to study with me and we always keep in touch. I have students from cities: New York, Dallas, Austin, Miami, and Washington. I have students from New York who have been studying for about three years and a boy from Dallas for two years; all this is online!
I also work as a photographer and do street photography.
– What difficulties did you have to face in America?
Like all visitors to America, my main difficulty was the language. Now, of course, not to such an extent, because after moving to Texas from NY, I realized that it turns out that I speak English not so badly. After all, in NY, there are a lot of different mixed nationalities and dialects, and I needed help understanding people. In Texas, people speak more clearly, understandably, and probably more slowly. But unfortunately, the language is still a little problem in many ways, not even in everyday communication, but if I need to call somewhere on the phone, sign up somewhere, or find out something. Talking on the phone in English still gives me a feeling of complete panic.
– Do you miss your homeland?
I miss my parents and close friends. But unfortunately, I did not manage to get home for all these years. At first, there was a time of settling down and generally understanding oneself in a new country. Then the pandemic came, and now the war, and I don’t even know, to be honest, when I can even see my family now.
Speaking specifically about aspects of life in my homeland, I miss the culture and ancient architecture. In the last years before moving to America, I lived and studied in Moscow and had a rich cultural life. Since I was still giving concerts back then, music and theater were always around me. There are a lot of theaters and museums in Moscow, and I had some cultural events almost every week. It is sorely lacking in America. One gets the impression that most cultural events are for the sophisticated public, and the ordinary working American does not care about this. Many people have never been to the theater in their entire lives. However, school theater training in America is amazing! I was in Austin for the High School Theater Competition this summer, which was brilliant! The kids are already playing like a pro!
– Please tell us about your family.
I have a small family. Mom and dad, I have no relatives or cousins. But there is my aunt, who always helped me. My mother is a computer engineer, my father is an artist, and my aunt is a doctor.
– What do you do outside of work? What are your interests and hobbies?
My interests and hobbies are closely related to my work. I love music, art, theater, and photography and I think that I managed to transfer my hobbies into a profession. But you know what Confucius said: “Choose a job you love, and you won’t have to work a day in your life.”
– What do you think is missing in Austin?
Austin lacks a lot of things. Most likely, because it is a small city, and until recently, it was not so popular. As a result, there need to be more cultural places to visit.
Austin has a lot of nature and active tourism. These are different trails, hiking, rowing, and renting boards for swimming. But sometimes I would just like walking cultural leisure. As I said, Austin needed more theaters, museums, city parks, free city events, and concerts. I didn’t like that in Austin and Dallas, natural parks without lighting. That is, you can walk there only during the daytime, and when twilight falls in the city, then in these parks it’s so dark! Once, we only had time to leave the forest after sunset, and then, I remember, we got out with a flashlight! To be honest, it was terrible. Come on, parks, but the main waterfront in the city center itself needs to be illuminated! We often came for a walk along the waterfront in the evening after work, and there was just complete darkness! You can see that people are still walking the center, tourists, many are running, someone is walking dogs, someone is on bikes, and the whole road along the water is dull in the dark. It is very strange and not attractive to tourists.
I don’t like that the city falls asleep quickly. There is no nightlife in it. Almost all restaurants are open until 9pm-10pm and more late only fast food. The most interesting thing is that even the bars and clubs in the center and the Domain area are only open until 2 am! So people are ready to hang out at night and spend their money, but the establishments are closed, and I have seen more than once how, at 2 am, all the people fall out of all the bars and establishments and frantically try to wait for hours for a taxi, which costs 3-4 times more!
Austin still lacks a variety of restaurants, or rather cuisine. There is a lot of Mexican, American, and maybe even Chinese cuisine, while others could be better represented in the city. And, of course, there need to be more Russian-speaking establishments: restaurants, shops, and pharmacies.
– What are your favorite books and films?
My favorite books are “The Master and Margarita” by M. Bulgakov, “Dracula” by B. Stoker, and “The Alchemist” by P. Coelho. And there are a lot of films. I’ll say that the first that came to mind: were “Mr. Nobody,” “Ghostbusters,” all the works of Hayao Miyazaki, the Harry Potter film series, “Chicago,” “Call,” and many others.
– What would you like to wish the Russian-speaking residents of Austin and Texas?
I wish all Russian-speaking residents of Austin and Texas to be more united with each other. Do not remain indifferent. We can help each other with advice, especially for those who have just arrived in America or Texas and are waiting for support from the community. Many newcomers, having written a question in Facebook groups, receive a huge flurry of hate. They get the impression that all Russian-speaking people are angry and aggressive, and the next time they are already afraid to ask something at all. Therefore, I wish everyone to be more tolerant and friendly. Do more meetings and joint events where everyone can get to know each other. It would be just great!
Contact information:
Instagram @lisvalery
Facebook: Liza Vyazentseva