Reflection About Ukrainian Culture

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Before I met a friend named Ivan Kovalenko from Ukraine in my high school soccer team in Wisconsin in 2008, all I knew about Ukraine was about its famous soccer player, Andriy Shevchenko. Among many soccer players, I found Shevchenko interested because not only of his excellent performance, but also of his unique last name. I asked Ivan about his last name mentioning Shevchenko and surprisingly the two unique last names were from same root, Ukraine. Since we were both interested in soccer and from other counties (Ukraine and South Korea), we became very close quickly. And when I went over to Ivan’s, his family and I were to introduce Ukrainian and Korean cultures to each other. Since I had never been exposed to Ukrainian culture, it was really interesting and that encouraged me to take this class this semester. Among many interesting Ukrainian cultures Ivan’s family told me such as its colorful traditional clothes Kozhukh, Ontusz, Sharovary, Vyshyvanka, and Ochipok, I must insist that I was impressed about the importance of Ukraine’s geography. It not only influenced Ukraine’s history but also had a great impact on its culture and education. If you take a look at a map, Ukraine is located in Europe, between Russia and Poland, between Western Europe and Asia. With this being said, Ukraine has been a ‘buffer state’ which is a country that defended Europe from invasions of the nomadic tribes in the Middle Ages and a place that was damaged the most in World War I since the majority of the battle were placed on its area. With a single map, we can already tell the importance of Ukraine’s geography. And we can find many more evidences that highlight the vital role of this geography. Therefore, I would like to discuss about the geographi...

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...en the education was strict and manipulated by foreign countries. For its geographical trait, Ukraine was invaded for many times, but this rather increased their thoughts for education.
According to the three factors of Ukraine, economy, spirit, and education that were affected by its geographical features, I was able to observe the past, present, and even the future of Ukraine. Ukraine’s rich soil and natural resources encouraged its economic growth, numerous invasions by surrounding countries made the citizens to unite and cooperate all together to protect their own country with spirits, and foreign countries’ ruling increased the necessity of the education in Ukraine. Learning about Ukraine’s history with its geographical effect on it not only helped me to understand its history better, but also made me to realize that geographic is a critical phase of a country.

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