I don't know what I'd be thinking about or what I'd be living for right now if it weren't for you - AMERICA!

I now recall and begin to understand, YOU appeared in my dreams a couple of years ago. But then I woke up and thought it was so far away and impossible and instantly forgot. But circumstances turned out differently, and now, in less than two months, I'll be visiting YOU!

I realized that I clearly had problems with my knowledge of the language, but I wanted YOU so much that I devoted all my free time — and even some time that wasn't free — to YOU. For more than three months I thought about how to get that coveted ticket to YOU — the long-awaited visa.

And although my friend immediately told me: "Lyuda, well, if Artem on the left got his, then you'll certainly get yours." "Artem on the left" is the guy who goes to English classes and apparently doesn't understand it very well. We laughed for a long time imagining how he explained to children in the pool that diving was not allowed: "small child, big pool".

Of course I read plenty of blogs and stories and heard from friends and acquaintances that, in principle, there shouldn't be any problems getting the visa. But I think everyone who has been through this will agree with me that until you've been there yourself, at the embassy, stood in the long line and exhausted all your nerves, you won't understand.

I won't describe all those long, unbearable three months when all I could think about was when I would go to the embassy. At first I thought it would be in February, then in March, but it was scheduled for April 7.

There were about 70 of us from my town and a few guys from Yelets. The whole trip, which took about 7–8 hours, I couldn't sleep, but for some reason I wasn't as nervous anymore. I just understood that everything would be fine; I was certain of it and didn't doubt for a minute that I'd come to YOU. Toward morning I finally managed to close my eyes for a short while, and when I opened them, Moscow was already waking up, breaking through the darkness.

The first thing I saw was a multitude of lights reflecting in the Moscow River, and my soul immediately felt so calm and light.

Around six in the morning we pulled up to the embassy and went to have a coffee and fully wake up at the nearest open café. There was only one customer there who had apparently drunk quite a lot and, in broken Russian, was calling the poor barman and waiter names. After a cup of coffee I was fully awake. My friend and I returned to the bus and began to wait...

I watched how the guys were lined up in the queue, how they dressed for the interview and how they behaved. Then it was our turn to get in line. I was somewhere in the middle among our group. After passing through a couple of metal detectors, my fingerprints were scanned, and then the most nerve-wracking time began – the straight path to the consul.

The line moved very slowly; at first not all the windows were working, but little by little the first lucky ones began to come out. Entering the waiting room, the first thing I saw was a TV showing cartoons, my favorites "Tom and Jerry". I kept thinking which window to go to and I really didn't want window 10 — there was a woman consul there and, in front of my eyes, she refused a couple of people visas. And so I stood in the last queue and dreamed of getting to the handsome consul at window 12, while my friend would get the red-haired one at 13. And that's how it happened!!!

Having been asked a few standard questions, learning my name, what my family thinks about a trip to the USA and what year I'm studying in, I, having been silly and pressing my thumb instead of my index finger, smiled, apologized and heard in response: "Have a nice summer in the USA"! I ran out of the embassy as fast as I could, knocking over everything and everyone around me on the way, and realized: that's it, now I will definitely come to YOU!

Be confident in yourselves, in your abilities, believe in your dream and YOU will definitely succeed!!!!