Every person strives to change their life for the better, to discover something new, stepping out of their comfort zone, thereby proving to oneself that everything is possible, even if fear is present. It is, in my opinion, what youth trips and student exchange programs teach. If you look at participation in these programs from every angle, you will find no drawbacks at all. By taking part in them, you gain a colossal experience of living abroad;
you learn to live independently, to take responsibility for yourselves, to be accountable for your actions, deeds and, of course, the most pleasant thing, you earn money which you then happily spend.
My participation in the program was a spontaneous decision. Although, as long as I can remember, I had always wanted to go to America and travel around it. I decided to take this gamble after I heard that one girl from my class (my friend) was going. That's when I decided to participate in work&travel USA. I didn't want to miss such a chance, since I was already in my 3rd year (the penultimate) of university. At that moment
I thought that at least it wouldn't be scary to go together. But, in the end, she backed out at the last moment, and I decided to continue alone. And I didn't regret it at all. Although
I was very nervous and, to be honest, it was scary to go alone.
For me, participating in the program was simply luck; I was just lucky. After analyzing everything that happened back then, I might not even have made it to the visa interview at the US Embassy. The date and time of the interview coincided with the date and time of the defense of my course paper before the committee. I still remember calling my academic advisor and tearfully trying to explain the whole situation and asking to postpone the defense to another time. And I was simply lucky at that moment: I defended my course paper by phone! I am still shocked by that.
Recalling my interview, I can say that I was lucky there too, and I got the consul I wanted (there were only two consuls: the first granted many refusals, the second did not say No so often). I got the second one. I remember that I was number 38, and there had been 5 refusals in a row before me. I was very anxious and prayed to get the second consul. And that is what happened. He turned out to be a very cheerful person; we joked a lot. The consul asked me where I study and what I see myself doing in the future. I then answered that, since I study international relations, I want to work at the foreign ministry, to which he said, "I hope that good relations will be established between the USA and Belarus, and that you will contribute to that." We all laughed together then, and he said that my visa was approved. Just like that.
Moving closer to my trip, I can say that it was not smooth. It taught me a lot: independence, responsibility; it led me to realize that I am alone in another country and can only rely on myself. And I understood one, the most important thing: never trust anyone and always double-check information. This is the story of how I lost 300$ and lived for a week in horrible conditions.
It all started when my employer sent me a job offer and options of where I could rent housing. I messaged many people and a woman replied. I liked the interior, the arrangement of the house, that is, everything seemed to be in order, nothing foreshadowed trouble. I arrived in Wildwood late in the evening – around 22:00. It was dark, I didn't have an American SIM card, I couldn't call or go online. To be honest, at that moment I didn't know what to do. And suddenly some guys from Thailand came up to me, and one girl said she was leaving soon and didn't need her SIM card and gave it to me. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised. This once again shows and proves that the world is not without kind people. After that I found that ill-fated house.
Upon entering – I was horrified and didn't understand if I had come to the right place. There were 11 people on one floor, 4 small rooms and a small kitchen. The landlady took me to a room where two people already were: a girl and a boy. There simply wasn't any space. I kept silent at that moment because it was already late. I want to say that, when we corresponded, she said something completely different and sent totally different photos.
Waking up the next day, I met the people and decided to discuss this not very favorable situation. It turned out that they hadn't expected such a turn of events either. I lived there for a week because I couldn't find new housing right away. The last straw was that the shower and vacuum cleaner were broken, and she accused the girls from Jamaica of having broken these things, calling them black monkeys – racist words. By the way, incidentally, the landlady is Russian, who immigrated to the USA 40 years ago (she married an American, and this house came to her from her deceased husband).
By chance we found out that her license for her activity had expired and decided to report to the tax service at first that she had been working without it since 2015. She somehow found out about this and early in the morning, without our knowledge, went to get that license. We called the tax service, and as a result we were told that she had been there in the morning. In the end she got away with it.
Then we decided to file a police report against her for racist statements. But, unfortunately, their law-enforcement system proved powerless in this situation as well. The police couldn't even help return our deposit and the money we had already paid for 2 weeks. As a result – I lost
300$ as soon as I arrived in America. But even that did not spoil my impression of
America. I took it as a lesson. If anyone reading this is thinking of going, the name of that house is “Sweet Home” – I absolutely do not recommend it under any circumstances!
After that I moved into a lovely house located five minutes from the ocean, near the Boardwalk (this is a promenade with a huge number of shops, cafes; two amusement parks located on the oceanfront) and life got better, so to speak.
That was the only negative moment that, as you can see, I experienced.
After that it wasn't so scary. That situation happened because of my own fault, so you must always pay attention to all details and to your belongings. This is the story of how I almost lost my passport. Once I was driving home from work, I got out of the car and walked to the door. At that moment I didn't even notice that my passport had fallen out of my bag. It spent the whole night outside; it poured with heavy rain as if on purpose. I would not have known I had lost my passport if not for my roommate, who brought it to me and asked if it was mine. I'll put it this way: seeing it, I thought I wouldn't be allowed to leave the country, truly. My photo was all faded, you could hardly see that it was me. The whole page was water-streaked. But, unfortunately or fortunately, I was allowed to leave the USA, from Istanbul, but... I was detained upon arrival in Minsk, and I spent 2 hours at the airport while they examined my passport!!! That's how it went.
I can say that I never regretted that I contacted the agency International Exchange Center @iec_minsk and went on the work&travel USA program. I improved my English and
Spanish, which were my priorities, met people from different countries, and we still keep in touch, earned a fairly large sum of money and traveled around America. I even got acquainted with the police! They, by the way, are very polite, but they can't help... basically like everywhere.
And, of course, I fulfilled my dream and lived for a month in New York!
Therefore I urge everyone not to be afraid and to participate in the program, because it's worth it.
And I hope that in the future student exchange programs will be kept out of politics. That, despite interstate relations on the international stage, every citizen of their country will be able to obtain a visa without problems and go on an exciting trip and fulfill their dream.