Now and in the future

I want to begin my story with an introduction.

My name is Arnat, I am a first-year student at ENU, city of Astana. I learned about the contest from a close friend and decided to take a risk, try my luck.

In general, for as long as I can remember, I have always dreamed of visiting the USA. Perhaps this is connected to my childhood, because I grew up on American films, listening to Western artists and playing games. My whole idea of Western culture was built on that. Later, the desire to understand the meaning of the "American Dream" pushed me to fall in love with the USA. Wide highways, pickups, westerns, fast food, residential neighborhoods with beautiful lawns, the yellow school bus and baseball began to be associated with American culture for me, but the biggest contribution was made by games. My favorite childhood game was GTA San Andreas. Every weekend I would go to my brother's to play it. I still remember the city map by heart, so when I watch vlogs from Los Angeles, warm memories and a feeling as if I have already been to those places often come to my mind. Santa Monica Beach, the Beverly Hills area, the famous Rodeo Drive already feel like something familiar to me. If I ever get lucky enough to be in California, I hope to fulfill my dream: take a car and drive along the endless highway, listening to Lana Del Rey songs and watching a beautiful warm sunset.

I learned about the Work and Travel program a couple of years ago on YouTube. In the recommendations there was a video where an ordinary guy told his story and experience working at a pizzeria on the California coast thanks to this program. That really inspired me and I began to look for similar searches, watching dozens of videos about how young people managed to get into the program and visit different cities in the USA. In the videos the guys shared their emotions and priceless experience of working in another country, talking about how this program helped them change their mindset and get closer to another culture.

For some, it even changed their understanding of the meaning of life. Being under the influence of something new, they increasingly wanted to achieve happiness — to fulfill their own American dream. After all, the USA gives this opportunity to absolutely everyone; the country is filled with wonderful people from different parts of the world who flew across oceans and seas for the sake of their dream. With each new video, I realized that this is not a fairy tale, but reality.

Up until that moment I had absolutely no experience in youth travel or exchange programs, which left me with doubts and fear. Self-suggestion that I would not succeed. But fortunately the guys proved otherwise. I got hope that even I, an ordinary guy, am capable of making this opportunity happen. From that moment I began to look for more information about this program.

Financial costs, having a good level of English, visa procedures and other requirements did not scare me at all. On the contrary, you could say that I finally found goals in my life. After telling my parents about it, I received support and approval, which helped me cope with my doubts. I started my journey by studying the language. At that time my English level was low, because as a child I didn't see any point in studying it. But thanks to daily practice — watching films in the original language, foreign vloggers and changing the language in game settings — it helped me start learning well without losing interest or giving in to laziness. Of course, at first I didn't understand anything that was happening, but over time I was able to overcome these difficulties. Further study with a tutor consolidated my knowledge and helped improve it to the pre-intermediate level. Now I more or less understand speech and grammar and am able to interact with foreigners. Looking at my small achievements, I understand that this is no reason to stop; on the contrary, a huge motivation has appeared to move forward after my dreams.

Thanks to this program I hope to understand my purpose and place in this world. After all, our whole life is movement for the sake of our prosperous future. Just as in ancient times our nomadic ancestors changed their location for a better and more comfortable life, so I want to get to know this life better. By the way, our world is huge and filled with wonderful corners, each with its own unique features in terms of culture, nature and development. One of these places is the United States of America. With the help of this program I am eager to learn all the features of life in this country. I hope people, a new environment and my future job will help me with this. I would like to work in public places and establishments, while communicating with local residents. Thanks to this I will be able to improve my soft skills, such as working in a team, taking on responsibility, learning to adapt to any conditions and, most importantly, improving my level of English.

All these important skills will help me not only in building a successful career, but also in creating a wonderful future. The priceless experience gained will become a guide and teacher for my further actions. I want to add that meeting wonderful and kind people may well grow into a great strong friendship. After all, there will be young people on this program just like me. We will be united by our dreams, worries and great expectations far from our homeland. But by going through all these difficulties together, we will be able to create kind and strong relationships based on mutual understanding and caring for one another. Considering that we will all be from different countries, we will be able to tell and share about the culture and everyday life of our homelands. I want to show and tell how wonderful our country and people are. Besides, I will try to take with me a few packs of kurt and Kazakh chocolate. In addition, I will buy myself a hoodie from Qazaq Republic; I think this has already become part of our modern culture. Guys from Kazakhstan will be able to recognize me by this, which would be very nice. After all, homesickness will still be there, and my loved ones will be able to support me.

I want to add that the Work and Travel program is a wonderful opportunity for each of us. Tens of thousands of lucky people go to America every year thanks to this program. Each year the program becomes more and more popular and the number of applicants actively grows. Due to digitization more and more people learn various information, which simplifies the whole process and the path to implementation. This may also contribute to simplifying the entire visa system and application process. I think in the future the programs will become even more popular, giving everyone the opportunity. In addition, it is not excluded that other developed countries will have such a working exchange program. For example, in EU countries, East Asia and South America. Such programs have already begun to be created, for example Work and Travel in Germany. If I were in charge of exchanges, I would already begin implementing all these ideas.

In conclusion I want to say that I was very glad to participate in this contest from International Exchange Center. I want to thank the organizers for giving young people with big ambitions the opportunity to realize their dream. I am sure this will irrevocably change the life and future of the winner for the better.