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

I'm looking back now and starting to realize that I dreamed of YOU a couple of years ago. But back then, I woke up and thought it was so far away and impossible, and I forgot about it in an instant. But circumstances turned out differently, and now, in less than two months, I will be visiting YOU! I knew that my language skills were clearly lacking, but I wanted to be with YOU so much that I dedicated all my free time, and even some that wasn't, to YOU. For over three months, I thought about how to get that cherished ticket to YOU - the long-awaited visa.

And although my friend told me right away: "Lyuda, well, if Artyom from the left got it, then you'll definitely get it too." Artyom from the left is a guy who goes to English classes and apparently doesn't know much. We laughed for a long time imagining how he explained to the kids at the pool that they couldn't dive: "small child, big pool."

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

I won't describe all those long, unbearable three months when all I thought 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 7th. There were about 70 of us from my city and a few more guys from Yelets. The whole way, which took about 7-8 hours, I couldn't sleep, but for some reason, I wasn't as worried anymore. I just realized that everything would be fine; I was sure of it and didn't doubt for a second that I would come to YOU. By morning, I finally managed to close my eyes for a bit, and when I opened them, it was Moscow waking up and breaking through the darkness.

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

Around six in the morning, we pulled up to the embassy and went to a nearby open cafe to have some coffee and wake up completely. There was only one customer there, who had apparently had quite a bit to drink and was calling the poor bartender and waiter names in broken Russian. After a cup of coffee, I was fully awake. My friend and I returned to the bus and started waiting...

I watched how they lined the guys up, how everyone dressed for the interview, and how they behaved. And 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 exciting time began – the direct path to the consul.

The line moved very slowly; not all the windows were working at first, but little by little, the first lucky ones started running out. Entering the waiting room, the first thing I saw was a TV with cartoons, my favorite "Tom and Jerry." I kept thinking about which window to go to, and I really didn't want to go to window 10; there was a female consul there, and right before my eyes, she denied a couple of people a visa. And here I am standing in the last line, dreaming of getting to the cute consul at window 12, and my friend to the redhead at window 13. And that's exactly what happened!!! After asking a few standard questions, finding out my name, what my family thinks about the trip to the USA, and what year of university I'm in, I made a mistake and put my thumb instead of my index finger, smiled, apologized, and in response, I heard: "Have a nice summer in the USA"! I ran out of the embassy as fast as I could, knocking into everything and everyone on the way, realizing: that's it, now I'm definitely coming to YOU!

Be confident in yourself, in your strengths, believe in your dream, and everything will definitely work out for YOU!!!!