And so, the big day finally arrived. With hands trembling from excitement, I was at the appointed place at the appointed time.

The whole embassy process is, of course, not the most pleasant: all that anxiety, the queues, fingerprints, the interview...

But after an hour standing in the freezing cold, I was no longer trembling from excitement, but from the cold.

Finally, our turn came to enter the embassy, and inside, there it was again—another queue.

But apparently, because I was so nervous the whole time in line, standing there repeating what I would need to answer at that very window where they would decide "to be or not to be," the time flew by quite quickly.

And, oh, the light at the end of the tunnel! My turn finally came. Still nervous, trying to force a smile and put on a friendly face, I approached the window where a nice-looking, neat man was sitting.

He asked me a couple of questions related to my studies, the purpose of my trip, and where I plan to work, looked over my personal application, leaned closer to the window from his side, and with a smile said to me, "You are getting the visa."

And "OH HEAVENS! I AM GOING TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! Is this really happening to me and is it all real?!"—those were exactly the thoughts in my head at that moment. I walked out of the embassy with the widest smile on my face, and something very warm filled me up, along with an irresistible desire to stand up and scream at the top of my lungs with happiness.

It was truly wonderful!

And of course, the first thing I did was dial my mom's number with fingers already trembling from happiness...