Then.

I decided right away that I would do everything myself. This decision was made very quickly and, probably, rashly, because I wanted to do everything beautifully and with minimal costs. "Greed ruins the friar!" I realized later.))) Honestly, I don't remember second-by-second what I did! It was all in moments: the office, the interview there (a la "What's up and where are you working and studying"), not difficult at all, but a bit nerve-wracking, filling out forms (oh, how I hate them), running around the bank, because everything is for the first time and you don't know a damn thing about which window to go to, where the cashier is, what an account is, etc. (I lost a lot of calories))), but what I really remembered was the job search and the interview at the embassy!

Work. Putting everything off until March 1st (i.e., submitting a job offer) and hoping for a friend who promised to "hustle" with finding the previous one, I started doing all this myself somewhere in mid-February. Digging around on the internet and registering on j1jobs.com, I thought it wasn't that scary. I even got a call from American Pools asking why I wanted to work for them and specifically as a lifeguard at a pool, and I replied: "...uh... What? ... uh... Who?... I just wanna...!!!" I HUNG UP, burning with a little shame inside and asking myself, WHAT WILL HAPPEN THERE?

Understanding English-speaking people isn't always easy. Especially if you get my future supervisor Javan (that's our diminutive for Javan). He speaks very fast, swallowing endings and shortening some words (for example, Bro is Brother, but I didn't know that in my first days))). You get used to all this over time and even develop an American accent that you don't notice, but your friends in Russia will notice it immediately.)))

I got distracted, so... At American Pools, they forgot about me, just like I forgot about them! From the j1jobs site, only words came: "no vacancies now, we'll contact you when there are." I sat for three nights sending my resume to everyone and to all states. Just something... All this was wildly stressful and scary.

March 1st is already around the corner. I go to the office and say: "no offer yet, but it's almost ready!", to which they reply: "Ok. Just hurry up!"

Ha, how smart I am))) I'm lying... and not blushing!!! At least I cheered myself up!

One day a miracle happened. A message appeared that there was an offer, you just need to transfer money to such and such an account and everything will be 100%. I read forums, should I send money or not? Opinions, as usual, 50/50. Ok, I decided to send it, there was no other choice. I corresponded with the employer, sent $150 for two offers (for myself and a friend), received them, took them to the office, and they weren't confirmed... what the f...??? I wrote to the employer, he said he would figure it out... in the end, it was a scam. I had already gone to the consulate (more on that below), but there was no offer.

In the end, I paid another $150 to the center so they would give me an offer, it was confirmed, all this happened in April-June, so my departure was postponed from June 11 to 17, but I STILL WENT!

CONCLUSION. IT IS VERY HARD TO LOOK FOR A JOB THE FIRST TIME BY YOURSELF!!! )))

Embassy. People talk more about this and scare you. YES, it's scary, YES, you are very worried and your heart beats like in an exam, but that's only on the surface. A month before the moment X (and you can't call it anything else, because if you don't get a visa, you stay home with all your money, except for $140, which is called the consular fee), I made up all possible questions that I could think of and which, I hoped, they might ask me there. (Family, studies, why I want to go to the states, were there friends there...) I knew all the answers to them and added a little "improvisation" to each with light English words and phrases so that the consul would understand - I KNOW ENGLISH!)))

In the end, we waited a long time on the street and got cold. We left all our things, except for the papers needed inside, on the street! Hence the ADVICE - TAKE AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE WITH YOU! Even though someone is watching it, still... you worry about your cell phone)))

They let us in by list and a few people at a time. They "patted down" everything there, took off my belt because of a small iron buckle on it (or did I take it off on the street?) and... let us inside, I think through 3 huge and heavy doors! Then you sit behind the person who was before you on the list, move in a snake-like line through the rows of chairs (your turn is coming UUUUU... scary?))) Everyone before me got visas, except for those two who were before that girl behind whom I was))) And she and I went together to different windows...

They took fingerprints (this is a separate thing, you'll find out about it yourself, and then share))), looking at my passport and simultaneously sorting through some papers, through an ARMORED glass (someone said later) the embassy representative asked... "How are you?... Where and what are you studying?... Were there friends in the states? (why did I blurt out - YES)... What do they say about the states? (here I had to think on the fly, I didn't have an answer to THIS question in advance)))... What about your job?"

THAT'S IT. All questions in order. At the end he said: "Thank you and good luck during your stay in the USA!" I was stunned... that's it? Probably one minute passed. I was walking back to the "waiting room" and several dozen people were staring at me questioningly. The coordinator asked:

• Well?
• Everything is fine!
  Smiling, I answered and heard the girl standing in front of me behind me. She said that she got a little confused, the embassy representative asked her how many squirrels she saw in the states? She forgot that word, and then remembered - SQUIRREL. In the end, they laughed, she got a visa and I never saw her again.

They can ask about anything, so maybe I was lucky!!! Everything happened so fast that an hour and a half later I was already at the university and sitting in a philosophy practice class)))

Now.

This year I had to spend an hour filling out forms. Run around and pay the second installment (again in a different bank))) The first installment will be taken from my taxes that I paid in the states, and now I am returning.

There were no interviews either in the office or at the consulate. Promotion. Those who were in the USA in 2008 were given a visa without interviews this year, as long as you didn't do anything illegal that year.

Even the job offer that my former manager from the states sent me, as it turned out, they didn't even look at, but I know that they will ask me for it at the airport, so it wasn't in vain that I paid $0 for it $$$$))) The manager and supervisors were very cool, sociable and friendly, especially Javan!!!