The first week of work was tough. Because I wanted to walk around Manhattan, sunbathe on the beach, visit famous museums—in short, do anything but work!! You are thousands of miles away from home, you are happy, but work took up so much of my time that I only slept, ate incredibly delicious food at work, and worked...

Yes, of course, there was a plus that we could eat almost anything, these delicacies... mmm.... Soon, though, I got so tired of it all that I just wanted a regular sandwich!! These snails, crabs, shrimp in fifty types of sauces, pineapples stuffed with fruit, cakes of unseen sizes and gorgeous flavors, and a sea of other things I had never tried in my life and could never pronounce the names of.... This is not for us, not for simple students!!!))))

I will tell you honestly that the job of a waiter at weddings, birthdays, and similar events is hard! You have to carry incredibly heavy trays, constantly run to the kitchen and back to the hall, from the kitchen to another kitchen, from one hall to another where more waiters are needed. The clients were fed so much that we only had time to run with trays, bringing new dishes and clearing away old ones... which they hadn't even touched. The workday could vary from 8 to 14 hours; once I was at work for 17 hours... but that was in a different place.... When I remember how much I got for it, I feel sick...

When the last guest leaves, you still have to clean up the hall... you know, it's not easy to clean up a hall for 350 people!!! And if you're really unlucky, you have to set the tables for tomorrow's events—although they are already today's—and serve them! But you get used to it. I don't know why, but even though I woke up every day thinking I didn't want to go anywhere, I still went to work with joy. Maybe someone just turned something on inside me, like a joy button??

One time I spilled hot soup on a guest... splashed a little... the old lady got so angry... I quickly disappeared from that table)) later the other waiters told me that no one would scold me; here, even if waiters break dishes, no one deducts it from your pay)) that's good, because I did break a few dishes, but I wasn't planning on paying for them.

It bothered me that I didn't even see my friends because they worked in the morning or didn't work at all—that is, they left when I was still sleeping, and I came home when they were already asleep.

No, the work was often fun; we always joked and had a good time, but the first paycheck made me wonder how to live on this money??? For 34 hours a week, I only got 200 dollars; they deducted 60 dollars in taxes!!! People, work for cash, because you need the money now, while you are in America, not later when you are in Russia and get all the taxes back!! Of course, it often doesn't depend on you.

But, you know, I got good experience!

In the photo, we are returning from work; there was a wedding, and they let me take the wedding bouquet)) and the Hawaiian beads, they were thrown around as accessories)))