August 11, 2009

In the glorious city of Tomsk, there lived a student. He finished school, entered university, studied for three years, and then a thought crossed his mind: why not go to America for the summer?

Why not? After all, that's exactly what the Work and Travel USA program was invented for!

He asked his parents for 2000 dollars, finished his exams, and set off to conquer America. Arriving at the end of May with his job offer as a loader, he didn't end up working because loaders weren't needed. He called the agency, and they found him another job – selling ice cream in the wonderful state of Virginia.

Things started off okay there, and for a few days, he rode his bike along the beaches of the resort town of Virginia Beach. But then he managed to fall and scrape his knee so badly that he couldn't even walk for the first few days. So, he preferred to lie in bed. He stayed there for 2 weeks, but when his leg healed, he decided he didn't want to sell ice cream anymore, so he set off to look for work in New York.

But even there, things weren't as simple as he thought. What kind of work? He only managed to find housing on the third day. And it turned out that in Brooklyn, rent is usually paid monthly, not weekly. He even had to borrow a Benjamin Franklin from an acquaintance to pay, and he had very little money left in his pocket – enough for the subway and food for about 5 days, so he had to borrow another hundred from his parents.

Things got even harder – it turned out that Manhattan didn't need J-1 Visa students. And then it became clear that in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and even Queens – nobody needed J-1 Visa students at all. The only option was to rent a bike and work as a rickshaw driver. But he didn't want the bike. Apparently, the incident in Virginia stayed in his memory for a long time. In the end, he wasn't hired anywhere, not even as a dishwasher. Although, it must be said, in a week, he only visited about 30 restaurants. The rest of the time he spent lying in bed or sitting in the library.

Completely desperate, he decided he had to go home. But even there, a difficulty arose. After all, to change the ticket date, you have to pay a hundred dollars. He had to ask his parents for money again. And he had to pay back his debt to his acquaintance. The nearest possible flight was in a week. So he had to lie in bed again, sit in the library, and eat a pack of 99-cent pasta a day.

And so, on August 7, he flew away. Bringing back only debts and a headache for his parents after two and a half months. He never swam in the ocean, didn't see the Statue of Liberty, and didn't go up the Empire State Building. He didn't bring a single gift for his friends or his girlfriend. Nothing but a stupid impression of his trip. #WorkAndTravelUSA #USA