July

...the hottest time, without a doubt.

Beyonce, Jay Z. For me, this couple is the gold standard of relationships and wonderful musicians. On July 7th, I was lucky enough to attend their concert in Baltimore, but let's take things in order!

After my birthday, which went great, I didn't know what to do with myself or where to go with friends for a week, and then I saw online that they were organizing a US tour called "On the run". After Googling a bit more information, we didn't think twice and went to the student center that organized such trips, and "Hallelujah", a couple of days later we were sitting at the Beyonce, Jay Z concert at MTBankStadium, which holds over 70,000 spectators, and it was completely packed; I had never seen such excitement in my life. It was simply unreal: the show, the fans who danced to every song for two and a half hours. It felt like I was at the biggest party of my life, helicopters occasionally distracted my attention, twilight had already turned into night, but the concert was only gaining momentum. I was just happy that day, despite everything; in those hours, only one thing existed for me: just this concert. How I didn't want it to end.

Waking up at 6 AM, I set my alarm for 5 minutes later again, then 5 minutes later again, and again. At 7, I jumped up and realized with a shout that I was almost late for the bus for the trip to Washington and the football match between Manchester United (MU) and Inter. My cell phone shows July 23rd, and I thought that I had been in the States for exactly 2 months, but had seen very little so far. But a couple of seconds later, this thought flew away somewhere and common sense prevailed; that's right, I went to brush my teeth and quickly get ready for the bus. Taking my bike, I pedaled with all my might, and only then did I really wake up. After going over another bump, I realized that I could easily ride without using my hands. Although a month and a half ago, after an incident, I was thinking about giving my bike to someone and walking. I made it on time, took my seat, and greeted my new acquaintances; by that time, I was already familiar with students from almost every country in Europe (well, if you asked everyone where they were from), who were also mostly going to the MU-Inter match rather than the Washington tour. After 3 hours of riding in sleep mode, we were already walking through museums that stretched along the main avenue of Washington. "A very beautiful and interesting city in terms of its architecture," I caught myself thinking for the umpteenth time, entering the Lincoln Memorial, having visited the height of the Monument, from which, by the way, you can see both the White House in all its glory and the Pentagon, just like in the movies; in the distance, I even made out Georgetown, or so it seemed to me. In any case, this city shows the fullness of the architectural and cultural heritage of the American people. Enriched and charged with positive energy for the whole day, closer to 6 PM our bus headed towards the stadium called "FedExField stadium".

Rooney, Nani, De Gea, Chicharito, and even Vidic, who had already moved from MU to Inter by that time, I had only seen all these football players exclusively on TV, and now I am sitting in a stadium with an audience of 61,736 football fans just like me, and I am just happy and enjoying the game. Since this was a kind of non-decisive game, the teams didn't really go on the attack, they defended more, only Manchester's counter-attacks made the audience stand up. The game came to an end, and I thought that the 0-0 score was the end of the game, but after the final whistle, people didn't go home, they stayed in their seats. That's when I wondered why I was the only one who stood up and immediately sat back down, waiting for something, not understanding what would happen next. And then everything is simple, according to the rules of the Guinness Cup, if the score remains a draw, the teams start a penalty shootout. I realized this when I saw it. Manchester won that series with a 2-goal lead - 5-3. I couldn't help but buy a souvenir scarf from this match, so after standing in line for about 20 minutes, I added to my collection.

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" - the title of an American TV series. On July 23rd, I was lucky enough to see it for myself. Again 6 o'clock and again a new page of my own travel history. This time, I prepared for the trip to Philly in advance, I bought a ticket 2 weeks early and waited for this Wednesday and my well-deserved day off to use this day to the fullest. A backpack, a couple of bananas, and orange juice in it - this combination became my travel food, so on the way to Philly, I didn't reinvent the wheel and took my usual "travel food". I arrived exactly at 10 AM, bought a city map at the nearest souvenir shop, and set off in search of adventure. Since I had time until 6 PM, naturally I wanted to walk around everything I could manage in those 8 hours. Looking around, it seemed for a moment that I was in New York; these high-rise building landscapes and not-so-wide streets reminded me too much of NY. I started with the line for the cultural heritage site, the Liberty Bell. "One of the main symbols of the American struggle for independence from Great Britain - its ringing summoned the city's residents to the announcement of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 8, 1776." Afterward, I visited the Guest Center because I heard from people standing in line that that was where I could purchase a free ticket to visit Independence Hall. By the way, most museums and historical sites in Philadelphia are absolutely free to visit; you just need to come to the Guest Center and report your desire to visit this or that cultural heritage site, and there are many of them in this sunny city. The day really turned out to be very sunny and hot. A lot of tourists in the summer want to visit this city, somewhat similar to NY, that was the opinion I formed while I was walking to Independence Hall. Another line, another wait before entering. The wait was replaced by interesting stories from the guide and showings of the rooms where politicians held meetings more than two hundred years ago. Leaving this independence building, I started walking around the city, I just wanted to get lost and discover new places, besides historical structures. Most likely, the lines tired me out. For two hours, I wandered around the city, buying various souvenirs and paying attention to the beauties of this historically rich city. I remembered, Rocky was filmed right here! And the song from the movie started playing in my head, and with it came the desire to find those steps that Stallone climbed and descended more than once. From the place where I started my journey, it was about an hour's walk to Rocky, if you believe the map. "Not bad, worth a walk," I thought. An hour later, another line, only now people were standing in a chaotic order and taking photos or selfies with the Rocky statue. My imagination helped me plunge into the movie, and now I am running up the steps, and in my head is the same warlike song from the movie....