When you are on a big trip, there is not much time for long reflections and deep self-analysis. You try to quickly grab everything interesting that surrounds you: communicate a lot with interesting people, discover new places, and develop in various directions. And only later, when you return home, do you remember all the happiest (and not so happy) moments and realize that you have returned from the trip as a completely different person.
Today I want to share not what America opened up for me, but what I discovered for myself while being there:
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I LOVE FOOD
Probably, you expected the first conclusion to be global and serious... but no. America proved once again how many tasty things there are in the world: juicy Texas steak, sweet pancakes, fondant cakes, Maryland crabs, nachos with cheese sauce... In short, those on a diet definitely have nothing to do in this country. -
EVERYTHING IS IN YOUR HANDS
This conclusion is more like something deep and thoughtful. It is not a cliché phrase from self-motivation books, but a proven fact. If a little girl with a couple of bucks in her pocket traveled across the entire continent, then everything else is a piece of cake (if, of course, you stop constantly making excuses for yourself, with or without reason). -
MONEY IS NOT THE MAIN THING
A well-known truth that for some reason is often criticized. Here I would again write about a couple of bucks in my pocket and all that... but I won't. I'd rather tell you that the coolest memories came to me completely free: meeting amazing people who hosted us via Couchsurfing; swimming in the Gulf of Mexico on a private beach where we snuck in without anyone knowing; a trip to Philadelphia, which we were taken on by a music producer who luckily had a free seat in his car; amazing museums in Washington, which you can enter completely free... in short, everything best comes to our hands by itself if you are just attentive to the world around you. -
SIMPLE THINGS MAKE US HAPPY
This point is somewhat similar to the previous one, but here I would like to talk about something else. When we first arrived in Washington and, of course, immediately headed to the White House, we wandered for a long time in search of this very residence of Obama and other cool dudes, until we realized that the tiny building behind a small fence is, like, it. A similar story was with the Statue of Liberty, which in real life turned out to be many times smaller than they try to present it to us. But I was surprised by an ordinary ceiling in one of the Las Vegas casinos, which is dotted with huge bright plastic flowers. Or a convenient bike path on the way to the ocean. In short, this point is not about money, but about the fact that pleasant little things sometimes please much more than advertised pretentious clichés. -
EVERYTHING WILL COME THROUGH HONEST WORK
Of course, even among my friends there will be a good dozen people who will say that "if you don't cheat, you won't live" (in a soft and not so soft form). Nevertheless, I believe that not a single dollar (even at the new exchange rate!) is worth an honest word and a good deed. If you live by your own laws and do not betray yourself, everything will work out for you. -
HELP CAN COME AT THE MOST UNEXPECTED MOMENT FROM THE MOST UNEXPECTED PEOPLE
Finding yourself on another continent, you suddenly realize how many friends you actually have (hint: fewer than you think). It was sad, but instructive. It happened that the closest ones let you down, and people you barely know saved you. A low bow to those who did not forget about me during my few months of absence in Russia; a low bow to those who supported me in America when at the very beginning I cried because of my English or was very sick; a low bow to my aunt from New York who saved me and my friends; the lowest bow to my family, without whom this trip would not have happened at all. In short, the people I am grateful to deserve a separate note. Or even a book. -
YOUTH IS A STATE OF MIND
After seeing 95-year-old grandmas and grandpas in America driving Bugattis and Maybachs, with a lot of tattoos and piercings, shamelessly sending their grandchildren to summer camps on the other coast and freely traveling the world... it becomes simply funny to me when my peers start complaining about approaching old age. -
DISTANCE IS NOT AN OBSTACLE
One of the most important life lessons. Let's go simple: the 21st century is phones, the internet, various communication programs, Skype, and, finally, letters. A good friend of mine wrote and sent me a letter (a real, paper one) when he couldn't reach me. And my dad would wake up in the middle of the night to manage to talk to me before I ran to work (in the state of Delaware, where I lived for a long time, it is 8 hours less). So, whoever wants to, looks for opportunities, whoever doesn't want to, looks for reasons. -
WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT
I am grateful to fate that it gave me a chance to meet guys from all corners of the planet: America, Mexico, Brazil, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Ukraine, China... A representative from these countries has their own little world in their head, which consists of mentality, the country's history, character, habits, and even what they prefer to eat for breakfast. By communicating with very different people, you take a step towards becoming a Citizen of the World - free from complexes, boundaries, and stereotypes. -
HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO LEARN FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND TRAVEL
I would like to note that it does not matter how big a trip you are taking: an hour and a half on a minibus to the university every morning or a multi-month trip to another part of the world. Each of them is a step forward on the path to a big goal. The world is so big that everyone will definitely find an ideal place in it just for themselves.
