On days when I only had half a day off, my friends and I usually went to the beach or attended events for tourists like the Air Show, Miss America, etc. But things could have been much more interesting if I had turned 21, as I could have visited all the city's most famous casinos, but at that time I was only 20. Since I was working two jobs, it was very hard to coordinate a travel schedule, so as soon as we had overlapping days off, my friends and I would try to leave somewhere immediately—either to nearby Ocean City, New York, or Philadelphia. The latter will forever remain in my heart; there are so many museums in that city where you can walk endlessly, admiring the canvases of famous artists—the Art Museum alone is worth it! Despite the skyscrapers and the endless flow of traffic, the atmosphere in the city is calm; people on the streets play giant chess and checkers, moving the pieces with their whole bodies. There are also many universities and historical monuments in the city.

By mid-August, I started slacking off and quit my second job to travel and sunbathe more. It so happened that a friend of mine had acquaintances living and working in Connecticut, and she suggested I go there for a couple of days. Of course, I agreed, especially since I always enjoyed planning routes. We decided to go through New York by train, so we had to get to Grand Central. Fortunately, it's located a few blocks from the bus station, and we found it quickly (IF YOU ARE AT GRAND CENTRAL, BE SURE TO LOOK AT THE CEILING; IT DEPICTS A STARRY SKY WITH ZODIAC SIGNS). Upon reaching the town of Clinton, I was a bit disappointed; it seemed very boring to me, and the water was colder because the state was further north.

After returning and working for about another week, we planned a trip with friends to NIAGARA FALLS. The tour was organized by a Russian guy in a minivan. It took us about 8 hours to get there, but we couldn't really sleep the whole time because it was very cramped. And so we arrived, paid for admission—it's worth noting that the admission fee also includes free access to the museum, the aquarium, and most importantly, YOU CAN RIDE THE FERRY!!!! As soon as we saw that beautiful view of Canada and Niagara Falls, all our fatigue drowned in the Mariana Trench!!! My vocabulary isn't enough to describe all the feelings of delight we experienced there! True, there were some funny moments; for example, there are a lot of Canadian flags in that place, and at some point, there are so many that my friend declares: "We crossed the border into Canada, we're going to get arrested now and have huge problems." I try to calm her down in every way: "Canada is in the other direction, you can't just take and cross the border like that," but she doesn't calm down. As luck would have it, we got a little lost, and there was no one around. Finally, having miraculously gotten out of there, to calm my friend down, I ask a police officer: "Where is the border with Canada?" to which he replies: "It's on the bridge, and you still have to go through passport control before that." At that moment, I turn to my friend and ask with a touch of sarcasm: "Well? Did you visit Canada? Now you won't even have anything to brag about!"

My work permit was expiring, and there were 1.5 weeks left until my flight, so I decided to visit my parents' friends and spend the remaining time with them. They lived near Washington, so we agreed to meet in Washington and walk around the local attractions on the National Mall and, of course, see the White House! Of course, it's impossible to walk around everything in one day; we didn't go into the museums (for the record, they are very interesting, and most of them are free), and it just so happened that vandals had spray-painted the Lincoln Memorial the day before, so in all the photos, there are workers cleaning it...

So, I spent the next 1.5 weeks relaxing in a small town where the only entertainment was shopping. There were a lot of outlet stores like TJ-MAXX and MARSHALLS, and I couldn't pass up $7 CK shoes, $15 MK blouses, etc. Returning home, I had two 24kg suitcases, 10kg of carry-on luggage, a separate backpack, and a laptop, and I dragged all this by myself from Washington to JFK!!! But thoughts about this didn't bother me; I was very worried that I never made it to the West Coast and never saw my dream—the Golden Gate Bridge in SF!!! (Probably, this was due to a number of reasons: lack of money, fear, and besides, none of my friends were planning to go there, or I couldn't go with them during that period). Only after checking in my luggage did I realize what a journey I had made, what experience I had gained, and that in just 20 hours I would see my beloved and dear people, whom I had missed so much all this time!