About work and Americans

Before leaving for America, I imagined that I would work all summer, going out at most on Fridays to some local bar with two or three roommates, and also swimming in the ocean a couple of times a week. In reality, it turned out that for three months I felt like I was on vacation (provided that I worked one job for about 6 hours a day, 6 days a week). The same cannot be said for those who worked multiple jobs, having free time only after 11 PM, considering that they had to get up for work again at 8 AM. The choice is up to everyone. It depends on goals, needs, and desires. There is no problem finding a second job (or even a third).

I would like to note that I applied for America through the International Exchange Center in Saint Petersburg. I chose the full service option, which implies that the program sponsor, InterExchange, finds an employer for you. That is how I received my cherished job offer at a company that sells the most delicious frozen yogurt in America - sweetFrog Premium Frozen Yogurt!

I always (well, almost always) went to work with pleasure, for which I thank my beloved colleagues from Turkey (Ayşe and Gökay) and the wonderful atmosphere thanks to the customers – many stories happened every day!

Last working day with Ayşe

Evening with Gökay before his departure

It was the working hours at sweetFrog that helped me understand what a modern American is like, which I will talk about next.

Americans love to chat. You won't get away with a simple "hello" or "how are you doing"! They are always interested in where you are from, noting your "pretty accent," constantly smiling and joking, and often saying kind wishes to you as a person who has come to work and learn about the culture of their country. Yes, Americans are truly a friendly nation, with a constant smile on their faces and an arsenal of pleasant phrases for every day, which are customary to say to each other in a store, bank, transport, on the street, at work, at the post office – everywhere! Thus, being polite, sociable, and always smiling is the key to not feeling too much like a stranger in a foreign country.

At first, it is difficult, but soon you get used to the peculiarities of the mentality and feel as if you are living in some fairy-tale world where everyone smiles, wishes you a good day, the sun is always shining, and all that is missing is a colorful rainbow:

• kids from the house next door offer you lemonade on the way to work;

• a woman reading the morning newspaper on her balcony shouts after you that you have beautiful shoes;

• a man lets you go ahead in the checkout line at the store, seeing that you only have one bottle of milk in your hand;

• a colleague is ready to drive you home before going on her shift, since it started raining hard just as your shift ended, and it takes at least 20 minutes to walk home.

All this is one of my days in America, in the city of Virginia Beach. Of course, you get used to good things quickly.