Purple

There are things you don't notice around you and within yourself in the string of days monotonously replacing one another. When it seems that despite the implied movement, you are in a state of rest and stagnation, having crawled into your comfort zone, into a burrow. And it seems to me that the only way to figure out how things really are is to go on a journey and look at everything from a different angle, for example, through the prism of other people and cultures. This reveals and manifests meanings in a different light, as if the sun had illuminated stained glass.

I hold the opinion that everything that has ever happened to you was necessary, and I cannot say that I would have done anything differently. The fact that I have already done something provides enough material for reflection and thought, allows me to draw conclusions and learn from my mistakes, because the mistakes of others that I have encountered by hearsay usually turn out to be unconvincing. And I find it proper to seek my own path, perhaps sometimes thorny, and not necessarily full of happiness and peace, but my own, new and interesting. So, surely, I could just make a list of tips, life hacks, shortcuts, how to cut the path, but I don't think it can be really useful. Because until you try it yourself, get hurt, stop and finally think about why something is not happening the way you want, my advice will not be truly effective. The only thing I would definitely like to share is that I never regret open doors. Every time I make a decision, after a thousand doubts and searches, there is one last important step left, it requires all the courage and determination, when you are already standing on the threshold of your dream, you need to take a deep breath and just open the door. You will be able to check it yourself with ease by opening the next one, so you will at least know what is behind it, and there you can decide whether to enter or not.

Stereotypes and false ideas about this or that country are natural if everything you know about it you have gleaned from television, and maybe books, if you are lucky with the translation. The only thing that can help you figure out how things really are is to look at everything with your own eyes. As it turned out, I was also under the power of many prejudices generated by mass culture and propaganda. And after a summer spent there, I do not idealize America, like every country, it has its own problems that are worth working on. For example, the people I talked to are aware of the problem of nutrition, ecology, education, healthcare, the economic and political situation, and that they do not have enough high-quality sources of information and lack the ability to think critically. Also, despite the fact that they consider America the best place on Earth, they pay tribute to Russian figures of art and literature, and they are really sorry that it can be so cold, gloomy and dreary here, which feeds and inspires creation and creation in spite of it.

For example, I, without realizing it myself, kept waiting for this American polite smile to fade from their faces, and a grimace of contempt or malice to distort them. But, in fact, they are the same people, they are not strangers to disappointment and frustration, they are just used to hiding them behind this happy look so as not to upset the others. It seemed they thought that if they always smiled at each other and talked about their problems only to personal psychologists, hiding everything even from close friends, the difficulties would disappear by themselves, or at least would not spread further like a disease. We are used to saying everything directly, without hiding our feelings or suffering, which is why we are not inclined to smile so often. And when I was talking to my closest friend on Skype, she strictly forbade me to smile so openly by the time I returned home, joking that facial wrinkles would appear, which are characteristic of happy people, and not a deep fold of thought on the forehead.

I think we have a lot to share with each other, and I have learned a lot. And since this program was aimed at work and travel, I would like to note a few things different from what is happening in Russia. I learned that your work should be paid, if only because it is really logical and you are worthy of it. You made a conscious choice to dedicate yourself, your time and effort to some work, and it is natural that you will receive a worthy reward in return. People there did not try to deceive each other by all possible means and tricks for reasons of personal gain and self-interest. Although, of course, as everywhere else, you can be dull yourself, and then, perhaps, not seeing the whole picture in its entirety, you may think that you have been treated unfairly. But, one way or another, this does not lie at the heart of their capitalist relations, which have not yet exhausted themselves, and most likely, you are to blame for what happened. In fact, I was given all the opportunities for self-realization, I was helped to find my best qualities and provided with conditions for their improvement, and also drew my attention to my shortcomings, and helped to understand where they come from and what problem they are actually a consequence of.

I managed to tell only a small fraction of everything and, probably, I should have summed up some kind of result. But that would not be logical, it was as if I had been awakened from a deep sleep and I am continuing what I started, realizing summer dreams, they are becoming reality, and the world is again inspiring me to create and create something new. In addition, I keep in touch with all the people who have become dear to me in this short period of time, who could not fully believe that we are physically so far from each other, but so close in soul.