I was in 10th grade when I first heard about the Work and Travel USA program. My English tutor spoke about her trip with such enthusiasm, and in that very moment, a little girl had a dream that took about 5 years to come true. I only managed to go to America after finishing my 3rd year of university. With excitement and anticipation, I told my friends about it, and, catching my dream, they decided to go too. There were three of us: me (Alena), Karina, and Anastasia. So, three young women, who had practically never traveled outside of Russia, set off on their first big independent journey into a world of everything new, unusual, and amazing...

New York

Our plane lands at a New York airport, our eyes greedily looking out the porthole windows; it is getting dark. Seeing a guy on the plane in an INTEREXCHANGE branded t-shirt (thanks to CMO for this), we immediately introduce ourselves and head together to the Hotel Pennsylvania, located in the city center. The guy's name is Pavel; I am glad we met, and we still keep in touch. We spend the next two days in New York, getting to know the city better and better, sightseeing, and walking around Times Square. Blinded by digital billboards, shocked by such a large flow of people at night, people dressed up and not so much, cartoon characters and movie heroes trying to get us to take pictures with them for money, we walked with our mouths open, unable to fully realize that we were on the other side of the globe, that finally, each of our dreams had begun to come true.

When I was 12, I had a friend named Sasha; we were the same age, but unfortunately, he had no parents and grew up in an orphanage. One day I found out that he had been adopted by an American family and he left for America; we never saw each other again. 9 years have passed since then... And now, being so far from our homeland, I see an adult, handsome, statuesque blonde man in front of me. I run to meet him, hug him, and my heart is pounding wildly; I have never been separated from anyone for so long in my life, and I doubt I can find the right words to describe everything I felt at that moment. We spend the whole day walking around the city, visiting the Statue of Liberty, climbing the Empire State Building, and our happiness knows no bounds... But the time comes to part ways, and we promise each other that we will definitely meet again this summer.

North Carolina, Grandy

So our independent life and working days began. We live in a small town called Grandy; I would rather call it a village. The picture I constantly saw in movies, this real rural America, I was able to fully feel and soak up in Grandy. Waking up in the mornings, I always looked out the window in search of our morning "guests" - rabbits and squirrels. This was the first thing I fell in love with in America – you can very often meet animals right on your property or on the road. Moving on to the description of the work, I want to say that our employers were a kind, responsive elderly couple who ran their own fruit, vegetable, and pastry shop on the highway, on the way to the Outer Banks resort; Americans loved to stop by their shop. We worked 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. We constantly dedicated our weekends to exploring new surroundings, went to the lighthouse, to the Wright brothers memorial, went hang gliding, bought clothes in malls, and definitely warmed up in the sun on the beach. North Carolina has wonderful, clean, and uncrowded beaches, some of the most comfortable I have ever visited. The water in the ocean was warm, and we would "catch" the waves with squeals. But there was one danger: sharks, that was who we were most afraid of in the world and we tried not to swim far.

One evening, while riding our bikes, we arrived at a house whose owners had several horses and a donkey. We stopped, mesmerized, and we wanted so much to touch them, to pet them. The owner was mowing the lawn at the time and was wearing headphones; he didn't notice us, and we jumped and waved our arms with all our might to get his attention. Finally, seeing us, he came over and we introduced ourselves; it turned out that his wife Wendy loves horses very much and therefore keeps them. She does charity work and often takes children for rides on her animals, and they also host off-site parties where the main character is everyone's favorite – George the donkey. The second phenomenon that struck me in America is that people are very open and always ready to talk to you and help you. Wendy kindly offered to let us ride her horses the next day, and, stocking up on carrots, we went to her again. I want to express my huge gratitude to this family for helping children from disadvantaged families, for bringing so much good into this world. We still keep in touch with them and they invite us to come visit them again.

After living in Grandy for more than a month, we began to miss socializing with our peers, for everyone we talked to was 40 years old or older. We saw on the internet how other guys participating in the same program were having fun at parties, and we didn't even have the opportunity to get to such a party because there were no guys our age in the area. Thoughts began to visit us that we wouldn't be able to live like this for another 2.5 months; after all, we came here for emotions, new friends, and adventures...

Moving

"Adventures? You wanted adventures? Please, take them," said a voice from above.

After talking to our employers about our move, we saw their upset faces, and from then on, the attitude towards us changed. There were three days left to work, and the atmosphere at work was heating up more and more. The last working day ended, the next morning we already had bus tickets bought from another city, and, I won't describe how it all happened, but that night we ended up alone on the street with suitcases, betrayed by our acquaintances, hated by our employers, with nowhere to go to sleep, not knowing how we would spend that night. Oh, how glad I was that I was not alone, that I was with my friends, and after a moment of despair and shock, my head quickly started working; we tried to figure out where to go that night. We found a group of guys with whom we later went to our first American party in a huge outdoor pool. We met some very good guys who also helped us get to the bus station the next day.

Washington D.C.

While still working in Grandy, we once got to talking with a customer named Mary, who told us that she was from Washington and mentioned that if we were passing through, we should definitely stop by to see her. We were heading to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, and since Washington was on the way, we planned our route through it and arranged to stay overnight with our acquaintance Mary. She met us by car and immediately took us to show the city. All the museums and sights of this city are in the very center, which is very convenient for us tourists. It was already starting to get dark and the city was enveloped in such romance that I even made a wish, but that's a secret. In my memory, Washington remained a very clean, cultural, modern, and beautiful city. People here dress with taste; we constantly stared at passersby, be it a girl going for a night run with her dog or a statuesque man in a business suit with a briefcase in his hand, walking home. The atmosphere of the city is very pleasant; I would definitely like to return here. Mary turned out to be a very cheerful and advanced mom; she told us funny stories from her life or, for example, how she bought a fake ID for her underage daughter so that she could visit nightclubs. Every time we stayed with someone, we would arm-wrestle over who would get the more comfortable bed, and this time luck was on my side; I slept on a royal bed, and my "guard" – Mary's dog – slept on a rug under me. I love animals very much, especially dogs, so that night I was incredibly happy and, feeling safe, I fell asleep...

New Hampshire, Hampton Beach

We followed to this very city because we had acquaintances from Russia there who, just like us, came through the Work and Travel program. They helped and supported us in every way. At first, we had to live in a motel, in a small room with four people, including a boy from Kazakhstan, because it was cheaper to pay for the rather expensive accommodation in a motel. It was impossible to find housing on the ocean shore, where the very epicenter of all events and activities of Hampton Beach is located, because there were "a dime a dozen" visiting students. And finally, on the third day of our job search, we were lucky enough to get a job in a small private hotel, all three of us in one place. I consider this event the starting point of our entire fun summer American life. The employers were a husband and wife with an amazing love story. He was 27 and, being the owner of his hotel, he also accepted foreign guys for summer work, just like now. One day, a 20-year-old girl from Ireland arrived at his work, who subsequently became his wife. We had a large team; there were guys from Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, and Americans themselves. In general, it turned out to be a rich Cultural Exchange, which we lacked in North Carolina. Chuck and Jackie – that was the names of our employers – treated everyone very tenderly and took care of us like parents, drove us to stores, constantly told stories, joked, and also threw parties. I really loved those evenings when Chuck sat by his hotel in the evenings with a glass of red wine in his hands and amused us with his stories, and we, pricking up our ears, listened to him with curiosity.

This is how our new life in Hampton Beach flowed. We were settled in a house right on the ocean shore. I will always remember that place with warmth in my soul, those sensations when you fall asleep to the sounds of the boundless, mighty ocean. Even while living in a motel at the beginning of our arrival, we met a very amazing person – Diego. This guy agreed to take us to the beach and even tried to force money on us for food! Such a cheerful, open, incredible, and kind person we met on our way. He was from Boston and often took us there for excursions. He would have made a good guide. He came to Hampton Beach to rest from the city bustle for about a month. How many adventures there were when we went for walks with him! But a month passed, and it was time for him to leave; we didn't want to part with him at all, because the four of us had become such good friends, and I remember how I hugged him that last night and tears flowed like a river. I wouldn't have thought that in such a short time I could get so attached to someone.

When the season was coming to an end, and there was already little work at the hotel, we had a lot of free time, then we planned a trip to Niagara Falls. This amazing place turned out to be the most beautiful natural phenomenon I have ever seen. The water falling from a height, merging with the rays of the sun, formed not one, but several rainbows at once. You sail on a ferry along it, you are all wet, you want to capture it all on camera to remember it later on cold winter days, but you can't, because everything will get wet. Therefore, I tried with all my might to store everything I saw in my memory in as much detail as possible, and I want to say that I succeeded. I can see it all before my eyes right now.

Final trip

I won't describe all the events that happened in the last 10 days before departure; I will try to describe as briefly as possible the cities we managed to visit.

Los Angeles

We flew from Boston to Los Angeles for 5 hours. Los Angeles turned out to be too big a city; we didn't even expect it to be so huge. In this city, it is best to move around in your own car rather than by public transport, because when exploring the city, you have to cover significant distances. Of course, we visited the famous HOLLYWOOD, the Walk of Fame; an amazing view of the city opens up from Runyon Canyon, and if you are in Los Angeles, be sure to visit this place.

Las Vegas

OoO! This city is a fairy tale! There are no sights as such here, but there is the city center, which is full of fashionable hotels, luxury cars, expensive restaurants, and casinos. We stayed at the Stratosphere Hotel, on the 125th floor of which there is an observation deck, and two floors higher there are attractions. Can you imagine, attractions on the 127th floor of a hotel! This city, I think, leaves a strong impression on everyone; it practically never sleeps.

San Francisco

Immediately comes to mind the song familiar to everyone to the point of pain, "If you are going to San Francisco...". An atmosphere of calmness, romance, and freedom reigns in this city. The city is surrounded by the San Francisco Bay. The view of the Golden Gate Bridge alone is worth it, and Lombard Street is generally striking in its winding nature.

Summing up, I want to address you, the reader of my blog. If you are still in doubt about whether or not to go to America through the program, my advice to you: don't even hesitate, go! For you will hardly acquire so much life experience, so many unforeseen and amazing moments, friends from all corners of the planet anywhere else at the same time. I have noticeably improved my level of English; it has become easy to communicate with native speakers, although at the beginning of the trip I barely understood what they were saying.

The world is so diverse, and everything in it is unique, and each participant of this program has their own story, not like any other. Have a good journey, my dear reader, create your own new story!