My experience of Work and Travel program

So, that happened. The consul congratulated me and wished to spend a great time in America. First it was like a boom, I just felt that smile, which reached my both ears and almost went further to my nape. There was a song “Hallelujah” of the Leonard Cohen playing in my head and the butterflies in my belly were about to break free. But that was only the start. I feel like everybody knows this sweet feeling while packaging clothes and other stuffs and getting ready to fly away to anywhere. Nevertheless my experience was really different from my expectations. Let`s just make it clear.

The euphoria was chasing me until I realized that I actually arrived in America. I was alone, just by myself in the totally different World. Although I was warned about the confusion of arriving to another country, I got lost 100% more. Thanks to the JFK airports workers (and my language skills) I found a bus to go to the next airport and fly to my town. When one of my future colleagues met me at the airport to pick me up and bring to my apartments, there was not much difference between me and a regular fish: big rolled eyes, fussy actions, a short memory and a breathless silence. His continuous attempts to pull at least one word out of me were failed. I think, that he asked the God for blessing my heart afterward. I tried to speak once, when realized what happened to me but 30 hours of flight didnt let me do so. Fortunately everything finished smoothly and I got to my apartment quickly.

The first day of my work was even more confusing. I went to my job and met my future co - workers. Everybody was really nice, but the problem was I didnt know anything. I was working in the same place for the whole summer, and it was a general store. And there are some problems I faced during my first day of work: First of all I didnt know how to count American coins, so when one of my colleagues asked me to change some quarters I asked about who were those quarters. Secondly, I had to try so hard to memorize the locations of all the products on the shelves. And when a costumer asked me about some brand or a thing and I didnt have any idea where it is, I used to say that we dont have such a product in our store. I felt bad about lying but that was the only thing I could do, because I was ashamed to ask my colleagues for a help. Finally, my tongue was betraying me every time I tried to talk to someone. Of course those were silly problems, but at my first working day after a long flight the day before, all that has provoked me to feel so weak. Surprisingly, my first day was the hardest one.

After some time, when I got used to everything I started to breathe with enjoyment and happiness. I was observing literally everything. I tried to notice each tiny detail, the way people communicate, the way they do things, the words they use, I just wanted to understand them perfectly. My store was standing right on the coast line, so when it was my break I used to sit on the wooden stairs, eat my lunch and look at the people walking along the coast and enjoying their time. And I was not jealous, I felt their happiness and enjoyed with them. The stereotype about overweight was destroyed in my eyes. I could hardly see even three over weighted persons during the whole summertime. Conversely, so many people did sports. And here I was surprised even more. I expected to see early joggers but their number was just astonishing, especially old joggers. Personally, I think it is one of the best things which our elders should learn from Americans. Old people there dont sit in their flats like mice in boxes and just watch TVs. They feel the life, do their hobbies and cant help love this world.

So many confusing and beautiful moments happened to me, this essay will not be enough to describe them all, but I will try to mention the most interesting ones. I have never seen that many old people with tattoos. The God is my witness, I loved it. This fact had proved to me personally the thing, that no matter whether you have a tattoo or not, you can always find a job and and have quite a lot of opportunities. I really liked this “American spirit”, they do what they want to. There are no blames or scoldings, people feel themselves free. And it affected my life style as well. The only thing I regret about is that I didnt open myself to them to the end, nevertheless Im so much thankful to those people for breaking my shell and pulling me out of it.

One more thing I noticed about Americans is that they are very talkative. They could tell me about their families, about their crushes, their worries, fears, that they forgot to take shower or to brush their teeth in the morning or about their dogs, especially about their dogs. But this is what helped me to improve my language very fast, also that was a clue to “Americans soul”, so I was not bored with those conversations at all. That way I knew about travelling a lot, because everybody knows that Americans are travelling lovers. One day I was talking with a man, who after hearing my accent started to speak Russian! First seconds I didnt even realize what has happened. But then I concentrated and started to enjoy this conversation. That man has been studying Russian language for 10 years! I can also remember magnificent sky, covered with billions of stars, deer, which we used to see every day, amazing nature, tasty ice – cream and the trip to New York with its colorful life style. That was an incredible experience for me.

Im not going to take more time from you to read this essay, so will write some conclusions. At the beginning of my essay I wrote, that my experience was totally different from my expectations. And thats true, because my experience was even better! The people I met, the atmosphere I was surrounded by, the culture, everything made my summer of the 2017 the best summer in my life. I`m so thankful to the fait, that I heard that long – awaited “Yes” at the American consulate and went to one of the best countries in the world.