How is your America? This is the most frequent question I received upon arriving in Russia.

I found out about the Work and Travel program in the summer of 2016.

In October 2017, I decided that I had to go, passed the interview, and in November, I signed the contract. Teaming up with an acquaintance, we decided to go to Virginia Beach. Everything was going smoothly; the only thing that scared me was the interview at the embassy. But it seems these are all games of our mind, because as soon as I entered the embassy building, my anxiety evaporated. Just a minute of conversation with the consul and guess what, that's right, my visa was APPROVED.

Then came the early completion of my internship and passing exams.

Everything... We are in New York...

I am standing on American soil, one thought in my head: is this really true? America, which just two years ago was so far away, is now close. The first thing we did in New York was get acquainted with the subway; we didn't like it... We reached the place where buses to our city depart. It was a mistake that we didn't take care of tickets, and only tickets for 9 a.m. the next day were left. Well, what can I say, we practically spent the night on the streets of New York, wandered around Time Square, and met the sunrise sitting on the station stairs.

Six hours on the bus passed unnoticed. I admired the view from the window, mentally finding differences from the Russian landscape.

We didn't like our apartment, so we decided to move. It was a great decision because our second apartment gave us interesting stories and good friends.

I liked working at the hotel, mostly because of the team. Every morning, the houseman Muhammad would say to me, "If you need something, do not ask me, OK?", and my mood would be on top. And the supervisor Kisha's question, "How ya doin'?", confused me at first—what even is that, "how ya doin'?" But then it became an essential part of my day. Joe, who was very friendly to me, always said, "Hey, sweety."

Once, with the guys from work, we hosted a Slovak, Thai, and Russian food night. We talked about ideas, impressions, and plans for the future.

At my second job, I did henna tattoos. I worked with an 18-year-old American girl named Aliya; thanks to her, I learned what American teenagers live for. At this job, I constantly talked with Americans; upon learning where I was from, they would say in surprise, "Wow, Russia is pretty far from here." I never encountered any negativity towards me; on the contrary, everyone asked me about Russia, about the differences and similarities with America.

America gave me a lot of new knowledge and impressions, opened my eyes to the world, I made many friends from different countries, and found a friend who became like a sister to me.

And now, quickly, without thinking... The capital of the USA?!

Yeeess, dude, right, it's Washington. This city was a must-visit for me; I can't imagine what it's like to be in the USA and not see the White House?

I was simply delighted with the city's architecture, memorials, and museums, which, by the way, are free! It's better to make a list of places you want to visit in advance, the main thing is to calculate your strength (because in our whole day in Washington, we visited only half the places on our list). They are all impressive, but the ones that stuck in my soul the most were:

1. Lincoln Memorial. A little Transformers fan was just cheering inside me. Remember the moment when Megatron knocks Lincoln over and sits on his chair? May Grandpa Lincoln forgive me, but standing there, I imagined this scene and couldn't believe that I was actually looking at this miracle with my own eyes!

2. Washington Monument.

3. National Museum of Natural History.

4. The Capitol—a majestic building where ideas for governing the country are generated. And we could say we participated in a historical event: on the balcony of the Capitol building, a young politician (we guessed), kneeling down, proposed to his beloved, and she said yes.

5. The White House. The residence of the American president and his family; we looked at it in the evening, naturally not from the inside, but it was still cool. There was a rally in front of the White House: about 30 people with flashlights, balloons, and posters in their hands, swaying left and right, simultaneously shouting some word letter by letter. It was all being filmed on camera, and it seemed like a Hollywood production. Then we decided to go around the building and look at it from the angle we are used to, the angle we were shown on TV. And then, remember the couple in love on the Capitol balcony? We met them again; they were passing into the White House territory, probably invited to "hang out with the president."

And despite the stifling heat and the bland rice in the Chinese restaurant where we had dinner, the 11 hours in Washington were unforgettable.