Alas, I broke my phone with the first photos, and I'm too lazy to upload the data. So I'll have to look at what's left.

(Her Majesty, all the money in the world)

The road was boring, so I won't write about it. Not without adventures (I got on the wrong bus and ended up somewhere else), of course, but I arrived safely.

And so, I ended up in my beautiful little town!

It was sunny, hot, and I headed straight to my restaurant. Indescribable emotions, of course! Another country, architecture like a picture, everyone smiling, everything is wonderful. When I remember how I explained myself in broken English to my boss, it's still funny:) My English changed a lot by the end of the trip.

(The charms of working in a restaurant on the shore)

Well, in short, they told me there was no room for me. Like, you can stay for a week, and then goodbye, look for housing. And you won't start working for another two days, as there is no time for training right now.

I want to say that I actually ended up in a wonderful place with wonderful people. If you've googled stories, you know what terrible situations can happen. I didn't have that. But, honestly, there are problems that are sometimes much deeper. Injustice, when a person who works less is given more shifts than you, all other things being equal. You might be bullied by staff, you might live far away and have no transport. Many little things that can break your heart. I don't want to write about it, but if you don't have really cruel or abusive conditions, the rest can be survived. Be persistent!

As a result, my boss wrote to me, saying he found me housing. He snatched the last one.

In the photos below it looks okay, but in reality, it was such a sh*thole.

I paid $180 (the employer's housing was 3 minutes from the restaurant, with cool Wi-Fi, people, kitchen, bathroom, and toilet for $160) for the first week, I wasn't given any bedding, I slept on this sofa on the right in a room with two Bulgarians (a sad neighborhood). No laundry, very far away, no transport, no amenities, Wi-Fi 4 meters away in the next house and DOES NOT CATCH AT ALL.

And every day I kept nagging the employer, like, maybe I could stay at his house, sleep in the hallway or in the shed, but nearby, and not in the middle of nowhere. But that's okay, now to the first trash stories.

Bicycle

I didn't want to buy a bike on principle. $170 is too harsh for my vow of economy. The first few days (3) I traveled by hitchhiking. Americans are very cool in this regard! I told them my story, where I'm from, like, my first day in America (they always congratulated me and were happy). About 1 in 5 cars always stopped. I even met a Belarusian.

In the end, I set aside time and started walking around the city to find myself a bike. Stealing is not good, so I took parts (frame, wheels, tires) from different junkyards (sorry) and put everything together. You could inflate the tires at service stations for free, that's how I tested the tires. Such a pain in the ass, God, seriously. Carrying these wrecks, repairing them somewhere. Praying that they wouldn't break under you.

Once I just went to some people and asked for the opportunity to repair the bike. Americans are very responsive, don't be shy to ask.

But I built myself a cool bike (+worked several shifts in a bike shop, greased my whole bike!), I was even ready to sell others (during the search I found a bunch of parts).

Finding parts is not difficult, just walk around the city and look. You can borrow without asking, I allow it.

Accommodation 1

(cottage for our restaurant employees)

Everyone writes that it is difficult to find housing, but this is not entirely true. Your best friend for the duration of the trip is Facebook (FB). All Americans are there, open your city's groups and stamp posts everywhere that you are looking for housing. About 7 people answered me, I found housing even closer than the employer's. But more on that in the next chapter.

Your second best friend is Amazon. Everything you want comes in 1-2 days. Especially if there are no shops in your city (study the issue in advance!)

[Of course, everything described below is fiction, a joke, you cannot do this according to the rules, it's all jokes]

So, in the process of talking to the employer, like can I live in a shed with a sleeping bag, the idea caught me so much. In my original housing, I was given a test week, after which I either move out or extend until the end of the summer (which I didn't want, so I was looking for options).

I ordered a sleeping bag from Amazon. I messaged the person in charge of the employer's housing, like, I have a lot of shifts, and I live far away, can I use the kitchen and toilet at the employer's house between shifts? Yes? Super! Now I can wash and eat there. +Store things (I only had a suitcase and a backpack).

The first trash night (the last day in the $180 housing) I spent in an abandoned house. I bought mosquito sprays, mousetraps, cheese ($7, very expensive), and went to sleep in some unfinished house. I was afraid of drug addicts, but neither they nor the rats appeared. But in the morning they started finishing the house:)))))))))))) I woke up from the sounds of something on the site, they were digging something and breaking the fence, clearly workers.

Accommodation 2

I had to look for a new place. After all, the house was occupied by builders. But overall I considered the experience successful (am I ready to sleep in an abandoned house for 2 months for $2000? You bet!), so I moved my things to the employer's house, hid them, and went in search of a new place.

And I was walking past the pier.... Stupid - you will say, we live once - I will say boldly.

(photo from the pier)

There are many yachts on the pier that no one touches at night. How do you like the idea? Sleeping on a yacht? It's so posh. As it turned out later, it's illegal, and the owner could have shot me, but the idea itself!!

Breeze, light swaying, silence, white two-story yacht... Romance, and that's it. And it's free. And Wi-Fi catches from somewhere.

I slept like that for three days, until on the third I woke up from very strong swaying of the yacht. To understand, the second floor of the yacht was open, at a level of 50cm above the head of a person standing on the 1st. I was sleeping on the second. Waking up, I saw a person on the first:))) And he didn't see me. I got scared, I wouldn't have been able to run away from the yacht, so I packed my things, and I say to the person, like, excuse me, please.

He was a little shocked, asks, who are you.

• I am a student, here on the Work and Travel program, I just haven't found housing for myself yet.

• Leave and don't come back, this is private property, - he said coldly and continued to do his business. I apologized and left.

(my dear yacht)

(my dear floor)

But I remember those nights dreamily, with love.

Accommodation 3

So, back to searching for housing. I don't remember how the idea came to me, but I was driving past the beach...

(pier on the way from my first housing to work)

We all dream of living luxuriously on the beach, right? I decided to make your dream come true.

And here is the instruction for you: you have a sleeping bag, you live in a place where there is almost no rain, you have a pier with sun loungers = which means you can sleep on the sun loungers.

I took a sun lounger from the pier. I lowered it closer to the water, behind a hill, so that it wouldn't be visible from the road. It was the best place I could sleep. The sound of the water, the breeze, the soft sun lounger. I didn't sleep as well as there in an apartment in Minsk.

Interesting fact: Americans often wake up early and walk their dogs on the beach. I wonder what they thought of me?

That's how I lived for about a month. Every day I felt like a rich man who just went on a hike. I received a huge salary, I could afford to live anywhere, eat anything, but I lived on the beach. This feeling made me wake up with a smile. Oh, yes, Wi-Fi from the neighboring hotel also caught there:)

Accommodation 4

The only problem with the beach is rain. An unpleasant companion, catches you at 4 am, like, don't sleep, buddy.

All wet, at night I had to go to the employer's house (thankfully, everyone was sleeping), send things to the dryer (YES, there was a washing machine and dryer all for free), fall asleep in the kitchen. That same night I ordered a tent on Amazon. And, you know what? It didn't come. The money was returned, but where to live? Okay, the rains, the terrible thing started - mosquitoes. How I hated those creatures. My spray ran out, and buying a new one - the toad was strangling me. Rather, there was no way out, I was already going to go for it.... But I'm sitting in the kitchen in the employer's house... I'm sitting here and looking at the ceiling...

(sorry for the frames, took from the video)

(Hmmmmm..... Does the kitchen have an attic?)

(hmmmmm... Does the attic have a hidden space????)

Again, Stupid - you will say, Yes - I will say, - but I will regret it if I don't try..

There are already a bunch of fantastic stories here, so I won't tell you how I made myself a little apartment out of boxes there, waited every night until everyone left and lived illegally in the attic until the end of the trip.

And remember, this is all fiction, I wouldn't violate the rules for a J-1 visa:)