· Youth travel and student exchange programs;

· Why did I decide to participate in the program?

· How will participating in the program help my future career?

· What can be improved in the programs - if I were the head of exchanges, what would I change?

· What will exchange programs be like in twenty years? In fifty?

Childhood dreams led me to my future profession. My interest in travel began with watching the Ukrainian educational travel show "Orel i Reshka" in 2015. In the program, two hosts demonstrate the culture, traditions, and customs of the world, as well as introduce hotel services and costs. Most importantly, it shows how one can take an unforgettable trip, regardless of finances. That is how my first love for tourism was awakened. And tourism is a type of travel undertaken for leisure and educational purposes. Following my dream, I enrolled in a top university in Kazakhstan, KazNU. I am currently a 2nd-year student majoring in Tourism and Hospitality. Of course, I initially wanted to enroll in foreign countries, so I was interested in student exchange programs and looked for all options to go abroad. I applied for programs like Türkiye Bursları. Türkiye Bursları is a scholarship program through which international students can study for free in bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs at 50 leading universities in Turkey. The program was created to attract talented international students to Turkey, to introduce them to the country, and for cultural and linguistic exchange. The Türkiye Bursları scholarship is full. This means it covers all student expenses, including tuition and accommodation. A distinctive feature of Türkiye Bursları is that before the actual start of studies at a Turkish university, the scholarship recipient is required to complete a one-year free Turkish language course. This helps international students better adapt to life in Turkey and is a mandatory requirement regardless of the language in which the student will study at the Turkish university. To apply, I had to submit documents and pass an interview. In the summer, I was informed that I had been accepted into a top university in Turkey. I was over the moon with happiness! But unfortunately, I got very sick and had to cancel the flight, so I stayed in Kazakhstan. This period was very difficult for me; it was very disappointing considering that I had been preparing for admission for a whole year. My loved ones helped me get through this moment. They said, "Everything happens for a reason." I pulled myself together and started digging into the internet again in search of other opportunities to get to foreign countries. In the end, my choice settled on WAT.

Work and Travel is a wonderful opportunity for those who want to relax, earn money, learn a lot, improve their English, and perhaps even learn other languages! Participating in the Work and Travel program gives me cool opportunities such as:

1. Visiting "The Big Apple," the city of dreams;

2. Gaining great experience in the tourism industry by working there;

3. Learning a new culture;

4. Finding new foreign friends;

5. Improving my English language skills;

6. Getting new impressions for a lifetime!

That is why I decided not to miss my chance. To be precise, I really want to visit such a beautiful country as the USA. This desire appeared a long time ago, I don't even remember when. Those who watched the series "Suits" have probably already managed to fall in love with New York. I don't remember such beautiful views of "The Big Apple" in any other movie or series. The Statue of Liberty, Manhattan, Empire State Building, many museums. There is really a lot to see in New York. Every day, watching the "Orel i Reshka" TV show, I want to find myself in America sooner. I want to visit New York to:

• visit the birthplace of skyscrapers,

• feel the spirit of Christmas,

• see the symbol of freedom,

• try the local cuisine.

Despite the difficulties of obtaining a visa, I am sure that my dream will come true and I will be able to visit the USA. After all, the United States offers many opportunities for people looking for a country rich in possibilities. The American dream is alive and well, and those who are ready to work for it have many opportunities. If you want to start your own business, get a good education, or just live a comfortable life, the United States can meet our expectations.

Today, America is one of the most popular global destinations for gaining great experience in the tourism industry. Gaining practice in tourism and hotel management provides knowledge in the field of business and culture, necessary for successful work in travel agencies, hotels, amusement parks, restaurants, and casinos, as well as for organizing various events and trips. I am sure that I will gain unforgettable experience working in this field and I hope that this will help me in the future in starting my own business.

In recent years, I have been surrounded by people who have gone through this same program. Every day I hear cool reviews from them. This year, my brother went on the same program thanks to the International Exchange Center. Thanks to his stories, I can already mentally imagine myself walking the streets of Times Square in New York City. According to him, the mentality, culture, communication with foreign people, work, travel, and the USA in general changed his life 360 degrees, in a good way, of course. I can't wait to feel these indescribable sensations. Everyone says that life will never be the same. Considering that my student years will not return, I want to live my student life as impressively and unforgettably as possible. After all, it is not for nothing that student time is considered the sweetest of all. This is one of the reasons why my friends and I decided to participate in this program. It should be noted that while being there, you can level up your English language skills. The fastest way to learn a language is practice. I have always dreamed of speaking with native speakers on absolutely different topics. A native speaker speaks with natural pronunciation. At the same time, the accent varies depending on the country, region, nationality, and social class. By communicating with a native speaker, you can adopt lively intonations, practiced stresses, and a unique accent. You can learn phrases and communicate tolerably, but you can only feel a new culture for yourself, be imbued with love for characters, traditions, and features of ordinary life by communicating — for starters, with a native speaker of the culture in a language school. Humor, metaphors, hot trends, memes — none of this is in textbooks, but it is in life.

I intend to return to Kazakhstan and show the results of the experience gained. Currently, in the tourism competitiveness ranking, Kazakhstan occupies the 88th place out of 140 countries. To show the Kazakh people and representatives of other nationalities the unique beauty of Kazakhstan, its unique qualities, which are brightly manifested in all four seasons, using my invaluable experience in practice, so that my homeland ends up at the top of the list. In addition, our First President, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev, noted that cruise tourism will begin in 2021. This is a great opportunity to contribute to the development of cruise tourism.

In the future, that is, in about 20 years, I think it will be possible to get a visa without an interview. This was reported by the US Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Daniel Rosenblum: "The US Embassy intends to simplify the issuance of visas for Kazakhstanis; in particular, it is planned to cancel the interview procedure for non-immigrant visas." Some steps we are taking now are reducing the waiting time for obtaining a visa. The second issue is permission not to come for an interview. So that people can simply apply for non-immigrant visas. We see a great positive impact when Kazakhstanis and Americans travel to each other," said Rosenblum. I think this is a good opportunity for many students to turn their dream into reality.

The WAT program would allow me to turn from a caterpillar into a butterfly in the field of tourism and hospitality. I want to express my huge gratitude for such an opportunity.