Dzīve ir Liels Ceļojums

Prologue:

After the COVID-19 which started in November 2019 in Wuhan, China, people’s lives changed dramatically. The simplest manner of life which we represent as the routine five days of work, trips to the cinema, traveling across the countries and other aspects ceased to exist. The complex virus turned the world upside down. The global community, including each country with its fear of loss of human life, started to tackle this vital problem. However, the pandemic brought the travel aspect to a halt. 2 years past, even after vaccines and precautionary measures people are still scared of returning to the previous standards of life, which seemed to be simple before.

Introduction

Nowadays, in such a complicated society, everyone tries to fill their life with different colors of entertainment. It could be about doing sport, playing video games or traveling. For the whole history of mankind, traveling has been an indispensable part of anyone who wants to explore something new. Already in ancient times, the peoples of the Mediterranean had geographical descriptions that gave a general idea of the neighboring territories. But what traveling truly means? How does it affect the traveler?

Speaking a business language is about going to another spot, it could be a village, city or country. However, traveling is not about business. Traveling is a fantastic method to gain a lot of life experience. Every year, a large number of people travel all across the world. Additionally, it is crucial to visit people. Some people travel to expand their knowledge, while others go to escape their daily lives. Whatever the motivation, traveling allows us to experience a wide range of activities and open up a whole new world to us.

As a student, it is true that the government of every country is enhancing the life standards of students, expanding new directions to explore. One of those directions is an international exchange program. Travel among students has a well-known social influence. This explains why it is such a well-liked strategy for educating children and piquing their intellectual curiosity.These courses have been created to help students learn at a completely new level. However, the major objective is to push them above their comfort zones so that they can improve both personally and academically. People mistakenly believe that exchange programs are only for the purpose of learning a new language, despite the fact that they have many other advantages as well. Although it is unquestionably one method, this program has other components as well. One must recognise the cultural component that broadens their understanding of the world outside of their own and heightens their sense of global perspective.

Memories

From my memories, being a student at school, I am pretty sure that everyone was inspired, watching American TV shows, movies and tracking the hobbies of their peers. Being accepted to a college or university in the United States is still considered a prestigious future for the students at school in our country. I will not separate myself from this stereotype, but I also considered that it is far away from my home and expensive as well. One day, sitting at school, I received the mailing in the class group chat about a two week internship in the best writing University of Iowa. The competition was held on International level so I had huge doubts about the success of this idea. Nevertheless, I applied in good faith, hoping that my story will somehow interest people. Sometimes, spontaneous decisions are the best. Being accepted to the International Exchange Program organized by the United States Embassies, we had unforgettable two weeks with the best young writers around the world. It was the first time I was crossing the continents, but my fear was tackled by the interest and curiosity of going to another country. As a member of a small writing community, we started chatting long before we met each other. 39 participants around the world taught me what it means to be in an international community. After finishing the school year, I started to count down the days before the program. After a long-awaited month, we arrived in Iowa. The next two weeks were the best experience I had as a writer, as a student and as a young traveler. An interesting schedule did not keep us bored and we were greedily draining everything we were taught. Daily workshops taught me to be focused on what I do despite everything: location or time. Breaks between them brought me a lot of joy, playing ping pong with my new friends or singing a “Toxic” by Britney Spears on the stage. It taught me to expound myself as a person, whose contribution can change the world. I met new friends, and if we are not getting in touch as often as we did before, I still think that it has not been in vain. For myself I learnt that International Exchange Programs like that teach a person to change the vision angle and learn something new in a different culture. One of the best memories from this program was when we ordered an Uber to buy headphones for our friend in Walmart without the permission of our curator. Even if we did not break the law, it was a dose of adrenaline and an independent act we did as international program members. The graduation books with the signs of everyone are still kept with me as a memory of one of the best programs I had participated so far.

Becoming a student, I crossed to the next level of self-reliance, moving to another city from my parents. I think everyone is having the time when you should separate your life from the family to start your own new journey. Obviously, my mom was financially helping me to focus only on studying, without thinking about money. After finishing junior year, I thought about working and saving money for my own expenses for the next year. Working with the kids in the special cafe or playground, I had a huge experience of working with the kids. With the start of the new study year, I heard about a new international program which is held in summer. My interest made me do research and I got to know about Work and Travel better. It was the summer exchange program, which allows every student to spend the summer in the United States. My friend already had an experience of participating in this program, so I got very passionate. However, for someone this program gives a chance to earn a lot of money. Considering the dollar exchange rate in our country, it is enough to buy a car or small apartments. To be honest, I do not think it should be used in that way. It is the truth that everyone has a right to choose, but Work and Travel gives more than money. I think it gives an opportunity in every aspect you choose. Someone can improve their speaking skills, collaborating with other different cultures, and speaking English. Diversity or races, nationalities makes a person accidentally to be interested about their life story. I believe that it is one of the best feelings to see something (like museums, famous actors or streets) which you have seen only as a child on the TV. You can freely work with other students like you, who were born in the United States and earn or share your experience about anything. I hope that my vision as a global citizen will expand through it. The status of an international traveler is not only about going to another country and seeing something, it is about seeing any situation, lifestyle, behavior and choosing the best version for yourself. It is about acquiring the knowledge about the history of another country, which in our case is America. It widens the perspective of everyone and provides a huge variety of things that can be learned in different ways.

From the moment I was born, I respected and loved the history of my country. Through decades of pressure from the USSR, my nation did not give up to get independence and get back on their feet. I respect the values of my nationality and being Kazakh is something more than just words. However, maybe because our country is only 30 years from being created, most people recognize it only as Russia's bordering country. From my point of view, it is the wrong way to show the World that our country has its own beauties, starting from the tradition and finishing with the sports achievements on a big stage. I hope that for the short time I will be in America, I will represent our country as a strong, well-developed country, who brings up a new generation of intelligentsia, capable of changing the world. I hope that I will represent my nationality as a friendly, cohesive community who is more than ready to live in global citizenship. I hope that I will be a good representative of my country, honorably saying Kazakhstan anytime people ask me about my country.

As a student of Oil and Gas Industry, I dream to work in this sphere in Kazakhstan. Everyone can be questioned: How does Oil and Gas have any wire to the International Exchange Program? It seems really hard to imagine, but America is one of the leading countries in this specific sphere. Obviously, you can not work or get a straight experience from the leading companies. However, a wide range of different specialists could share their own experience and there would be a lot of topics to discuss together. I am pretty sure that it will not be wasted.

Reading from Wikipedia and different articles, I get to know the whole system of the exchange program better. The program was initially founded in 1969 and embassies of 30 countries are conducting it every year. But it is not about statistics or numbers, or even history. The number of participants every year is rising with the progression which says that almost everyone is enjoying it and applying for the next year. Nevertheless, there are also students who did not like it for some personal reasons: long separation from the family, health issues, etc. Everyone has their own opinion, but it is crystal clear that the program is aimed to help the students to widen their thinking ability and vision through rapidly changing their environment. From my point of view, I have not participated in this program yet, but hopefully, I will notice the pros and cons of it for myself. For now, I noticed that for exchange centers it is hard to cope with the rising wave of students who want to apply for the program and the waiting time for everyone could be longer than they expected. As advice, I would try to expect the number of students and the slots for the program before starting the application. For me, it is just an idea, but for someone, it could be a great solution for the headache.

“Nobody can discover the world for somebody else. Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond and we cease to be alone”- Wendell Berry. Through this quote, we can easily say that everyone is an individual, who discovers the world through their own lens of vision. It could be negative,bad, astonishing or inspiring. Everyone chooses it for themselves. Hopefully, the program will be continued forward for a decade, because it gives an opportunity to grow as a person. Even “opportunity” word can not truly describe it. A wide range of programs will be created for the students to participate in different spheres because it is vital to discover the world at least once. This one time could change everything, I promise.