Sometimes, in life, you have some moments and opportunities which you have to take towards your future. Summer Work and Travel program is one of them. With the help of this program, I gained huge experience that is useful to create my prosperous career in the future. It was the first time that I spent my time away from my family. Of course, it is not easy because you have to do all the things by yourself:  washing, cooking, cleaning the room and etc.  Those little responsibilities add up and teach you how to have a bigger responsibility for your work and yourself, which means a lot. Life without difficulties and challenges will be boring and lead to nowhere; the program has it's own life lessons and 'difficulties' such as missing home and family while you are continents away from your home country. 

I stayed in Pigeon Forge, TN, a lovely place, helped me overcome these difficulties and encouraged me to keep working. Because the weather and people in Tennessee are absolutely nice.  I always reminded myself ‘’You should work and these time will never come back” As well as working, you have a chance to share your home country culture and traditions among your friends from other countries. I cooked Uzbek palov for my Romanian and Turkish friends and sometimes I play songs about my country. Another useful thing I did in the US was practicing Spanish with native speakers. When I had day-offs, I was invited to the homes of American friends, which was a great opportunity to learn American traditions.

One of the most enjoyable things about this program is traveling! The reason for that you can travel and observe the places, which you once had a dream to visit in your childhood. I used to have a dream to see Brooklyn Bridge in my childhood. This program gave the chance to achieve my dream. 

In short, those experiences turned my life into a new place. I became more independent and I also believed myself to do anything with passion and confidence. 

From taking a moment, I want to thank my Sponsor and J1united for giving this opportunity.