Nadya Fogelgesang

So, it was May 20th, when I was standing next to the airplane and couldn’t believe that in a few hours I'm going to be in America!

Isn’t that amazing that nowadays so many people, moslty students have that chance to travel all around the world. We have so many programs and associations that direct and help us to see the world. My Mum told me that when she was my age, they never got any chance to travel to America, England, Germany and so on. She thinks present time is an advancement time. And she’s so happy that teenagers can live their dreams.

So, I've got that dream to come to the USA and started all this paper work with documents and all that stuff in last September. The program called "Work and Travel". This is such a good program for students. I mean we can work for the whole summer, we can turn the money back and plus we can travel and see so many beautiful places. That sounds really great, isn’t it? So during nine months I was collecting documents, I was looking for job offers, I was pretty excited about my visa interview and thanks GOD on May 12th I got it all and in a week I reached my dream place named America. :)

I spent my whole summer in North Myrtle Beach, SC. I got my job offer in the best place ever IHOP. So I was working as a waitress and I did love it. In my opinion a server is a great job for a foreign student in America.

1) You work inside, so the heat doesn't bother you.

2) You improve your English everyday by speaking with the customers.

3) You never feel thirsty or hungry, because you work with the food.

4) And the last you can make really good tips. So I did love to be a server in IHOP.

My first two weeks were really difficult, because it was my first experience as a server and everything was in English. I know customers can be different, but most of them are so sweet, nice and so open and it helped me to stay in tune even when I messed up with the orders and etc. I met so many nice people and made so many friends in IHOP. We became such a family during these three months and I feel so thankful for this!

Also taking this chance to say THANKYOU to my boss Amir and two fabolous managers Amy and Peter. Thank you for forgiven me all my oversights and mistakes. Thank you for being so sweet and patient! :)

So, later on after two weeks. Some of my friends and I realized that If we want to work AND travel and also turn back some money…we NEED a second job. We were looking for a second one almost for a month…I mean we found it quickly, but all these paper work took the whole month, which annoyed us very much. So my friends and I, we meant to work at the Market named Kroger. We supposed to work at Deli. So we have to deal with the meat. Cut the meat and sell it to the customers. My first day in Kroger was awful…because I’ve got this allergy on something. And I still got no idea what it was. Meat? Probably, because it’s full of chemical ingredients. Or maybe gloves? We had to work at gloves. And they also had these chemical things. I still do not know what I’ve got allergy on. But I felt so awful and I did sneeze every five minutes. I phoned my boss and asked him to do something. Maybe change my section or I’d better quiet. He said we tried to do something and the other day they sent me to a bagger girl. I NEVER liked this job. It was boring and I had to deal with the carts which I couldn’t stand, because it was too hard. Actually a bagger is a job for a man. But Kroger didn’t have any vacant places, but a bagger. They did have a vacancy for a cashier. But I was scared. It is my fist time in America and Kroger is my second job. I was scared that I could mess up with the money or coins. For the first time – they would forgive me. For the second they would probably do the same. But next time I would be fired. And I didn’t want that. Kroger gave us really good salary :)

So even that I never liked Kroger and this job as a bagger. But people, they were so sweet. I met so many cool and great friends. You guys just never make me feel sad and I forgot about tiredness every time when I was with you.

Mhm, so my first two months were like wake up - go to the work-go the my second one- go back home and vice versa every single day. We never got enough sleep, we never got time to hang out even that we had days off twice a week. They never match with two jobs. So it looked like we worked every.single.day. But it was okay, I was ready for this.

As you can see my first two months-- there was nothing interesting...but work :)

And now... I am coming to my favourite part of my American summer is T.R.A.V.E.L.L.I,N.G. :)

But first I want you to meet these two fabulous couple I met in the restaurant once.

Dear IJ Hurley and Frank Fronda.

They were my customers. They were so nice and sweet to me! They said they want me to meet their granddaughter next week. She never met Russian and she would love to. I was so blessed to hear that. And I was so looking forward to seeing them again and their granddaughter.

So, I spent the most amazing night with them and their stunning grandchild named Kim :) They offered me to take one of my friends with me. So five of us spent the evening together. I saw a lot of unbelieveable and interesting things. They took my friend and me to the restaurant Miyaby. This is probably one of the best places I have ever eaten in! The place is amazing and atmosphere is not the typical Japanese restaurant. They do all these things with your food just Next. To. You. It’s like they are making show with your food :) You can google it or watch on Youtube, because it was really cool. So then, after good eating we went to the aquarium in Myrtle Beach. We had so much fun together there. We saw the mermaid show and sharks and a lot of fish. To be honest, I felt like a 5 year-old kid. Everything was so great! As you know when you are having a great time, this time flew too quick. That perfect night was over and I felt to thankful to my customers and Kim for made my day!

So in a week…We did meet again. My flawless customers and flawless Kim took me to the Show in Broadway Myrtle Beach. I’ve got a chance to see so many great celebrity parodies. They even played country music there which made me cry. Then we went to their house, and Kim took us to the swimming pool. I was so busy with my work there, so I had not time for beach or pools. Kim totally changed this:) And then lovely IJ Hurley made original American grilled chesse sandwhich for us.

No words can describe how bless I am to meet dear IJ Hurley and Frank Fronda! And I feel so happy that I met your gorgeous Kim! And I feel so thankful to them for being so sweet and so open to me. You brought my friends and me the warmest memories for all our lives. Thank, you, thank you, thank you with all my heart! I so hope I will meet you again very very soon :)

So, now come back to my travelling part.

So we saw this commercial through the Internet in the middle of July. That was an offer for students. They made a trip to old-fashioned and beautiful town Charleston. My friends and I were so in! So we bought the tickets and on a very next day went to Charleston.

Charleston took my heart from the first sight. Its not like this typical American town. It’s more European and it’s so old-fashioned which I liked the most. We visited a lot of churches and libraries there. You can even feel the smell of this city. The smell of oldness. You can see the horses with coaches all around the town. There are free buses which can bring you to anywhere you want to. And the streets, they are so unusual. Everything were so beautiful. I loved awesome Charleston :)

My favorite part of travelling and the most special state I’ve visited was Orlando, Florida.

I always knew if I ever come to the US, I will visit Orlando. I always wanted to!

So there was a guy, his name is Aibol. He is from Kazakhstan just as me. But we met in America. Once we talked about what places we would love to visit in the end of the Summer. I said I would love to come to Orlando, and he said “ Oh really. Woah, I always wanted to see the Harry Potter's world in Universal Studio." So, it was really difficult for us to make this plan of going to Orlando. It was four of us who wanted to come to Florida, That’s why we decided to rent a car for that trip.

But… as we all worked we couldn’t find these days which would be perfect for our trip. So we did ask our bosses for three days off. He wasn’t really happy about this, but he did them for us :)

So it was Me, Aibol (trouble –solver, the smartest guy and just our lifesaver for the whole summer) , Aibol’s friend Georgii ( you can call him Gosha). He was the one who could drive all the way to Florida and back. So you can call him a Hero:)

And my friend Liza. Well, we took her just for made this trip cheaper… I am really really kidding :)

It was August 18th and Magic 4 went to the most waiting trip ever – Orlando, Florida. We had so so much fun together in a car, especially Gosha at nights ;) And after 8 hours we reached my dream place Orlando. I started to persuader guys to take Liza and me to the Mall at Mellenia. Boys found us annoying. But girls are girls. And the first stop in Orlando was the Mall at Mellenia. Liza and I just stuck in this Mall. There are so many things, especially for girls. I would love to have someone there to hide Liza's and mine’s credit cards. But we couldn’t help ourselves and spent a lot there ;) But still I didn’t regret :) :)

After a long shopping night we went to the Hotel and next Monday we went to make our boy’s dream come true. We went to the Universal Studio.

And here the magic begins :)

There is no words, just unbelievable emotions and memories about Universal. It was like I got into a fairytale. I couldn’t close my mouth the whole day! I was so spellbound and speechless about every thing I saw or touched or heard there. The Happy Potter World, Hogwarts, Magic Sticks, creamy beer, three broomsticks restaurant the platform 9 3 4's, Hogwarts express and many more things I was surprised about. We were defiantly the most happiest kids on this Earth. There are so many frightful attractions. I swear I never screamed that loudly as at this attractions. And I hated that fact that we had just one day, just several hours for the Universal Studio. Anyway, these three days in Orlando were the most amazing days in my summer. I felt like I made one more of my dreams came true. And big thanks to my friends who share this trip with me. :)

We go next :) This trip absolutely was not in my plans. But my friend Liza was DREAMING about Maroon 5 since the beginning of the summer. She is so obsessed with them. And she found they had a concert in Atlantic City, NJ. She called me at night with that tiny voice and she was begging me to come with her, I never was that fan of Maroon 5. They are cool, I know just a few songs of them. But New Jersey -- its about nineteen hours by car from Myrtle Beach! I couldn't help but said Yes:) She promised me she would come to Orlando with me, how could I said no. And the other day at 3 a.m. the minibus full of Maroon 5's fans came to our place and took us to the Liza's dream :) We reached New Jersey only in 22 hours. I thought I would die. But when I saw Atlantic City, this city took off my fatigue at once. It was so outstanding and sparkling. People call AC the second Las Vegas... and I know why. The concert went on the beach. When I saw this crowd... I felt like the WHOLE America just woke up and came to see those five guys. There were thousands of them. The concert went AMAZING. Adam Levine is so talented. Their music is so catchy. I thanked Liza for taking me with her. I made new friends and became a huge fan of Maroon five without any doubt !

(PS) In the minibus I met this girl. She was from the same country as me. The same town as me. And even... the same Uni as me. And we met in New Jersey! Who would believe that :)

There are some short videos from my Insragram :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/6gZ57RhILi/?taken-by=nadyafogelgesang

https://www.instagram.com/p/6fd6UxBIGq/?taken-by=nadyafogelgesang

https://www.instagram.com/p/6fdXKDhIFT/?taken-by=nadyafogelgesang

Next page of my trip is Washington D.C.

On the way back to New York, where I should fly back to my home. I also visited the famous and beautiful capital of the U.S. -- Washington D.C. The city of presidents, decision-making and strict orders. It reminds me of my school. Where everything and everyone should has its own place. Did you know that in the capital of the United States prohibited the construction of buildings, that exceed the height of the Capitol. (169 m.) :) As I said Washington DC is really beautiful but so boring! We visited every famous places : Washington Monument, Lincoln Monument, the Capitol, the White House and etc. It took about 4-5 hours to visit all the them. We visited almost every museum there. And still we had much time till our bus Greyhound to New York. Which was my last stop.

And my last, the most beautiful but saddest stop is New York.

Welcome to New York, it's been waiting for us :)

I stopped in New York for a few days at the beginning of my summer before I went to Myrtle Beach. And there were some places I haven’t seeт and some things I haven’t done yet. So I’ve back to New York for my last four days in America. New York is something really different and gorgeous. These skyscrapers, this traffic, this crowd, that smell and more. New York makes you feel as a superstar. Make you feel like in a movie. I visited a lot there. The Statue of Liberty, Time Square, Central Park, Metrapolitan Museum of Art, Chinatown, Brooklyn Bridge, Rockefeller center, Fifth Avenu, Wall Street, National 11th September Memorial and more. I am speechless. I wasn’t scared of Subway at all. Which made me surprised.

(PS) You can see the difference in my size at the beginning and at the end of the summer, Ahaha, true. American food made me a little bit fatty. ;) but as I came back home I did almost turned to my former size again. :D

Woah, thank you so much for reading all these stories about my wonderful summer in America. I wanna say Thank you to my Mum and Grandma who supported me all the summer long. Also I want to say thank you to my friends who were by my side the whole summer. America was so different but so good to me. I feel really happy and blessed to get that chance. And even more… the U.S. changed a little bit something in me. It was really a great experience for me. I hope one day I will repeat this again ;)

(PS) My flights to New York and back was across the Moscow. And I’ve got a chance to meet sweet and lovely princess Elena. I met her throught the Internet. And she met me in Moscow, showed me the city and we had a wonderful time together. I found one more soulmate now. And I do hate the distance for taking them from me.

(PPS)

I got home on September 4th.