Summer has passed. I've been home for 6 months now, but I decided to write down my vision of America and my summer of 2014. Some spent it at home, some in the countryside, some at camps, but I participated in the international student program Work and Travel. I think America changed me, and not just me; students here grow up and sometimes make their first serious decisions. For example, should I go back home or not? The temptation is great; even without an education, any immigrant can easily find a job in a supermarket, restaurant, etc., and earn what we call "above average," dreaming of buying a car, since it's considered the norm there to own and drive a car from the age of 16. You don't have to take out a loan for a car because its cost is many times lower than here, and I was able to earn enough for a decent used car in a month and a half, something I wouldn't have been able to achieve back home in that period of time. Many immigrants I met in the USA asked me: "What is there in Russia that isn't here?" The attitude of "our Americans" toward the "ours" who arrived differs significantly. In Chicago, they helped me with both words and deeds. In New York, things were different. Everyone there survives as best they can. I suppose "ours" there are spoiled by money, and everyone profits off the other. In the vast majority of cases, I saw smiles from passing Americans on the street, and if you happened to get lost, someone would always come up to you, ask if everything was okay, and wish you a "Nice day!" Perhaps this is the insincerity of Americans, as Russians note; this politeness is instilled in them from birth and is part of the foundation of the American mentality. But every coin has a flip side. At first, you are in the USA on a wave of euphoria; these are such impressions, acquaintances, the politeness of salespeople and police officers. America seems like a country full of opportunities. But once, sitting on a bench in a park, I thought: the social status I have in Russia doesn't play a role here; I have to settle for low-skilled work, for example, like mine at that time in housekeeping. Most who arrive work for $7-9 an hour, while the average salary for the middle class is about $20. You spin like a hamster in a wheel, and rent (for an apartment or room) takes 50% of your earnings, plus bus or subway fare and food. And it's hard to jump above this bar without an American education, so you only allow yourself to step away from this work on weekends in some cafe. But sad people in America are weaklings, and showing your bad mood here is simply not accepted. I saw how young and smart people lost themselves, for example, girls... The rumors that girls from Eastern Europe have loose morals are, alas, not just rumors. Along the highways, and in cities in general, especially large ones, there are many bars and restaurants, like gentleman's clubs, where they recruit young girls my age for pole dancing, and most often these are our Russian-speaking girls. I was deceived and brought there, by the way, by our "arrived Russians" under the guise of a bartender assistant job, but I escaped from there. I knew about 4 girls for sure who worked in this dance field. But there are many people who want to leave their Motherland for life in the USA, both the active, educated part of the population and very young students. Often, they even leave as families. To sum up, I believe that this summer was certainly a success, despite all my mistakes and troubles, but that is how life experience is gained. I spent half the summer in the provincial town of Ocean City, on the Atlantic coast, then I moved to Chicago, which is on Lake Michigan, and the end of my journey was New York. As for all J-1 Visa students, we returned different; we have something to compare, the reality we were used to since childhood, and this stay in America is a kind of tempering. Well... and returning to the question "What is there in Russia that isn't here?" I will probably
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