Ogre: Reiseführer, Preise und kostenlose Unterkunft · 2026

DDDaria Dikova10.01.2023Lesen

“There is a kind of magicness about going far away and then coming back all changed.” Kate Douglas Wiggin Even though I have not participated in the Work and Travel program yet, youth exchange programs are an extremely important part of my life. That is why I want to share with you the story of my experience with such kinds of programs. My story is a sequence of failures, victories and valuable lessons that youth exchange programs give me that make me love them so much. This is a story about my vision of youth exchange programs and how they shape my personality, so I gladly welcome you to read it. Since childhood, I have been obsessed with the idea of exploring the diversity of our world. However, there is a question of what does this exploration really mean? Is it enough to arrive in the country’s capital and see the main tourist sights? For me, the answer is definitely no. I believe that a true understanding of the visited country is impossible without cultural exchange, which can be gained with the help of interaction with locals. That is why for me youth exchange programs are the best way to explore new cultures. The format of youth exchanges gives me emotions different from any other type of journey. Moreover, youth exchanges often include educational parts or provide an opportunity to improve professional skills, making them not only enjoyable but extremely useful experiences. Thus, being raised in a small city without the financial opportunity to travel a lot, I always struggled to see the world, and I chose youth trips as my tool for achieving it. As a result, today, I have visited 11 countries and created connections with more than a hundred people in diverse world corners. My first interest in international exchanges occurred in 2017 when I decided to apply to the FLEX program. I tried twice, but I only got the status of alternative finalist and finished one step away from my dreamy exchange school year. Analyzing the situation from today’s perspective, I realize that I was denied because my applications for both attempts were almost identical. Thus, the first lesson that exchange programs taught me is to keep progressing all the time. After five years, in 2022, I returned to the idea of participating in the US exchange program, which is why I chose the Work and Travel opportunity. For me, Work and Travel is an amazing opportunity to earn not only money but things that are much more valuable. With W&T, I am eager to dive into unknown American culture and learn how people live on the other side of the world. Driven by such motivation, I signed the job offer and prepared for my summer in the US, but my plans were ruined by the war. I am from Melitopol, which is now an occupied city and being there at that period of time did not allow me to make confident decisions, and that is how my plans to see the US was ruined for the second time. In such a way, the second lesson that exchange programs taught me is never to give up. Thus, aside from chasing my American dream, I actively investigated other parts of the world with the help of youth exchange programs. After my failure on FLEX, I started to search for further opportunities and applied for several exchange programs at international universities. Again, I did not manage to pass the last selection stages and got refusals. Still, I did not give up on searching for an active social life and decided to start with the program inside my country. Thus I took a gap year and entered the Ukrainian Leadership Academy, which is a program of informal education gathering young leaders which allows us to share experiences and implement social projects. With the Academy, I went on my first cultural exchange to Israel. During this trip, we lived in Machines, which can be described as social leadership preparatory programs for high school graduates. We stayed with Israeli students who shared their national values with us as well as we introduced them to the beauty of our Ukrainian culture

BYBagdaulet Yerzhigit04.01.2023Lesen

E.B. Yergaliuly 4th-year student Kazakh Academy of Sport and Tourism Faculty of Professional Combat Sports I will talk about the Work and Travel program. The Work and Travel program is an opportunity for students to travel, work, learn new things, visit popular places, and discover US culture over 3 months. There will be an interview with a US consular officer in March or May. During the interview, you must prove that you will return to Kazakhstan. Many students stay behind through this program. All you need to do is take a vacation in the US, having fully paid for the program. I will explain the main points: after paying for the program and the interview, to increase your chances of not being rejected, you need to learn English. Participation in the program is available to every student who has reached 18 years of age. This program is a great opportunity for me; thanks to this progress, I can fulfill my dream. I have always dreamed of becoming a professional boxer. America is the homeland of professional boxers. There are strong boxers, and professional boxing athletes can be found in the USA. I am learning new things and improving my English by participating in this process, which has a huge impact on my future career. Because I can learn a new type of profession there. For me, it is a victory if I start my own business in Kazakhstan. Thanks to this program, I am achieving great success. First, I am studying and improving my English. I will go to the USA, which is a great opportunity for me coming from a village. I worked hard, and then I became. Or I can learn one type of profession and open my own. I think that a new environment and a new culture change me into a new person. If I were the head of the student exchange center, I would offer many discounts to students in the program and organize various games. The cities I want to visit in the USA are New York and Los Angeles. When I was a 3rd-year student, I tried to apply for the program, but I couldn't pass because my English was poor and I was insecure. So now I am a 4th-year student at the Academy of Sport and Tourism. Now, this year, I have returned to the program. I think everything will be different this year. Let me tell you about my favorite boxer, Manny Pacquiao. Manny Pacquiao trained at the Wild Card Boxing Club. The legendary trainer Freddie Roach prepared and brought up many champions. Among them are Amir Khan, Bernard Hopkins, Miguel Cotto, Mickey Rourke, Oscar De La Hoya, Wladimir Klitschko, and Manny Pacquiao. A coach who prepared and developed professional boxing stars. Brief biography of Freddie Roach He worked as an assistant to Eddie Futch for several years. Currently, Roach has his own gym, the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles, where he works with his brother Pepper. Throughout his career, Roach has worked with many outstanding athletes. He achieved his greatest success with the Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao. In his time, he was a professional boxer. Freddie Roach suffers from Parkinson's disease, the same disease that the famous Muhammad Ali suffers from. Now I will return to my favorite boxer, Manny Pacquiao, a Filipino boxer and world champion in 8 weight classes. He is not just a champion, but a person who has done many good deeds, building many houses in his country. When he boxed, crime cases in the Philippines stopped, and the citizens of his country called it the "Pacquiao Effect." My favorite athlete is this boxer. I want to visit this Wild Card gym located in Los Angeles. In this gym, our Kazakh boxers train: Aidar Sharibayev, Aidos Yerossynovich, and there are several other Kazakh amateur boxers who have visited the USA. I want to take a photo to see this gym with my own eyes. UFC fighters like Tony Ferguson train here. This is a famous boxing gym. Places I want to see in the USA are the Rocky Mountains monument, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in general, I want to visit these popular places. Conclusion: The Work and Travel program gives

VKVladislav Kamaninvkamanin · 26.08.2010Lesen

After our stay in New York, we had to buy bus tickets to head to our workplace in New Harbor, Maine. The most popular bus network in the USA is GreyHound. You can book tickets on their website in advance for a cheaper price than at the ticket office. We had to buy ours at the counter, which cost us $86 each. The journey was through Boston and Portland, taking 8 and a half hours. GreyHound buses and others are very comfortable. Besides cozy seats, the bus is equipped with a restroom, power outlets to charge your laptop, phone, or anything else, and Wi-Fi access!!! You won't see that in Russia =)) In Boston, we had a transfer to another bus company, which, in addition to everything mentioned above, had TVs, headphones, and Wi-Fi for passengers on both sides =)) I was honestly shocked by such progress ))) After Boston, the largest and closest city to our current location is Portland. At the Portland station, they provide free Nestle water bottles and pretzels to everyone! =)) It's just a Culture Shock! )) I'll tell you about the village and the problems we encountered in my next post!

АААндрей АфинеевскийAndrejo · 31.01.2010Lesen

Imagine it is 2029, and the International Exchange Center is celebrating its 40th anniversary. To mark the occasion, it is offering a unique (and naturally free) trip to a few lucky individuals who used the company's services back in 2010. You are among those lucky few. The essence of this trip is as follows: the participant must choose a place they have never been to and a year they wish to travel to. The only limitation is that the year must be between your birth year and 2029. Although the program sponsor guarantees the participant's safe return in exactly two weeks, the journey itself is not simple, and things could go wrong. Therefore, you begin training for various emergency situations. For example, an error occurs, and despite all checks, you are sent according to another participant's wishes. Will you be able to determine the year you have landed in? Of course, you could ask people or buy a newspaper, but what if you try to manage without that? What would catch your eye first? It is good if you are a fashion expert and can determine not only the region but also the year by the clothing. Or, let's say, you are a car expert and can identify where and when you are without hesitation. However, it is possible that you might end up somewhere where everyone wears hijabs, and 1960s Ladas and Cadillacs coexist on the streets. Yet, looking closely at the women in hijabs, you might notice some have iPhone 4 models, and under the wheels of the Ladas, the asphalt is perfectly smooth and remains dry even in a downpour, and even slightly heated for better traction. The first part about the International Exchange Center and the contest was written as a small introduction (and, of course, with the goal of a little flattery =). Nevertheless, the question of what primarily changes the appearance of streets remains. If you take cities like London or Paris—those European cities that keep pace with progress and where changes happen smoothly rather than in leaps and bounds as they do in Russia—the difference between the year 2000 and 2010 would be difficult to notice, though quite possible if you look closely at the details. Besides what changes externally, it is, of course, curious what will change internally. Humans change the world, tailoring it to themselves, and then adapt to what they have created. At the same time, a human remains a human, and in the coming twenty years, it is unlikely they will invent anything new in relationships with each other that does not exist now or did not exist before (in ancient Greece or Gomorrah). It is doubtful that flash drives with hundreds of terabytes embedded in the human body (for more efficient cooling and power, combined with nerve control) will radically change the relationship between a mother and daughter. Although new technologies may help disabled people feel and be 'persons without limited abilities'. If we look at it on a larger scale, problems related to overpopulation and urbanization are inevitable, but I am sure that humans are quite capable of adapting to this as well.

OSOLGA SergeevaOlgaSergeeva · 26.12.2009Lesen

Beyond the sea, across the ocean, Far from here, out of our sight… There lies an island, truly glorious, A gift from God, a pure delight! Columbus sailed and suddenly noticed: Greenery, mountains, and the mist… He was the first in this wide world, To find a land he hadn't missed! Years went by, and even centuries… The wondrous land began to grow! Columbus himself could never fathom, The PARADISE he helped to show! Life in America is wonderful, Happy are those who live there now! You can see it in their faces – With smiles upon their every brow! It is far away, of course… You can only reach it by flight, But there were always obstacles – Leaving us with a sorry plight… Who will bring us closer? Who can? Removing all the barriers in the way! Making the world more accessible, closer… Let everyone see it, come what may!!! And such People were finally found, A deep, deep bow to you, it's true! No, no one will judge us for this, We are flying abroad, we bid adieu!:) The whole system has been simplified: Passport, visa, and the plane… And who cares what others think? Life moves forward, again and again! And the exchange! – it's all so simple, We are students from Russia, you see, The vastness of the universe calls us, Learning languages, wild and free! We go to communicate and share, To gain wisdom and experience there… To live in a Metropolis, To discover our own America!!! Americans come to visit us, To study language and dance, it's a must… To see the snow and Moscow too – The ancient beauty, old and new! It's useful for them, prestigious for us, And the process is here to stay! There will be a place for every student – We will fly with EXCHANGE today!!! I imagine years will pass by… Ten, maybe twenty years or more… What will happen on this planet??? Will we travel as before? These bonds cannot be broken!!! Curiosity will never fade… Maybe we should erase the borders!? And adopt one language, unafraid!? To fly, to sail, and to travel… With a single passport in our hand! And when you see a friendly smile – Smile back across the land! We grow up – changing the world, Progress does not scare us at all! We live and we are waiting – For miracles from EXCHANGE to call!!!

OSOLGA SergeevaOlgaSergeeva · 26.12.2009Lesen

Beyond the sea – the ocean, From here we cannot see it... There is an island and it's very lovely, Simply – God's grace! Columbus sailed and suddenly noticed: Greenery, mountains and mist... He was the first in this world, What he discovered, he did not yet know! Years passed, even centuries... The wonderful land was expanding! Even Columbus himself does not know, That he had discovered for the world – PARADISE! Life in America is wonderful, Happy is he who lives there! You can just tell by faces – People are smiling! Far away, of course, it is... You can only fly there, But there always were obstacles – Only regret remained... Who will bring us closer? Who can? Removing all the barriers! Make the world more accessible, closer... Let everyone see it!!! And there were such People, A deep, deep bow to you! No, no one will condemn us, We're flying abroad!:) The whole system became simplified: Passport, visa, airplane... And who cares? Life moves forward! And exchange! – everything is very simple, We are students from Rus', The vastness of the Universe beckons us, We study languages! We go to communicate, To gain knowledge and experience... To live in a Megapolis, To discover our America!!! Americans come to us, To learn the language and dance... To see the snow and Moscow – Its antiquity and beauty! It's useful for them, prestigious for us, And the process is irreversible! There will be a place for all students – We'll fly with EXCHANGE!!! I imagine, years will pass... Ten, maybe twenty years... What will happen on the planet??? Will we travel or not? These ties cannot be destroyed!!! Curiosity cannot be quelled... Maybe we should erase borders!? And adopt one language!? To fly and sail and ride... Using unified passports! And when you see a smile – Smile back yourself! We grow up – changing the world, Progress does not frighten us! We live and await – Great wonders from EXCHANGE!!!