Σάντα Μόνικα: Ταξιδιωτικός οδηγός, τιμές και δωρεάν διαμονή · 2026

Now and in the Future I would like to start my story with an introduction. My name is Arnat, and I am a first-year student at ENU in Astana. I found out about the contest from a close friend and decided to take a risk and try my luck. In general, as long as I can remember, I have always dreamed of visiting the USA. Perhaps this is connected to my childhood, as I grew up on American movies, listening to Western artists, and playing games. My entire perception of Western culture was built on this. Later, the desire to understand the meaning of the "American Dream" pushed me to fall in love with the USA. Wide highways, pickup trucks, Westerns, fast food, residential neighborhoods with beautiful lawns, the yellow school bus, and baseball began to be associated with American culture for me, but games made the biggest contribution. My favorite childhood game was GTA San Andreas. Every weekend I went to my brother's place to play it. I still remember the city map by heart, which is why when I watch vlogs from Los Angeles, warm memories often come to mind, and it feels like I have already been to these places. Santa Monica Beach, the Beverly Hills area, and the famous Rodeo Drive have already become something native to me. If I am ever lucky enough to end up in California, I hope to fulfill my dream. To take a car and drive along an endless highway, listening to Lana Del Rey songs in the background while watching a beautiful warm sunset. I found out about the Work and Travel USA program a couple of years ago on YouTube. A video appeared in my recommendations where an ordinary guy told his story and experience of working in a pizzeria on the California coast thanks to this program. This inspired me a lot, and I started searching for similar queries, watching dozens of videos about how young guys were able to get into the program and visit different cities in the USA. In the videos, the guys shared their emotions and invaluable work experience in another country, talking about how this program helped them change their mindset and get to know another culture better. For some, it even changed their understanding of the meaning of life. After all, being under the influence of something new, they wanted to achieve happiness more and more. To fulfill their own American dream. After all, the USA gives this opportunity to absolutely everyone; the country is filled with wonderful people from different parts of the world who flew across oceans and seas for the sake of their dream. With each new video, I realized that this is not a fairy tale, but reality. Up to this moment, I had absolutely no experience in youth travel or exchange programs, which is why I had doubts and fear in my soul. Self-suggestion that I would not succeed. But fortunately, the guys proved otherwise. I had hope that even I, an ordinary guy, could fulfill this opportunity. From that moment on, I started looking for more information about this program. Financial costs, having a good level of English, visa processing, and other requirements did not scare me at all. On the contrary, one can say that I finally found goals for myself in this life. Having told my parents about this, I received support and approval, which helped me cope with my doubts. I started my journey by learning the language. At that time, I had a low level of English, because in childhood I did not see any point in learning it. But thanks to daily practice, in the form of watching movies with original audio, foreign video bloggers, and changing the language in game settings, it helped me start learning perfectly without losing interest or being lazy. Of course, at first, I did not understand absolutely anything that was happening, but over time I was able to overcome these difficulties. Further study with a tutor consolidated my knowledge and helped me improve to a pre-intermediate level. Now I more or less understand speech, the grammar of the language, and am able to communicate with foreigners. Looking at

Now and in the future I want to begin my story with an introduction. My name is Arnat, I am a first-year student at ENU, city of Astana. I learned about the contest from a close friend and decided to take a risk, try my luck. In general, for as long as I can remember, I have always dreamed of visiting the USA. Perhaps this is connected to my childhood, because I grew up on American films, listening to Western artists and playing games. My whole idea of Western culture was built on that. Later, the desire to understand the meaning of the "American Dream" pushed me to fall in love with the USA. Wide highways, pickups, westerns, fast food, residential neighborhoods with beautiful lawns, the yellow school bus and baseball began to be associated with American culture for me, but the biggest contribution was made by games. My favorite childhood game was GTA San Andreas. Every weekend I would go to my brother's to play it. I still remember the city map by heart, so when I watch vlogs from Los Angeles, warm memories and a feeling as if I have already been to those places often come to my mind. Santa Monica Beach, the Beverly Hills area, the famous Rodeo Drive already feel like something familiar to me. If I ever get lucky enough to be in California, I hope to fulfill my dream: take a car and drive along the endless highway, listening to Lana Del Rey songs and watching a beautiful warm sunset. I learned about the Work and Travel program a couple of years ago on YouTube. In the recommendations there was a video where an ordinary guy told his story and experience working at a pizzeria on the California coast thanks to this program. That really inspired me and I began to look for similar searches, watching dozens of videos about how young people managed to get into the program and visit different cities in the USA. In the videos the guys shared their emotions and priceless experience of working in another country, talking about how this program helped them change their mindset and get closer to another culture. For some, it even changed their understanding of the meaning of life. Being under the influence of something new, they increasingly wanted to achieve happiness — to fulfill their own American dream. After all, the USA gives this opportunity to absolutely everyone; the country is filled with wonderful people from different parts of the world who flew across oceans and seas for the sake of their dream. With each new video, I realized that this is not a fairy tale, but reality. Up until that moment I had absolutely no experience in youth travel or exchange programs, which left me with doubts and fear. Self-suggestion that I would not succeed. But fortunately the guys proved otherwise. I got hope that even I, an ordinary guy, am capable of making this opportunity happen. From that moment I began to look for more information about this program. Financial costs, having a good level of English, visa procedures and other requirements did not scare me at all. On the contrary, you could say that I finally found goals in my life. After telling my parents about it, I received support and approval, which helped me cope with my doubts. I started my journey by studying the language. At that time my English level was low, because as a child I didn't see any point in studying it. But thanks to daily practice — watching films in the original language, foreign vloggers and changing the language in game settings — it helped me start learning well without losing interest or giving in to laziness. Of course, at first I didn't understand anything that was happening, but over time I was able to overcome these difficulties. Further study with a tutor consolidated my knowledge and helped improve it to the pre-intermediate level. Now I more or less understand speech and grammar and am able to interact with foreigners. Looking at my small achievements, I understand that this is no reason to stop; on the contrary, a huge motivation has appeared to move forward

ASAnastasiia Spiridonova6 Δεκ 2017Διάβασμα

Los Angeles is completely different. It is quiet and peaceful. And so diverse! There are skyscrapers, private houses with mandarin trees in the garden, and a large number of beaches touching the turbulent, yet very clean, Pacific Ocean. You just need to visit Beverly Hills and Santa Monica and you will immediately understand everything. We managed to visit the Warner Bros. studio, drive around the entire territory of that very studio where incredible movies are created! We saw entire streets of sets that look just like real ones. We stopped by the studio store and, finally, we tried the world-famous candies with different flavors from the "Harry Potter" movie. For special fans of this film, the store has a whole range of merchandise, from keychains, wands, and candies to replicas of cloaks for Hogwarts students. Also, at the Warner Bros. studio, you can find the filming sets of famous TV series. We, for example, did not pass by the filming location of the series F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Watching the sunset at the Griffith Observatory, looking at the famous "Hollywood" sign from a close distance, swimming in the ocean and walking along the Santa Monica pier, riding a bike and skateboard along the path at Venice Beach, admiring the sunset there and meeting the dawns in the City of Angels - all this was on our to-do list, which we completed, and now, remembering it, I feel very warm.