United Kingdom: Travel guide, visas and free housing · 2026

OOOleksandra Onystiukonystyuko · Jan 10, 2023Read

Every marvelous adventure begins with a spontaneous decision. Once you’d like to try something new, even have a bit of fear or uncertainty, but then your lifestyle will never be the same. Young people are courageous explorers who are open to the world. Then, something that can change and fill the life of many students calls ‘exchange programs’. I’m not an exception, so I’m ready to get new experience in Work and Travel USA program. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” Exchange programs are about significant personal changes that have an important influence on the future. Students get an invaluable experience combining new culture, exploring a new city and country, new people and community, and learning new skills and many amazements. Definitely, these expand the worldview, but they can also help in finding yourself and your purpose in life. I’m convinced that youth trips also pump up everyone as a person, so after this experience, the difference with other peers who didn’t participate in it is palpable. So it is about growing up, and I’d say in a speedy, inconvenient at times way. Students are the drivers of change because they have the power to build a better society around them. Therefore exchange programs can be a great tool to recognize what best young people can take from other cultures and implement in their native land. During intercultural interaction in programs, students are able to share their own culture, traditions, and different features with each other, so the result is a combination of something greater. By the way, I hope in America, it is possible to learn and understand their world (I’m sure it will be 100%) and also get to know exciting things from other students from different cultures. Next, exchange programs are one of the most significant types of non-formal education. In schools or universities, we used to have typical studying with books, lectures, teachers, and other standard things, but in youth trips, students have practical lessons. New conditions force you to take care of yourself independently. This is a kind of school of life where students face many challenges – from organizing their budget to finding the necessary place in a new city. Nevertheless, the moment of really growing up also can be great thanks to youth traveling. Everything I described above related to my experience too. In July 2022, I was in Summer School “Waves and Ebbs of Democracy”: Lessons learnt from Central European 'There and Back Again” at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, and it was a great three weeks. Except that we had an educational plan, I spent a fantastic time exploring a new country and communicating with new people from Georgia, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom , Serbia, Montenegro, and Armenia. Honestly, it was exciting to interact with them and share my thoughts and feelings about russian invasion of Ukraine. Sometimes I recognized that they didn’t understand the Ukrainian context, so my mission was to describe how it happens. I wanted first to introduce them to our culture and then tell them about our history and brave people. Nothing captivates people like food, so I decided to cook Ukrainian traditional cuisine borshch for the group. And they could give thanks by donating to our army. Two goals were achieved: in this way, we joined the victory of Ukraine, and international students learned more about my culture and Ukraine in general. (Video here) Furthermore, this program consisted of traveling in Central Europe, so we were in Budapest, Prague, and Vienna. The best opportunity to combine hard work and funny nights is to catch the moment as we did during our trips. Besides, I realized how similar we are: international students also can have responsible preparation for the test after a crazy night or submitting a task at the last minute. Because previously thought these related to Ukrainian students only, but fortunately, I