Ramona USA 2008

Read the story and make comments hereclick aiciOk, so I am not a student, I am a business person, but I did experience Work and Travel Program in 2000 and years later and that’s how it started!!I created this blog section to explain to you, my reader, why you should experience and take full advantage of your student years?And I have also created this blog so that you see we experience before you pay for it and try it!Last, not least, I have created this blog section to share it with my international friends(which is why it’s in En) and immortalize our moments together!Obviously, you don’t see them all here, there is so much more!ENJOY!!May 28th, 2008, New York, New York, you are definately the ONE! I’ll skip the events before my B’day and go straight to the day when I returned to NYC to enjoy a special day in a special place…So, I took my Russian friend with me, Tanya or “legally blonde” (as everybody was calling her) and jumped on the train from Connecticut to NYC. We had no ideea what we’ll do,but HEY it’s NYC! nothing can go bad when it comes to fun! I knew my way around, so we booked a hotel, made some dinner plans, the rest it’s EXPERIENCE!Tanya is a Work and Travel student from Russia! She came to USA in May and planned to have a great experience. AND SHE SO HAD IT!We walked miles, forgetting about business, lunch or coffee breaks But at night, we enjoyed it the NY way!We started at Havana’s, a cuban restaurant in Times Square:When we had enough with our dinner, we explored NYC at night!No, we did not get arrested The party went on for 2 days, but those details are on my personal blog June 13th-16th, 2008, Boston, Ufff RED SOX LOST IT!! Basic rule: never wear a Yankees hat in Boston and never wear a Red Sox hat in NYC, unless you like to see angels Sebastian joined the crowed on June 12th. He’s from Germany, Work and Travel student. He always wanted to see US and experience howa relationship between a native speaker and a not native speaker would go Would they speak English to understand each other? GOOD LUCK!We drove all the way from Connecticut to Boston, Massachusets and unlike the previous times I’ve seen Boston, this time we had a local with us and it’s thebest way you can explore THE BEST!!!We’ll get a movie ready with this experience as IT WAS AN EXPERIENCE from all points of view!First stop: liquer store, there is no way you can have a party without it! I have to warn you Europeans if you want to drink in the USA, PLAN AHEAD, you can only buy alchoolic drinks in special places and OFF WEEKENDS! Except forNew York, of course, doesn’t it has it all? “Bud” won the bid and we moved on Wait, where is my Heineken? Second stop: our weekend home A hell of experience: NO SHOWER DOOR, NO BATHROOM DOOR AND SHARED BEDROOM! I can assure you a hostel won’t be a problem in the future for a housing option!:) But, we did have a fancy dinner and “the barn” was AWEsome!These are not the best pictures, but the most handy ones!Downtown Crossing, walking on “MILK STREET” , the Boston aquarium and all the green spaces you find around are just a glimpse of Boston.Scituate beach and Maria’s Subs are a MUST if you stop in Boston and this is a local native TIP! STONES BEACH?!?!? No, THEY WERE DEFINATELY NOT CONFY, butit was an experience And if you make to little Italy, make sure you stop at PIZZA REGINA, THEY DESERVE THE NAME! I never had such a good pizza in my life!Local tradition: you have to end a marvelous day with a LOBSTER DINNER!UFFF, I hate lobsters , but Sebastian and the others loved them!Have you ever heard about LOBSTER RACES? I can share with you one secret about them: they are SO SLOW!!!The SOURCE OF ALL MY FRIENDS: SUNRISE RESORT, CONNECTICUT!! I worked here as a Work and Travel student and I kept comming back as a business person to enjoy my memmories and all the locals and internationals.We said good bye to Sunrise this summer as they went out of business by selling it to the US State BYE MY SUMMER CAMP!Their entire story can be accessed here (copy-paste the link in your browser):http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:kZQWf9tz2bMJ:www.courant.com/news/local/hc-resortclose0826.artaug26,0,1251192.story+sunrise+resort+story&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1But before saying “good bye” Sunrise brought together a lot of friends and families and I enjoyed it on each vacation I’ve spent there!We had it all: river, jacuzzi, huge pools, excellent food, boats, best friends!Hello guys! Max from Ukraine and Sebi from Germany! Caitlyn is studying theater in New York and Katrina just finished her 1st year in colege!The funniest experience was when we enjoyed a night on the river’s beach and we saw one of our friend’s boat floating up the river. The high tide untied the boat and it was taking it away We dropped our drinks and we took a canoe and row. What we did not know was that the canoe was TAKING WATER! and what you don’t know is that I DON’T SWIM!!So no wonder I had my life jacket on and 2 lifeguards with me in an up to waist deep water We saved the boat so that Mason (boat’s owner) can get us accross the river for another partyBefore Tanya moved to Boston, we enjoyed one more of shopping together with some other friends from Russia!All the stories from Sunrise and all the friends I’ve made there can not be compiled in a month so I’ll keep it short and stop here HOME PARTIES: SOMETIME IN JULY We did not really planned for it, we just CREATED IT! We had a house, we had a group, we had the music, it’s all we needed to make it a blast!We uncovered the pool and enjoyed it, we “pretended” we’re barman/ barwoman and we enjoyed the night outdoors!I’ll skip the middle and go directly to the end Beer Pong, flipping cups, dice? No, not at this one BILLY’S So if you really want to enjoy the local tradition, you should take a local with you This is what we did and we ended up at Billy’s, a great seafood restaurant in Old Saybrook. A “sounding” bridge close by, an open woden terrase made it perfect!And if we’re talking about experience, a Russian girl experiencing Russians Oisters in the USA can’t be a better example! I had to keep up with herOhhh Billy’s when will I see you again?KILLINGWORTH: 4TH OF JULY PARTY We couldn’t have enough with the fireworks and parties from the 2nd of July! But this party overcame all the others: fireworks, life band, pitch fire, pools, bear pong and a lot of welcomming people! Thank you Sam and Chriss!Ukrainiens, Germans, Romanians, Americans from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York. You name it! Cultural interaction I would call it!The funniest thing ever was the presence of the goat as a simbol of the party. Now, what happens when you have a goat and a dog in the same yard? Yes, the dog chases the goat and my bad luck was to be in the way of the goat! NEW ENGLAND: 6 FLAGS What else can you do in USA except for partying, exploring and visiting? Yes, going to an amusement park!The 1st one I went to was in Tampa, Florida, but that was rather a long time ago and not in this summer. But I am positive that nothing compares to Bush Gardens so if you ever make it to Orlando, go there! 6 Flags New England was a nice re-lieving experience! Roller coasters that make you feel happy you are alive when you get off, icecream, games, talent shows, you name it! But nothing compared to the “present” we received with the “glow in the dark parade”. It was the perfect way to close the day and the funniest thing is that we did not plan for it!ESCAPE IN VANCOUVER, CANADA AND VICTORIA BC

And this where our Step Up Students study!

This is the view from our partner college study rooms



Canada Place, Vancouver



Partying with BRGwork clients

On the way to Victoria, BC