Never give up!

I am Karyna Kovalchuck, the student of the last year of study. Once being a student of the 2nd course I got the possibility to take part in the internationally famous program called Work&Travel. I was happy to see the USA, to get closer to its culture by getting acquainted with so many people at work and all over the country. Of course, having experienced a wide range of new things I wanted to travel to the US once more in summer 2018. But not everything in our life goes the way we want it to go. My visa to the US was denied without any concrete reason. I felt miserable having no wish to do anything.

In a few days after the bad news I spoke to my close friend who told me that there are so many countries in the whole world where I can travel too. She suggested me trying to go to Germany. To tell the truth I didn’t want to go there because of language and even more because of stereotyped attitude I had toward German people. I thought that people there would not like me because I don’t speak good German. Anyway I didn’t want to spend summer in my town and I rallied my thoughts to travel there. I was living in Plau am See (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). I got completely different job from that I had in the US. Though I had no experience working as a waitress I made my best to improve my skills every day. I knew I greatly improved when my boss with the smile on her face told me that I helped them so much this summer.
So I came back to Ukraine last week. What I want to say now is that I had great experience being in Germany for more than two months. I never expected to enjoy this place and to destroy all the stereotypes I had had before coming there. German people are kind-hearted, smiley and reliable when you work with them or drink beer after the end of the day. I never expected to find so many wonderful people in this country. But I found. And having made so many friends I didn’t realize that it would be even more difficult to leave Germany than leaving the US. I got through so many struggles with language barrier as it was my first time practicing it. But day by day I was learning more, doing my job well and smiling whatever happened. I also traveled all over the town and visited Hamburg, Rostock. I am intended to come back and to see more.
So why did I write about the USA and Germany? It is because I want to encourage you to never give up even if something goes wrong. I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason. And if you have your visa denied don’t feel like it is the end of the world because it is not. It just means that more emotions and more people are waiting for you somewhere else. And you know what is funny? I had to go to the US to the small town called Put in Bay to work in the restaurant but I turned out to be in Plau am See working in the restaurant too. Names sound almost the same, there were lakes in both towns and the kind of job I supposed to have in the US was the same I had in Germany. Is it a coincidence? Only God knows but doesn’t tell.

Karyna Kovalchuk,
Fourth-year student,
Faculty of Foreign Languages, CUSPU