Getting bread in the promised land

With the result of the last election in the USA, I’ve started thing about how this event has changed the relationship of our overseas allies, because at this point many of them have gained a more positive perspective about Americans, who are constantly being judged by their international politics. But the country itself is much more then the war in Iraq or MTV in many American tourists we meet on the streets of our own capital; it’s a country you can get to know if you don’t visit it as a tourist, but as an almost resident of it. This can be achieved by the help of summer jobs, which are organized at the STA traveling agency in Ljubljana.

Back in 2006 I was looking at their offers, without actually considering going overseas, yet after a few months of preparation and money-saving, and of course the unavoidable bureaucracy I’ve set my feet on American soil. My first impressions were those of a mere tourist, having a sightseeing tour of New York, then flying further west towards Oregon, where a job awaited me in a resort among pine trees. Here the everyday life had begun: working in a restaurant, buying stuff in local markets, American food (which added a few extra pounds to ma stature), paying rent and spending time in front of the TV. I felt American. Even more so, when I got my very own social security card and opened up my personal bank account. It could have hardly have gotten nearer the American dream. The summer passed by quickly and I’ve earned for a laptop, which was really cheap there, and the last month, for which I’ve planned a trip around the States came.

I’ve seen many things an met even more people, not to mention that I’ve visited many sights we can see in movies and series, but most of my time I spent on the west coast in cities like Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. I have also visited Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, but due to the fact I wasn’t 21 yet I wasn’t allowed to try out my luck. Before returning to the east coast I also visited the Grand Canyon.

I haven’t sailed into culinary waters myself, yet the experience has stuck with me, so last year I decided and returned to Oregon for one more summer, renewing old and making new friendships in a place where I felt quite at home already. It was a working summer holiday with lots of chores and fun as well. And since I was already 21 I was able to try out their beers of which there are many home made brews of excellent quality. This time I traveled all over the east coast. I went to Denver and Chicago, before reaching my destination in Miami and then went further down to Key West, swam in the Florida sea, experienced the weather contrasts of the States (such as being wrapped tightly in a pullover in the central park one day and cooling down in the ocean the very next day). I concluded my trip in the north-east visiting Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. etc. and the returned to New York, from where I flew back to Europe. It’s been a week now and I still haven’t fully switched back to Slovenia. I miss American friends, American habits, American food, roads and some other things. I do keep in touch with people over the web. Luckily I’ve got attached to a country you can find trace all over the globe off.

So America isn’t only its politics and the statue of liberty, nor is it a sit-com on TV or the tall skyscrapers. It’s the everyday life, the newspaper with a cup of coffee in a local diner. It’s working with average people with everyday habits, shopping in the local store and laughing inside yourself when you can show a tourist in your “hometown” the right way. It’s the little things you can never experience as a tourist, for you have to live there in order to get this feeling, even if only for a few months.

The applications should be submitted before March 31st 2009.

Blaž
STA Ljubljana