Frankly speaking, I felt tense to death before I set out, for I had no idea about what I would face and what was waiting for me. I've travelled a lot of times alone but working abroad is totally different from that, at least, I think so. However, things didn't seem to be that hard as I expected. Why did I tell that? It's because as far as I am concerned, American people might be serious and inflexible. They thought rules were everything. They never understood how to change their mind. Yet, I was wrong. They're not that difficult as rumor; instead, they're very friendly, helpful, sweet and lovely.


I could see that when the first day I arrived in the US . I lost my baggage (I couldn't believe it! It never happened, but it happened) and I didn't know what I should do. At this time, my area representative, Mrs. Jean de Champ, came to give me a hand. She not only picked me up at the airport but dealt with my luggage. It was a great favor for me, for I was not familiar with Phoenix and still exhausted then (after a long plane trip). Moreover, Jean also helped me with my Social Security Card and provided free meals and accommodation at her house and told me how I could get the place I worked. I sincerely appreciated Jean and her husband (Jean's husband is a very humorous person. He likes telling dry jokes^^). It's sad I couldn't meet them again before I left. I hope I can visit them in the future!


I worked at the Enchantment Resort, located in Sedona , Arizona . It's extremely hot there but thank God, it's dry, not humid as in Taiwan . (Also, because it's dry and hot there, I always got shocked, I think it's called “ static”). Sedona is very natural, original and picturesque. There's full of red rocks, wild animals such as riddle snakes and thousands of hundreds tropical desert insects like scorpions. Sedona is not far from Grand Canyon and Las Vegas , actually if you want to go these places by car, you have to pass Sedona though. Thus, I visited Grand Canyon and Las Vegas as well (That's for sure!). I did housekeeping there and I have to say it's really a hard job, but from this, I learned and experienced a lot (Exercised a lot, too).


People doing housekeeping were always Mexicans, so I had to speak Spanish, not English, but I obtained another language, and I know how to clean my room and to do housework now~ When I got free time, I also had another part-time job- banquet. I love doing it. You can be a server serving and knowing wines and dishes as well as see a lot of so-called polite people. Those people were always doctors, lawyers or technicians. I especially liked seeing them interacted or had a small talk and dealt with each other, for it was their social life. In my opinion, it's a good thing and in addition to these, I experienced what the real world is like, too. Truly! Take work for example. If your colleagues were lazy and you were not satisfied with them, you had to endure them because you had no choice. It was your job, it was your decision, all you can do just helped them do things quickly.


What's more, even you were in a low mood, maybe you just had a quarrel with your roommates yesterday, now you didn't want to smile, but you still had to because you were working and for every resort and hotel, guests are treasures, you couldn't put on an attitude or offend them just because of your personal feelings. That's life. C'est la vie! Nevertheless, I grew up a lot through these. I think more, see more, listen more and look before I leap. I'm glad I took this program instead of not. Before I went to the US , I had no idea whether I should come, for it was a whole new world, but now I feel it couldn't be better. I deeply believe if I have another chance, I'll want to go definitely.

Everyone would go to travel in the US as he/she ended the job. And I was not the exception, too. After finishing my work in Sedona, I went traveling of course. I want to travel around the world, but I don't have so much time on doing it in one time, so I do it gradually. I've been to European, Asian, Oceanic countries, and this time I arrived in the America . Thus, I wouldn't give up this good opportunity, and grasped it!


I went to San Francisco , Los Angles, Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas by myself. It was a backpack trip, so I had to plan everything on my own. It was a big challenge for me. First, I had to go to local travel agency to make a reservation for plane tickets, and then I had to surf the Net to find which hotels I was able to stay as well as minimized prices (I had to consider about my budget), what kind of spots I wanted to visit and what's more important, transportation (Muni schedule lines and so on), because I couldn't drive. Nevertheless, by planning this trip myself, I became more independent, made a lot of friends and went to the places I wanted to go. I saw Universal Studio, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Blvd., Hollywood, Kodak Theatre, Union Station, Disneyland, Golden Gate Bridge, Korean Town, Japanese Town, Italian Town, China Town, Union Square, rode and took the Cable Car, hot air balloon and Jeep Tour, etc.. Too much to say.


And during this trip, I also felt American people's hospitality again. When I had a map on hand, they would volunteer to ask you where you were heading for and to tell you the directions. It's so sweet of them and that indeed helped a lot. I remember somebody told me,” If you can dream it, you can do it.” Now I did realize my dream to go on a backpack travel and work in the US . All I had to have is just time, money and guts. That's not hard. If I can do it, you can do it!