Work and Travel in the US: Is It Worth It?

Every summer, many AUBG students embark on a Work and Travel program to live in and explore the United States while earning money and gaining work experience at the same time. 

However, for someone who has never experienced anything like it, working in the US can be mentally and physically exhausting.

To give a better perspective, five AUBG students expressed their opinions on the advantages and disadvantages of going on a Work and Travel in the US for the summer.

Zlatin Manahov is a second-year student at AUBG. He had two jobs in Dells, Wisconsin – working as a truck attendant in the morning and a bartender/server in the evening.

“Overall, it was a great experience, I enjoyed it. Maybe I should have chosen a better job, but the people were great, I made some very good friends over there,” Zlatin said.

He said that the worst part of the summer was seeing everybody enjoying themselves on vacation while he was stuck at his workplace. “I missed my friends and my family and I also missed Bulgarian food a lot.  Because the food in America is not really good.” Despite these factors, he shared that the whole experience was worth it, as he earned money and also managed to visit Chicago.

Zlatin advised all future students who will be going on the Work and Travel program to share this experience with a friend. His message to them was: “If you want to try something new, definitely go for it.”

Mariya Haydushka, a junior student, and Mirela Yovcheva, a senior student, spent their summer together in Nantucket, Massachusetts. This has been their second summer participating in the program. Mirela worked as a server, while Mariya had two jobs – busser and a front-of-house associate in a theater.

“I understood a lot about myself and what I have to value more. Not everybody is going to be nice to you and you have to get used to it,” Mirela said and added: “I think people should consider what they want from this summer – whether they want financial stability, improvement in their language skills, or vacation.”

Both of them stated that the worst part of their summer was the disrespect they received from employers and colleagues in the workplace on various occasions. “We had over 50 people on staff so you wouldn’t get along with everyone. There were a lot of different cultures and people, so sometimes I felt disrespected because they were saying and doing stuff that just made me uncomfortable,” Mariya said.

Mariya and Mirela said that the best part of the summer was their last week when they managed to travel around the United States and described Disney World in Orlando as their favorite destination. “You’ve worked so hard during the summer; you’ve worked like 14 hours a day and you know that you have this week at the end of the summer when you get to see and explore things and go on trips,” Mariya said.

“It is a great opportunity to travel, see, and experience the world. It is also a great opportunity to build your character and develop yourself, but people should really think if this is for them,” Mariya said when asked whether the whole experience was worth the sacrifice.

Mirela advised future Work and Travel participants to visit the US with a friend and conduct detailed research on their workplace and housing, to make sure that they have chosen the right place to go. 

Lisart Mela and Velizar Tsankov are two other AUBG students who worked in the US during the summer. Lisart had two jobs in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, while Velizar was working in a candy shop in Mackinaw City, Michigan.

“I was able to grow as a person and become more self-reliant. I got the opportunity to meet a lot of people from different cultural backgrounds and actually made some good friendships with them,” Velizar said.

He managed to visit Detroit and London on his way back home and expressed his fascination with what he saw in the US during the summer. “It has been a dream of mine since I was a child to visit the United States, and up until that moment all my impressions were from social media, movies, and books, but it is different when you go there and experience it yourself.”

Velizar said that the Work and Travel program is an experience that a person should go through at least once in their life.

Lisart, on the other hand, was more moderate when talking about life in the US.

“I got homesick for the first time in my life. America just hits you hard sometimes,” he said. Other factors that made his Work and Travel experience not so pleasant were the attitude of his manager, the food prices, and the taxes.

Despite these problems, he described life in the United States as an enriching experience for him. “I would have never known if it wasn’t America that I actually could have worked for, like, 16-17 hours a day,” Lisart said. 

He advised future participants in the program to work as much as they can while they are in the US. “It is an exciting experience and it will make you see how much potential you actually have,” Lisart said.