Route J-1

By SunJeong Lee, Client Relations Officer, Cultural Vistas

A version of this blog post was originally published on the Cultural Vistas Blog

Food brings everyone together. Afghani and Pakistani international visitors (pictured here) break bread with a Vermont family.

Interning and living in a new country will give you a new perspective. It’s a chance to explore and immerse yourself in a new culture. Many of our sponsors, including Cultural Vistas, love hearing how the Exchange Visitor Program changes perspectives and builds connections.

Recently, we asked our participants how their perceptions of America have changed after their U.S. exchange programs. Join us for the next five Tuesdays to explore the answers to this question. In light of recent global and domestic affairs, exchange visitors reflections will leave you inspired and hopeful for positive change.

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Categories: Program Spotlight

By Liam Godbert Brown, J-1 au pair from the United Kingdom

Liam Godbert Brown is a British university graduate who came to the United States as an au pair. He won the lottery to run in the New York City Marathon, which took place on Sunday, November 6. This is his second marathon. He ran the New Jersey Marathon this in May.

Liam Godbert Brown shows off his NYC Marathon Finisher Medal.

Why did you want to run the TCS New York City Marathon?

New York has been one of my favourite cities for a very long time and it’s been incredible to be living nearby for the last year.  As a long time runner, I’ve always wanted to participate in races held in my favorite cities. Now that I’ve done New York I’ll have to try to compete in London.

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Categories: Program Spotlight

By Lynette Evans-Tiernan, Communications Manager for the Exchange Visitor Program

Moira Cacia and Angela Mininni (J-1 au pairs from Italy) we‘re very excited to see so many Italians running the race and happy to cheer them on.

On Sunday, November 6, more than 1,000 J-1 international exchange visitors – students, interns, au pairs, and research scholars – volunteered at rest and water stops along the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon course, supporting the 50,000 runners from over 135 countries who ran the race. Meet some of the volunteers and read about their experiences:

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Categories: Program Spotlight

By Garazi Alkorta, J-1-Au Pair from Spain
A version of this story was originally published on Expert Au Pair

Stunning views of the city from the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center)

When I decided to start this journey called the au-pair experience, being more than 5,000 miles away from home for a year, on my own, living and sharing experiences with strangers sounded like a scary idea. Let’s jump into the car and travel through this – not always so easy – road that turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life.

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Categories: Program Spotlight

By Petar Dragnic, J-1 Summer Work Travel Alumni from Serbia

Petar and Andreaa monitoring players in “Escape Room”

I participated in the Summer Work and Travel program in 2013 and 2014, and I can say that participating on this program was the best decision I made in my life! I spent two summers working in the Asticou Inn, a fine-dining restaurant in Northeast Harbor, Maine. It is a small town on the beautiful Mount Desert Island, which is a home of Acadia National Park. I had a chance to meet a lot of great people from America – and also from other parts of the world. Besides having fun with my friends, I had the opportunity to learn a lot of new skills related to customer service and business management.

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Categories: Program Spotlight

By Lynette Evans-Tiernan, Communications Manager for the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program

J-1 Visa Exchange Visitors Volunteer at the 2015 TCS NYC Marathon

We’ve officially started the countdown to the New York City Marathon, Sunday, November 6.

Why are we at the State Department so excited about this event? Well, more than 1,000 J-1 exchange visitors – students, interns, au pairs, and research scholars – will be volunteering at rest and water stops along the race course to support the 50,000 runners from over 135 countries who will run the race. These J-1 students will be the largest single group of volunteers at the race, onsite to ensure the marathon runs smoothly. In additional, several J-1 exchange visitors will be running the marathon.

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Categories: Program Spotlight

By Samantha Chaitram, J-1 Doctorate Student from Trinidad and Tobago

Samantha and her grandfather Emamly.

When my dad passed away in 2001, my grandfather became the single most important person in my life. He became my father and my grandfather. When I was awarded a Fulbright scholarship in 2012, I asked my grandpa, what should I do? His response was, “Islam teaches that we must seek as much knowledge as we can find.”

My grandfather is the reason I am here today at the University of Miami pursuing doctoral studies. An Indian Muslim born in Trinidad and Tobago in 1931, my grandfather Emamly Hosein spoke English, Hindi, and Urdu – and read Arabic. He was one of the few of his generation who was literate, and while he never had the opportunity to attend high school, he read everything he got his hands on. While many Indian men of his era only educated their sons and married off their daughters, he broke that tradition. He educated as best as he could his sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters equally. His dream was to see me graduate from an American university with a PhD, write my first book, and see my picture on it.

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Categories: Program Spotlight

By Sonija Luzi, J-1 Research Scholar from Italy

When a baby is born, a mother is born. This doesn’t necessarily happen to fathers. When we found out we were expecting, we were overjoyed. I was dreaming of a little girl to dress in pink tutus and go to the spa with. My husband was more of the idea of an exuberant boy and their soccer games together, their monster fights, snails and lizard and slime… eww green slime!

Without noticing it, we were already caught in gender stereotypes, where girls dress in pink and practice ballet and boys go search for snails and play soccer.

When the baby was finally in our arms, we welcomed the most adorable little girl. I was ecstatic! My husband was very happy, but somehow, this new role of father of a girl weighted a little more on his shoulders. He didn’t feel the same complicity and connection he was expecting. He was the father of a girl, he needed to protect her and eventually worry about miniskirts and makeup.
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Categories: Program Spotlight

By Mariliis Eensalu, J-1 Intern from Estonia

Climate change affects everything, including the Ocean. The cause for this change is not fully understood; nevertheless, humankind can work towards reducing the ecological footprint. On September 15-16, I had the pleasure of attending “Our Ocean, One Future Leadership Summit” hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington, D.C. The conference was organized to engage the next generation of political leaders, entrepreneurs, and scientists to identify solutions and commit to actions to protect our ocean – so it can continue to sustain us all in the future.

Mariliis Eensalu at Our Ocean, One Future Leadership Summit at the State Department.

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Categories: Program Spotlight

By Kata, J-1 Intern from Austria

Katya rotating plant racks at her internship at Plant Delights.

Going to another country and experiencing their way of life was something I always desired. At a very young age, I did several exchanges to countries like New Zealand and Spain, but I was never interested in going to the United States. Nevertheless, I think it was meant to be that I heard about this great nursery called Plant Delights, a mail order nursery that exists to create an amazing botanical garden in the so-called triangle area of North Carolina. Having spent most of my youth in a specialty nursery, I knew this was the place to be to receive further training for my horticultural career.

In 2015, I started doing more research on Plant Delights as part of my master’s thesis on networks and knowledge transfer in the perennial business. It only made sense to include this nursery in my research since it is internationally known for its exotic and highly rare perennials. After a one day visit to this nursery and botanical garden, I knew that this is where I wanted to do an internship. I talked to my intern coordinator and was connected with J-1 sponsor Ohio State University, who helped me obtain a J-1 visa.  After a lot of paperwork, I was ready for departure on February 1. When I arrived in the United States, my coordinator picked me up from the airport, took me to my future home and showed me around.

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Categories: Program Spotlight