`` If Moscow does not believe in tears, then America even more so '': the Russian told how he made his way to the USA

A resident of Chelyabinsk, Andrei, once visiting the United States, threw all his strength to return to this country and stay there to live. As part of a series of materials about compatriots who have moved abroad, "Lenta.ru report»Publishes his story about life in Boston.

Photo: personal archive

I first visited the USA on the Work & Travel program in 2005. Thanks to the program, students from all over the world come to the States for several months to work, improve their English and see the country. I was carried to a fairly well-known resort island in Massachusetts - Nantucket. I got my first job as a cashier in a cafe at a local airport. I had time both to explore the area on a bicycle provided to me free of charge by a friendly local policeman named John Welch, and to find a second job, because the primary goal at that time in my life was the first earnings of serious, by my standards, money. I coped with this task and returned to my native Chelyabinsk with a huge store of memories and emotions.

The first memory of America: we (the students) boarded a bus and headed from Kennedy Airport to our hotel called the New Yorker. At first, the bus drove through rather gloomy areas, signs in Chinese, Spanish, and even Russian flashed through the window, but when we got out in the very center of Manhattan, I realized that I had encountered something more than I could imagine. When you see such frames on TV, they do not convey all the grandeur, do not transmit sounds, smells, the scale of what is happening. You really start to feel like a hero of an American film.

Photo: personal archive

Upon returning to Chelyabinsk, evergreen bright and carefully trimmed American lawns were replaced with familiar painfully landscapes: a smoky gray sky, the harsh faces of the passengers of old trolleybuses and the ugly dirty slushy autumn streets. A few years before that, I was specifically “hooked” on foreign rock music in general and on the work of Linkin Park in particular. I think that in part their rebellious attitude encouraged me to the necessary changes in life. I studied the biographies of musicians, read interviews in foreign sources, and all this helped me to learn English.

Guitar and English interested me more and more, and the university less and less, so in 2006, I decided to return to America. All right.

From childhood I was to the Western culture, be it cinema or music, and I simply did not see my further development in Chelyabinsk in the manner in which I would like. It was uncomfortable for me to live there, and, frankly, it was unpleasant to be there. I did not have any acquaintances that would help my career as a lawyer, and even more so there was not even any hint of a career as a musician. I had to start from scratch, which means it could be done anywhere.

I preferred to build a new life in a new environment for myself, in a country to which I was always attracted. And after 12 years after the move, I can say for sure that I do not regret for a second about the decision.

Photo: personal archive

Of course, moving to a new place without education and work experience at first is difficult, not so much physically as emotionally. I missed my family and friends, video calling at the time was not very good, and telephone conversations mostly took place on the way from one job to another. However, the constantly emerging difficulties did not allow to relax and get bored. We had to solve problems that only immigrants faced: how to get a phone without a credit history, how to get a driver's license, not having a permanent address, and so on.

A few months had to live in Spartan conditions: 12 students in a three-room apartment, and even the first mattress was picked up by someone who was leaving for the summer in Boston. Not a very sensible idea from the sanitary and hygienic point of view, but, as they say, has carried it. Especially considering that Boston is a very popular city in terms of education, where tens of thousands of students from all over the world come every year. In May and September, in the street you can find abandoned objects left by students: from office equipment like a printer and a TV to furniture, and everything is in excellent condition.

Everyone who complains about the difficulties of living in America just wants to say: “My dear ones, how did you want? You came to conquer a foreign country! If Moscow does not believe in tears, then America is even more so. ”

Many complain of unemployment in the country and claim that it is extremely difficult to find work. This is a blatant lie. Work can be found for a day. The main thing is not to sit still. Yes, it hardly refers to the dream job, and you may have to forget about your ego and higher education for a while, but you cannot die of hunger here. There is a lot of work, and people who are not afraid of it will always find it.

My first job, found in 24 hours, is a cashier at Dunkin Donuts. In addition to the minimum wage and a small number of hours, there were disgusting coffee and a sandwich for lunch as bonuses. Already saving! In addition, with the informal permission of the manager, at the end of the shift, you could neatly fold and pick up all the food that wasn’t sold. As a result, I drove home pounds of treats, and by morning 12 sleepy students were waiting for almost fresh buns. Not the most wholesome food, but free. After some time, when it became unbearable to eat donuts, I managed to establish barter with the cashier of the neighboring McDonald's, who was also tired of gnawing some nuggets. There is only one conclusion: if you want to live - know how to spin.

Photo: personal archive

Without a car, life in the suburbs of Boston was unbearable: at that time there were no services like Uber, and the public transport system to this day is decently developed except in New York. Many suburbs of large cities like Boston are not directly connected at all. I had to choose - either walk 45 minutes on foot, or go with three changes and spend more than an hour on it.

For some reason, all compatriots who have visited America, there is a perception that there are some problems with food. As a person who ate a dollar menu at McDonalds and a dozen Michelin restaurants in the past few years, I am sure that you can eat tasty and healthy food in America, and even relatively inexpensively, if you don’t run to the first pizzeria.

Having moved to America, I dreamed of making music. Behind me, I had little guitar skills, unfinished musical education in the piano class, and quite large ambitions.

I wanted to write music that would be close to me and like other people. Shortly after the move, I began to buy some recording equipment at home, musical instruments. Fortunately, at that time the revolution of home recordings had already begun - now it became accessible to everyone to implement ideas, and all the equipment in America is cheaper than in Russia.

Photo: personal archive

With a friend from Chelyabinsk who came to me, we recorded more 20 demo ideas. Unfortunately, we did not know anything about how the music industry works, we had no experience, no savings, and the number of problems went through the roof. The harsh reality quickly took over: the bills needed to be paid, temporary jobs were replaced by regular work, second, third, and the focus gradually shifted from the dream of being a rock star to the long and thorny path of the immigrant.

Over 12 years of my life, I managed to survive a lot: creating and developing several businesses, managing headquarters from more than 100 employees, more than a dozen professions that I changed, wonderful trips to nearly half of the states, meeting with my bride.

Perhaps the most important thing that I understood during my stay in the States is everything is possible, the question is in the desire and the amount of work that you are ready to invest. Now both I and my future wife have thrown all their strength on the development of a rock band.

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