Once upon a time there was a girl. She grew up watching Russian, European and American movies, Argentinean and Brazilian telenovelas. She had a dream. She wanted to become an actress. She couldn’t find that one job that she would be happy doing, she wanted to travel the world, meet different people, explore countries and live by the ocean and becoming an actress could give her all that.
She fell in love with the latin acting and saw herself moving to Argentina. She started learning Spanish and became pretty fluent.
Then something changed. She thought, “If I want to be an actress, what could be a better place that Hollywood?”. It was a light bulb moment and she started learning the English language and dreaming of Oscars.
She went to the University where she majored in English and minored in German, she was a persistent and stubborn girl and if she decided to do something, there was a little chance to make her change her mind.
In the year of 2005 she flew to the US for summer. Her university was a center of the CCUSA program that would send students from all over the world to different American summer camps. She remembers her first international flight as if it was yesterday. Her parents took her to the train station. Her mom and her cried their eyes out because it was the first time they were separating for so long. They kissed, hugged each other tightly and waved each other goodbye. Her dad went to Moscow with her. It was a wonderful night train ride. Seeing towns change, breathing in the warm summer air, thinking about her up-coming adventures and the future. Her dad and her had some dinner that her mom prepared for them, called her and went to sleep.
She woke up really early filled with excitement. Her dad was still asleep. She couldn’t stop smiling.
Her dad took brought her to the orientation with the CCUSA group, they went through some rules, and a bunch of other stuff and her dad took her to the airport. They hugged each other, kissed each other good bye and her dad went back home.
She was waiting for her flight with a group of other students. The journey has begun!
She asked for a window seat, she saw the plane taking off, people getting smaller, trees, the whole city of Moscow turning into a small dot and seeing the clouds so close she could touch them. She flew before but only as a little girl so her memories about those flights were pretty washed-out.
She had a layover in Paris. What a beautiful city, she felt magic in the air even though they landed there at night. A bus took her to the terminal, everyone spoke French and it was so captivating! She had an 11 hour layover at the Charles De Gaulle airport, so she spent her time walking around, listening to the French and anticipating her most magical summer ever!
After a long night, taking naps on super uncomfortable metal benches, walking around she finally had her flight to New York City! She saw the French Riviera, the light blue ocean, and couldn’t believe it! She dreamt of seeing the ocean for so long and finally it happened! The power and greatness of it were indescribable!
She couldn’t sleep that long and excitement-filled flight. Seeing the water change from light azure to the dark blue, seeing white ships down underneath, thinking about what’s this summer going to be like was intoxicating!
The plane started landing. The beautiful city of New York started coming out of the clouds. She tried to see the the Statue of Liberty but couldn’t find it, seems like it was on the other side of the aisle. The tall buildings started showing up, she felt thrilled. Here it is, the city that she has seen in so many movies! They got out of the plane. She called her parents, they were super worried as the plane was delayed, she told them everything was good and she arrived safely. She was still at the airport. She looked through the tall ceiling-to-floor windows into the city. It was grand! It was magical! It was breath-taking!
That girl was me.
To be Continued…