Testimonies
KILLINGTON, VT
Iskra opens to tell us about her experience from Peru to Killington, working in the Hospitality Crew area.
Name: Iskra C.
Age: 20 years
Occupation: Business Administration Student
Destination: KILLINGTON, VT
Company and position where you work: The Summit Lodge, Hospitality Crew
-We would like to know how you are and how you feel, as a participant of the Work & Travel USA program
I really like doing work and travel, it is my second year and I had some problems in my experience this year but I liked it the same.
I had problems with my employer, because there were some things that I did not like in his way of working, he was very demanding, he made me work a lot and in the new year he gave me no rest for more than 2 hours.
I did housekeeper, breakfasts, bar, it was very complete and I was quite tired and wanted a day off to rest but I did not give it to myself, and that is why I had back problems x that I did not have rest.
I think they did not have a lot of organization in their company, because when the human resources company arrived they told us that we had a different wage per area but we did not know that and it was not in the contract, we regularized it later but we had to speak with the sponsor to this and could be fixed.
I had to leave on March 3, and I told my boss but I also made it to my friend on the 3rd and left her without housing, luckily we became friends in which she could stay.
-What was the experience for?
I think that when you leave work and travel you come back as a different person, I thought about many things in my life and learned to be more responsible, I could see that education there is very expensive because of what they told me and I in Peru do not work only study I was able to see the difference in culture completely.
He learns many things that they do in other countries, for example that in Argentina and Chile there is skiing, I did not know haha later we understood why they were so good skiing haha.
-Was the work as you imagined it?
The work was not as I imagined it, I did not expect not to work because I had already done it last season, but in this position they demanded a lot of me, I had never felt pain in the body for working so much.
In the new year I worked many hours in a row, I could not rest at all.
-How was the work environment? How was the relationship with other coworkers?
In the place where I was, there were more American people than J1, the relationship was good, I took all of them super well, I was also with a friend, but to see my friends from Chile and Argentina we went to another resort to visit them, which They were friends we had from last season.
And on Saturdays I was the host of an Italian restaurant, and here I could meet other people too, I met a very cute and tender Malaysian boy! haha the last day I went he gave me a notebook with some pens, super cute.
-What were the best things about your job? And the worst?
The best ones were that I was confident, I liked the work environment in both jobs I had, it was cool, because people always gave you support and told you not to stress, they accompanied you.
And the worst was basically the treatment I had with my boss, his way of working, he did not have good manners and he did his best to give me more hours when I needed to rest.
-What did you do on your days off?
On my days off, we snowboarded, we went out with friends, we skied, we went to rotland to the town and we walked, we went bowling, we had pizza 24/7 and sometimes we finished work and we went to eat there at whatever time.
I learned many words that I didn't know, like "cachai" from Chileans, because in Mexico it is said differently "you understand me".
The housing was in the same hotel, it was a hotel room, a benefit of getting up and going to work.
-Were you able to see other places?
Yes, I knew Orlando, New York and in Vermont I went to Wudstock, which is a small and beautiful city, it was quite similar to Killington.
-What surprised you the most?
I think what surprised me the most is the work and the people, because in my first work and travel I had not worked with American people, and this year they were all Americans, I was able to practice a lot of English, I really liked that.
The American people are very nice, I thought they were more hostile but they were very friendly, a friend even offered to take us for a ride in her car because the bus was very late.
-Any anecdote that you take as a souvenir?
The truth is that I have several haha
One is with my friend, we were learning with skis, but a friend told us that we had to go up to a gondolas for experts, and it was my second day skiing, but we went up to the chasm and realized that it was about to close the gondola, when we reached the top they had closed the gondola and we had no way to return, and we had to do the whole route skiing and my friend doing snowboarding, we were super scared, but we dared to do it but super slow haha because there were rocks and trees, we took 3 and a half haha it was fun the truth.
So I think I could learn much more skiing!
-What would you recommend to someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?
to be well informed of what his work consists of, to investigate the shoras that he has to work and travel a lot! I really liked getting to know different places, I like traveling more alone than with my parents.
All this information is very useful for us and for the boys who want to travel with the program for the next seasons, so we really appreciate your collaboration.
Age: 20 years
Occupation: Business Administration Student
Destination: KILLINGTON, VT
Company and position where you work: The Summit Lodge, Hospitality Crew
-We would like to know how you are and how you feel, as a participant of the Work & Travel USA program
I really like doing work and travel, it is my second year and I had some problems in my experience this year but I liked it the same.
I had problems with my employer, because there were some things that I did not like in his way of working, he was very demanding, he made me work a lot and in the new year he gave me no rest for more than 2 hours.
I did housekeeper, breakfasts, bar, it was very complete and I was quite tired and wanted a day off to rest but I did not give it to myself, and that is why I had back problems x that I did not have rest.
I think they did not have a lot of organization in their company, because when the human resources company arrived they told us that we had a different wage per area but we did not know that and it was not in the contract, we regularized it later but we had to speak with the sponsor to this and could be fixed.
I had to leave on March 3, and I told my boss but I also made it to my friend on the 3rd and left her without housing, luckily we became friends in which she could stay.
-What was the experience for?
I think that when you leave work and travel you come back as a different person, I thought about many things in my life and learned to be more responsible, I could see that education there is very expensive because of what they told me and I in Peru do not work only study I was able to see the difference in culture completely.
He learns many things that they do in other countries, for example that in Argentina and Chile there is skiing, I did not know haha later we understood why they were so good skiing haha.
-Was the work as you imagined it?
The work was not as I imagined it, I did not expect not to work because I had already done it last season, but in this position they demanded a lot of me, I had never felt pain in the body for working so much.
In the new year I worked many hours in a row, I could not rest at all.
-How was the work environment? How was the relationship with other coworkers?
In the place where I was, there were more American people than J1, the relationship was good, I took all of them super well, I was also with a friend, but to see my friends from Chile and Argentina we went to another resort to visit them, which They were friends we had from last season.
And on Saturdays I was the host of an Italian restaurant, and here I could meet other people too, I met a very cute and tender Malaysian boy! haha the last day I went he gave me a notebook with some pens, super cute.
-What were the best things about your job? And the worst?
The best ones were that I was confident, I liked the work environment in both jobs I had, it was cool, because people always gave you support and told you not to stress, they accompanied you.
And the worst was basically the treatment I had with my boss, his way of working, he did not have good manners and he did his best to give me more hours when I needed to rest.
-What did you do on your days off?
On my days off, we snowboarded, we went out with friends, we skied, we went to rotland to the town and we walked, we went bowling, we had pizza 24/7 and sometimes we finished work and we went to eat there at whatever time.
I learned many words that I didn't know, like "cachai" from Chileans, because in Mexico it is said differently "you understand me".
The housing was in the same hotel, it was a hotel room, a benefit of getting up and going to work.
-Were you able to see other places?
Yes, I knew Orlando, New York and in Vermont I went to Wudstock, which is a small and beautiful city, it was quite similar to Killington.
-What surprised you the most?
I think what surprised me the most is the work and the people, because in my first work and travel I had not worked with American people, and this year they were all Americans, I was able to practice a lot of English, I really liked that.
The American people are very nice, I thought they were more hostile but they were very friendly, a friend even offered to take us for a ride in her car because the bus was very late.
-Any anecdote that you take as a souvenir?
The truth is that I have several haha
One is with my friend, we were learning with skis, but a friend told us that we had to go up to a gondolas for experts, and it was my second day skiing, but we went up to the chasm and realized that it was about to close the gondola, when we reached the top they had closed the gondola and we had no way to return, and we had to do the whole route skiing and my friend doing snowboarding, we were super scared, but we dared to do it but super slow haha because there were rocks and trees, we took 3 and a half haha it was fun the truth.
So I think I could learn much more skiing!
-What would you recommend to someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?
to be well informed of what his work consists of, to investigate the shoras that he has to work and travel a lot! I really liked getting to know different places, I like traveling more alone than with my parents.
All this information is very useful for us and for the boys who want to travel with the program for the next seasons, so we really appreciate your collaboration.
