J1 is A1

America! One of the favourite places i’ve ever been and hope to return to in the future. It was my 3 month J1 in California when i really fell in love with the country. The Coronas song “San Diego Song” is a pretty good description of what happens on a J1......
 

Things i learned on my J1 include the art of beer pong, microwaving eggs and good bit of Irish (having never done Irish in school, my friends taught me a few words to use when out in public so others wouldn’t understand us). I live at home during the college year so spending 3 months away from home was an experience in itself. Aside from all the nights out and days on the beach we managed to get a bit of traveling in too. We were living in Huntington Beach so we were only one hour away from L.A. The public transport was a joke, but after 3 buses and a few trams we could get to Hollywood.... We walked down the Hollywood Walk of Fame and did the obligatory tour of the stars’ homes which was fun but depressing at the same time-talk about how the other half live. Although I really enjoyed Hollywood, there’s nothing there that would make me want to return. 

One place I did love however was Las Vegas. I most defiantly want to go back there.... we did the trip on a very small budget so would like to go there and do it properly (not taking a greyhound bus for 11 hours and staying in a trucker stop hotel). That said I wouldn’t have changed our last trip, it’s hard to describe the real madness of Vegas unless you’ve been there. The place literally NEVER sleeps! If you’ve seen The Hangover i’de say everything that happened in it from waking up with a tiger in your room to ending up on the roof of your hotel is very possible.

If anyone asked my would I recommend going on a J1 i would say “DO IT”! It’s such a great opportunity and although we did have difficulty getting jobs if you keep trying eventually you’ll find something. It was also nice to experience a new culture, the sense of humour is a lot different and small things like saying “chips” can result in something totally different but it opened up my eyes to American and Americans.