I enrolled in the J-1 programme back during my university's summer break. Was placed at cedars point at ohio for 3 months. Never cared much about wages and stuffs much more than the opportunity having to step my feet in America for the first time. 'Cultural exchange' was there, though mostly with like-minded peers who took up the same programme as me, ranging from all across Europe and asia. With Americans? Distinctively 2 kinds - One who plays all arrogant-bossy-my land kind of vibes, shuns the foreign workers all the way despite even not had a proper conversation for more than 5 minutes. The other was down to earth-open arms wide welcoming me for the experience, like... genuinely great to talk to, made plenty of buddies. Never did the former knew I ended up with a masters degree in engineering while they're stuck with their job. Now..... I missed the times so badly, even that I had to score 75hrs work weeks, patrolling the park under scorching sun and push fatties down water slides