" Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew."

Amanda Gorman

Sunday, June 30, 2002

Breakfast in the basement of Patrick Henry Inn. Then two flights: from Washington, DC to Minneapolis, and then from Minneapolis to Bozeman (MT). The first flight was horrible for me (and for others); my blood pressure had soared. The second one was better: I saw the setting sun and then – Montana’s mountains and I felt a new life and new strength coming to me. We went to bed very late and felt very tired. Grizzlies, will you be kind to me?

Monday, July 1, 2002

Breakfast… Our people showed themselves as greedy folks. They took several portions and those who came later received almost nothing (the same was at last night’s dinner).
Then we had some orientation and welcome remarks. The organizers gave us checks for $480, and we went on a tour of the campus. The air was fresh because of the breeze, and it was a pleasant walk. We had nice lunch (as I found out later, we should not exceed a 6-dollar limit for lunch). I exceeded a bit and had to pay $1.10 at the cashier’s desk. (After all, we are only learning how to live in a new place.) After lunch, we cashed our checks and went on an excursion to the Museum of the Rockies. The guide started from the Great Bang, described the dinosaurs and then touched upon the history of Montana.
After that, we went to Sandi’s place for dinner (She is one of our professors). It was great! We ate in the open air, communicated, played games and sang songs. Sandi’s husband sang a song “My Home Is Montana…” A discovery: Americans love songs, like we, Ukrainians.

Tuesday, July 2, 2002

When we went to breakfast, I saw the air balloon over the campus! At breakfast, we managed not to exceed the limit of $5.00. We had an orienting lecture on our future home stay by Beth Davenport. Then – an interesting presentation of American history. After that, we had lunch. Again, no one exceeded a 6-dollar limit. We can also take fruit after meals: yesterday I took a huge pear and orange; today I took an apple (during breakfast) and an orange at lunch.
After lunch, we had Windows 2000 training and then the most boring presentation about last presidential election (It should have been about the Constitutional Structure, but professor was obviously still under impression of the election outcome, so we had to listen to that.)
Now we are going to dinner and then – shopping. Perhaps I will buy a bag for my trip back home, as my old one had been broken after the flight from Frankfurt to DC.

Я вела цей щоденник під час стажування у США влітку 2002 року. Поїхала тоді в складі делегації вчителів англійської мови - переможців конкурсу у сфері викладання іноземних мов. Незабутні враження! Маю зазначити, що 2002 рік в моєму житті був зовсім не схожий на карантинний 2020-й...