Government should give int. students work permit

     How much do you know about international students? If you are not a teacher of the university, college or ESL school, you probably don not have any ideas. According to the Institute of International Education there are 723,277 students studied in the United States during the 2010/11 academic year. I am one of them. This year the number of students increased by five percent. 63 percent of all international students receive the majority of their funds from personal and family sources. We have big wish to finish study here, because of the excellence and diversity of colleges and educational programs. But not all of us have those family sources.

     My status does not allow me to have full time job. I can work no more than 20 hours inside my school campus. Of course it is not enough even if you have that in-campus job which is very hard to find. We dont have much choice to choose. Everybody knows that many international students work illegaly. In fact, I believe that government should provide international students work permission.
     First of all work permit give students opportunity to earn more money. Key word in this sentense is more. Many students work on cash. Of course it is lower rate jobs with lowest hour minimum wage. If somebody earns more money he will spend more. International students contribute more than $21 billion to the U.S. economy, through their expenditures on tuition and living expenses, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Opportunity to work full-time can give us new possibilities. It can open for international students doors of colleges and universities. On other hand, 70 percent of all international students’ primary funding, including tuition, comes from sources outside of the United States. It is profitable business for USA. However work permit can provide international students SSN, so students can work legally and pay taxes, which will increase student's expenses twice. Definitely it will have significant economic impact on the United States.

    One of the main issue for international students is healthcare. From own experience I can say that to have an illness here is a big problem. It is very hard to find suitable clinic or hospital to treat a disease. All of them ask about insuranse, which is very costly. And not all insuranse companies have plans for international students. Of course healthcare is a headache of all american citizens, not only international students. Medical care is unreasonably expensive to pay from own pocket for everybody. Work permit gives international students a chance to have a health insurance from work. At least it can cover some of the medical costs. And again it is good profit for government, insurance companies and small businesses. Money is spinning among them.

     Another strong argument to have a work permision for international students is a possibility to travel abroad. For some countries F-1 status does not allow to have a long term visa, like in my case. I got visa for only 4 months which is not enough to learn English or improve it. Possibility to travel back to our countries makes exchange of knowledge larger. International students can use work experiense from overseas company here in the U.S. They can bring new ideas and different point of view which might work out. International communication will be helpful in relationship between countries.   

    I believe that work permit for international students will resolve lots of student's problems. It also gives many advantages for government and country. Students live here for many years. Work permit allows government to choose good personal. And for that we need fair competition.

Friendship sometimes dies

     Imagine, you know person from early ages. You spend a lot of time together. You have similar interests and views. And some day your friend is no longer part of your life.

     There are many different circumstances when friendship comes to the end. I am going to focus on few of them, which I divide into groups: a conflict of interests in business, a group of various feelings between friends and simply physical distance. So what exactly can destroy friendship?

     My first group combines conflict of interests in business. Somebody said: "never do business with family or friends". Growing up together friends have many similarities in how to make a carrier. In this case they try to connect friendship and business because friends trust each other. Usually it does not work. Friends might come to one decision in serious questions, but  they might have a radically different point of view in a simple choice. And this can affect the relationship in negative way. Mutual business has a point of contact of money, which not always can be desided fairly. Soon or late it will lead to the collapse of the friendship.

     The second group I describe as a group of negative feelings: envy, jelousy. There's nothing in this world so sweet as love. And next to love the sweetest thing is hate. Love and hate are very close in this case. Friends in childgood dont need things to think about, playing together is quite enough. Adults have developed sense of competition. It causes of an emergence of negative senses. Envy appears for any reason in any situations. Even because of  love to a woman or love to one woman. Love can easily grow into hate. 

     And finally distanse beetween friends can make them physically unattainable. Here I can bring myself as an example. Most of my friends live in Russia and right now I have a contact with a few of them. But here, in the USA I can understand who is my real friend. Time arranges everything.      

We dont choose friends. We accept friendship. Friendship is very fragile. We can loose our friends if we will not treasure them. In Russia we say: "Dont have 100$, have 100 friends". You can imagine what it will give you instead.

Sport is a waste of time?!

I completely disagree with this statement. I can bring thousands of arguments that sport is very important and helpful. There are lots of facts how sport helped people to become very succesful and rich. Remember my story about Mike Tyson, it is one of the examples. First of all sport is helth. Sports keeps person in good shape. Sport is very nice alternative for children. It builts many important feelings such as self-confidence, working in a team, trust. Also sport is an entertainment. We all enjoy watchig our favorite teams games. We play and do sports for fun, for having good time, for being healthy.

Superstition from Russia

Watches, knife and handkerchief. These things are not considered the best gifts for Russian people. Handkerchief for example is a sign of tears, knives - of enemies, and watches - of separation.
Even if you are willing to give a luxurious handkerchief from Hermes, a Russian girl would prefer to buy it herself but not cry. If, nevertheless, you are going to give one of these things, be prepared that you will get a coin in exchange. This is done to create the illusion of  a purchase.

Two Capitals

Difference between NY and Moscow is obvious. When manager from Moscow is finishing his work day, trading in NYSE is just begining. Even though ocean devided these two cities they have many similarities mainly in population,  level of salary and people's behaviour.

Both cities are highly populated. They are huge, busy and crowded. Moscow is a capital, everybody  wants to visit Moscow. It is like a place with many opportunities. That is what people think about Moscow. The real Moscow is a terrible traffic, transnational companies and 15 million people from all Russia and USSR countries. New York used to be a capital before, now NY considered to be the capital of the world. The biggest city of the US, NY never sleeps. Somebody hates NY, somebody dreams to live there. Manhattan, skyscrapers and Statue of Liberty are familiar to everybody.

Bigger city, more jobs, more chances to find yourself. Moscow in this case is like separate country. The most advanced infrastructure, the highest level of salary and opportunity to earn money is in the capital. That is why many people are seeking to start career, business over there. The same in NY, city of possibilities and comfort. Super expensive shops, hotels and apartments are part of NY life. Times Square is full of tourists 24 hours a day. Like Moscow, NY is a financial center and main companies and firms have offices there. NYSE, Wall Street regulate currency and stock market which effects to economy of many countries.

Many people, many problems. Maybe because of overcrowded and busy life people in Moscow and NY are ruder, grumpier and more unfriendly than people from other states of America and Russia. I noticed this when I lived in Russia in town two hours far from Moscow. I used to live in NY for 6 months, so I can compare. People are close for the conversation, they are more stressfull.  In Moscow you can meet smiling person very rarely. Whereas NY is a city of singles. All this facts tell us how similar are Moscow and NY.

Honestly I do not like big cities. However life in the big city might have many choices and varieties for person. It is interesting that both Moscow and NY are similar in their diversity. Diversity of people, cultures, nationalities and ideologies. And that makes them unique from other places to live.

Once in a lifetime

     The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Civil war started in my country. And I even didn't know how many changes await me in the future.

     My family and I moved to my grandmother to Pamir (mountains area in Tajikistan). We left everything we had: our home, our pets, our hometown. Later in 1995 we moved to Russia, to Siberia (one of the coldest places in the world). A different country, different people, different language. It was one of the most difficult times for my family. I was 11 years old. Everything was hard at the beginning. 
     I started to study. School was the worst place for me. I couldn't speak, I couldn't write. I got the lowest grades in the first year of my study. And it was a time when I said to my mom: "I can't do it anymore, I don't understand, I feel bad. Find me any work, so I can work". She said: "Study is your best work. Study well, I know you can do it". And I started...I kept myself very busy. After school I came home directly. First of all I did my homework, then I read. And then, when I had time I went outside to walk or to play. Year after year I was improving my language and knowledge skills.
     One year I was awarded a prize for being the person who visited the library the most. In 7th grade I was awarded with a diploma for good study, attendance and discipline. I was very active, I participated in school's life, in sport, was leading of many activities. I won many diplomas in Geography and Literature in competions between schools. I got only exellent gtades. And finally I reached the graduation.
     It was a day I would never forget. On that day I got my minute of Fame. I was standing on the stage alone and everybody was applauding me and my parents. I finished school with a gold medal. One gold medal in all  the school that year. I got a grant from the governor of  our region. I was very happy.

     So, it was the moment I could be proud of myself. It was a reward for my hard work. There are no impossible things, dedication to the job is the price of success.    

Differences between US and my country

Here, in US I dont have enough time, maybe because I grew up and have much more responsibilities. Maybe because the life here busier than in Russia. More bills and things I have to take care of. Medicine, especially dentist service is very expensive here. It's cheaper to go back home to fix my teeth there than do it here. Here I dont need to keep my passport al the time. I can go everywhere inside the country just with small card with my picture (driver license). And I like US relationship with other countries (no visa requires). And of course differerent people, cultures, languages and much more things...