Work and Travel USA Part III: Travelling in East Coast

After working for 3 and a half months, here comes the 30 days summer travelling!

Below is the list of places that I have travelled, from Day 1 in the USA until the very last day. :)

1) New Jersey

2) Philadelphia

3) Washington, D.C.
4) New York

5) Niagara Falls

6) Chicago

7) San Jose

8) Point Lobos

9) Santa Cruz

10) San Francisco

11) Sacramento

12) Napa Valley

13) Grand Canyon

14) Las Vegas

15) Los Angelos

Jersey Shore, NJ

Asbury Park Boardwalk

In New Jersey, it's all about shopping because all the apparels in NJ are TAX FREE! Went to Asbury Park, Jersey Premium Outlet, Jackson Premium Outlet, Jersey Garden and Seaside. As I am working in NJ, all the travelling within NJ were in between working days. 

Fun fact: Have you been to Johor Premium Outlet (JPO)? It looks the same as the other premium outlets in the US because, they are owned by the same company, under Simon group! 

Philadelphia, PA
Besides, we also rent a car to Philly and Washington DC for one-day trip respectively. Philadelphia is an important city in America, as it witnesses the signing of independence documents and policy making in the US history. Civil War also painted the story of the city, where the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in town uphold the significance of the revolution and the new birth of real "Liberty" in the US. 

Park in front of Philadelphia Museum of Art.

There are a lot of museums in Philly, namely Benjamin Franklin Museum, Art Museum and more. The most important lesson I have learnt from the city is the rise of slavery before the Civil War, the story of Africans fighting their rights till today. Besides, if you are opt for nature, you can travel to Longwood Garden, which is 1 hour away from Philly to enjoy the vast collection of greenhouses, gardens and sound of nature. It is simply one of my favourite cities indeed, walking in between the beautiful historical buildings with good food, not to forget the food and things are cheap too! 

The best ice cream in town! At Reading Market.

Longwood Garden at night. The secrets of nature under the dark :)

Washington, D.C.
Washington DC is also another city full of museums. A visit to the Air and Space Museum is a must, where they display the full equipment of Apollo and several important victory moments of human exploration into space. The White House is also something not to miss out. Even though it's not for public access, you can still take a photo with the political icon of the country from the exterior. :)

White House is a petite in person! Haha.

World War II Memorial, Abraham Lincoln Monument and Pentagon are also some of the important sites to visit as well. If you're not very interested in the museums, a one-day trip in Washington DC should be sufficient to visit all must-go locations. For food recommendation, try out the brunches at Founding Farmers which is just a few blocks away from The White House. ;)

Facing the Lincoln Monument, and the WWII Memorial is right behind us.

Yankee Pot Roast, a fusion of Chinese & Western food, with tender beef, potato and celery in creamy salty sauce :)

New York City, NY
The skyscraper city of the world. There are simply too many things to do in Manhattan, and it depends on your personal preference. The same story applies, where there are tons of museums in the city. For my personal recommendation, take a tour (2-3 hours each) in the famous ones - The Met for arts (Go to the rooftop garden!), American Museum of Natural History for dinosours and 911 Memorial Museum for the story. I personally love 911 the most, because of its relevance to the world and the content, interaction of the museum that tells you how lucky we are to live in this world and the importance of peace. P.S Probably it's because I don't have in depth knowledge in history, science or classical art. XD 

The Ground of the famous World Trade Center. From 107 floors to ground 0.

To watch the landscape of NYC, go to Top of the Rock. The reason why you choose this instead of The Empire State Building is because, you want to see the Empire building from top, having it as your scenery, background of the pic. Remember to pre-book visit slots because it's always a long queue but limited spots. Sunset is the best time to get both day and night views. :)

Empire State Building standing out from the rest :)

People love to go Times Square. My suggestion is, don't miss watching a Broadway show. The phantom of the opera, The Lion King, Aladdin etc, are everywhere is Broadway. Experience one if you do appreciate musical. I have watched Phantom several times at different locations. Still, nothing is comparable to the one in Broadway! 

Next stop, visit Liberty Island early in the morning. Book online earlier. You get the see the beautiful coastline of Manhattan, avoiding the larger crowd coming in the afternoon & evening. For sunset, go to Brooklyn Bridge State Park for the famous Brooklyn or Manhattan bridge. Walk on the Brooklyn bridge to the other end if you have time. It's breathtaking  :)

Romantic proposal by the Manhattan bridge site :)

For foodie, try Shake Shack, Totto Ramen, Halal Guys, Poke Bowl, Bibble and Sip and more (Google!), just to name a few.  There are also a lot interesting fusion restaurants in NYC, try them out even it's Asian food. You'll be surprised. Trust the Google and Yelp reviews, the pages say it all. <3

Totto Ramen: Although I have never been to Japan, this is the best ramen I have ever tasted by far in life! The flavourful soup, yum yum.

Niagara Falls
There are two sites to enjoy the waterfall sites - New York State / Canada. I visited the New York park due to Visa issuance. When you talk about Niagara Falls, Maid of The Mist is a must-go to have a close-up experience of gallons of water pouring down. Cave of The Winds is also popular to experience walking to the back site of the fall. At night, it's colder by the falls too, remember to wear more even it's summer :)

Magnificent view from New York State Border; High rise building at the opposite end is Canada's.

Almost missed a train to Niagara Falls earlier, glad that we were lucky enough to make it, and watched this fireworks on a Sunday night :)

Chicago, IL
Chicago is an architectural and artistic city. There are rivers and bridges everywhere in the city, giving opportunities to admire the beauty of the city on water boat and gondolas.  Half of city, the buildings across the river was destructed by a wildfire - Great Chicago Fire, and rebuilding those is where the architecture in Chicago started to shine. We took a gondola ride in Chicago, and the tour guide explained about the history of Chicago on how it became the third most populous cities in the US, after New York and LA. We could also view the beautiful night view of Navy Pier from the boat as the boat traveled out to the ocean.

Arts and architecture are what the city is made up of. We went to Cloud Gate 7am early in the morning, to have a solo picture with The Bean. There are a lot of interesting sites and restaurants near the city too - Millennium Park, fountain, sculptures, Le Pain Quotidien and list goes on and on. We were lucky to meet a humanity professor at Chicago Cultural Center, who is also a member of Art Institute of Chicago. He brought us into the Art Institute of Chicago and shared the art history besides interpreting the meaning of drawings and art pieces. This is something I personally think Malaysia is lacked of. We don't learn much of world history. philosophy, arts and humanities etc and how much you know depends on your personal exposure and family upbringing.

Beautiful view of the city :)

Advantage of being there @ 7am, no one would ever photo bomb! ;)

Money Museum at Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, open for public, free of charge  ;)

Tall buildings are what Chicago is famous for. John Hancock Center which is a few blocks away from Magnificent Mile is one of the popular observatory towers in the city. Instead of getting tickets up there, my friend and I went to the sky bar - The Signature Lounge @ 95th floor. The view from the restaurant or sky bar enables you to enjoy the view of the city besides dining. Not to forget, you can even enjoy the landscape of the city inside the ladies washroom. ;)

View from the the ladies toilet;) but sadly nope from the males. :/

The most prominent landmark building in Chicago is none other than Willis Tower, which was once the tallest building in the world! The observatory deck has a section of transparent glasses, to view the ground from 99th floor. Scary yet exciting. We were lucky to get the evening slot to witness both spectacular day and night views. :)

Feeling butterflies in the stomach while shooting this! Haha

Lastly, the highlight of the Chicago trip is all about skydiving! This is the most exciting moment of life by far, to jump off from 12,000 feet. It took some hassle to register, travel and gear up ourselves beforehand. But the 55 seconds of free fall and the few minutes of parachuting afterwards is just a once-in-a-lifetime experience that everyone should at least experience once! :D

Preparing myself to open the parachute!

This is all for East Coast travel, and there will be more about West Coast coming soon:)

Work and Travel USA Part II: Working

Jenkinson's Theme Park & Point Pleasant Beach

For work and travel, I have chosen Jenkinson's South in Point Pleasant, New Jersey as my employer. Jenkinson's South is a family owned boardwalk, with attractions of beach, theme park, aquarium and more. It is a family vacation location, ideal for the kids, parents and also the elderly. All games, themes and rides catered for kids. As Point Pleasant is a small touristy town, where people come here for the beach during summer. The neighbourhood is peaceful and there are only a few streets of shops in the town. Therefore, for movies, food and entertainment, people usually go to the next town, Brick.

The very key reason of me choosing this employer is because it is 2.5 hours away from New York by train (1 hour by driving)! New Jersey is a great central point for travelling, North to NYC and South West to Philly and Washington DC. *Check out the map below then you'll understand why. :)* Housing costs are above average - USD85/week, a little high, but we thought of travelling a bit in the midst of working period. So there we go, flying to JFK airport :)

Before sharing my working experience, I would like to share my ultimate goals of this program as that would direct my working experience, travelling and living style in the US. Besides working, travelling and enjoying myself, I aimed to:

#1 Recover the initial costs spent (RM12k - USD 3,000)

#2 Enjoy & travel to the maximum utilization (Around USD3,000)

#3 Bring home extra earnings (Surplus from #1 & #2)

After setting expectations, here comes the working adventure in New Jersey!

Point Pleasant Beach

For job position, I chose Food and Beverage in the beginning. Most of the jobs offered are of minimum wage in New Jersey - USD 8.38/ hour. The employer - Jenkinson's South has very little of cultural and bonding activities. You work independently and report to your assigned shop manager - gift shop manager, food store manager etc. Thus far, the activities they prepared were only trip to Liberty Island *Didnt manage to go as they only brought those who arrived before May 30, not after :(* and free entrance to Seaside theme park (another theme park owned by Jenkinson's) if you want to. The socialization and working depends very much on your own initiatives. 

In the first two weeks of June, I worked at the Bar and Grill as a kitchen assistant. Most of the time, kitchen helpers prepared salad, serving seafood by opening clams and oysters, stocked up ingredients and meats and other similar jobs. As usual, meals weren't an issue and you just need to tell the chefs about what you wanna eat, and they would cook for you.

The first challenge I faced was that I didnt have enough working hours in the Bar & Grill, working less than 40 hours a week. By the US law, when you work more than 40 hours, you are entitled to Overtime Pay -1.5 times higher than your normal pay for the extra hours after 40 hours. I was slow in opening shelled seafood and not as strenuous to move the goods around. If the restaurant was too empty, I was the first to leave work and go home. The manager mentioned that my hours would be increased once the kids are out of the school (Mid June). Clearly, if I were to work that hours for the rest of the summer, earning around USD 200 per week after tax and housing costs, I would have never achieved my goals. 

After some time, the job sponsor visited us, and I raised the issue with them. Immediately, the next day, my position was swapped with a guy who worked at a gift shop. I started to work in the gift shop for the rest of the summer. The exact reasons of me getting positions changed were not explained, in which I was not happy about. Neither did Jenkinson's ask for our opinions for the decision made, and this isn't an act of employer putting people first. 

Although getting job changed is unpredictable, getting more friends and cultural experience at the gift shop was also out of my expectations. Working in the gift shop makes me feel more connected to locals, as you talked to the high school students in the house, customers and more. Initially, the working hours weren't consistent, and I always requested from the manager to work extra to 6 days a week. Eventually, things got smoother and more laughter in the shop. :)  

You can find almost everything you need for daily life in the shop, a mini supermarket indeed!

Photo taken when the manager was not in, and it was a Hot Christmas celebration. XD

After I have settled down in the gift shop, my second challenge is how to increase income to achieve goal #2&#3 and utilizing all the time I have. My working hours are 48 hours, 6 days a week. It means I am pretty free for another half of the day. Therefore, I found a second job - housekeeping.

To be honest, when I first joined this program and checked out the employer list, housekeeping is the first to eliminate. No matter how attractive the location and pay, I would never choose this as my job in the USA. But things changed. Housekeeping was the best second job alternative. So, for the first half of the day, I went for housekeeping job and then gift shop employee for the second half.

Working as a housekeeper wasn't as unglamorous. In the US, people do respect all jobs and every position is admirable. At the beginning, I had some hard time as the job was physically challenging and energy consuming. It took some time to get used to the dirt and garbage of the guests when you first cleaned the room. Work place's relationship wise, it was full of politics because of tips and the managers had the power of deciding your teammates and building to be cleaned. I was being complaint for I don't know how many times for being slow, inefficient, not cleaning thoroughly etc. And I told myself, if I dont do this job now then when? If I can conquer this job, nothing else would be as difficult in future too.

So, I was thick face enough to do this job for 2.5 months, utilizing all the day time I have and getting sufficient side income. I work more than 12 hours every day, 6 days a week for both jobs. I have become much faster than I first started. There are some cleaning techniques learnt along the way as well, with a mind not to be too sloppy, neither too OCD for cleanliness. I am proud of myself that I did not give up, and I did the thing that I thought I would never do in life.In fact, I am beyond grateful to have taken up this job, as I would have earned enough to travel and save some money back to home country. There are two sides to a coin and definitely, working in the resort exposed me to the back side of US. I am truly thankful to have friends supporting me, giving me helping hands when I had critical moments at both jobs.

Last day of work :')

Work and Travel USA Part I: Before and after signing up

This summer, something special happened. I have spent my summer working and travelling in the USA. So, I am here to share about my journey back there and how I made it to America!

I will be sharing on:

- What is Work and Travel (WAT) USA Program?

- Requirements to consider before signing up

- Where to sign up?

- Process of WAT

- Tips on booking flight

- Tips on packing

P.S This post will be very long just to warn the readers. ;)

Work and Travel USA Program
This is a program where you work for 3-4 months in the US, and travel for 1 month after working.

Why should you participate?
1) To increase your exposure, especially in country that has the highest productivity in the world.
2) To try something new in a new environment, be in working or living in the US.
3) To travel and explore USA with your own earning and hard work.;)

Requirements of the program:
1) The participant has to be over 18 and able to communicate with English.

2) It's only open for students:
 - who are still studying or
 - who will be flying off to the US within the 6 months of course completion.
E.g According to your university's student verification letter, your student status is until Jan'17. So you can still take part in the program where you will fly off in May/June' 17.

There are cases where you have graduated from university one year, and some graduates actually made appeal or special applications to the university in giving them the student status. By US law, it is a must to have a Student Status to join this exchange program.

3) There are only 2 intakes a year: Summer (May - Sept)/ Winter (Nov - Mar). You must make yourself free for at least 3-4 months (3-4 months working + 1 month travelling).

4) To participate in this program, you need to prepare at least RM12k beforehand.

Registration - RM300-400

Sponsorship fee to the US sponsor (USD 1,000) - RM4,300

SEVIS & Visa (USD 200) - RM 860

Flight ticket - RM 3,000 to RM 5,000

Cash to bring there (USD 800) - RM 3, 440

Assume 1 USD = RM 4.30

Total: RM12 k - RM14 k

Where to sign up?
You must go through an agency in joining this program. In Malaysia, there are 3 agencies that you can approach, which are:

- Out of The Box

https://www.facebook.com/workandtravelusa.ootb.my/

http://www.workandtravelusa.com.my/

- Speedwing

http://www.speedwing.org/

- Infinity Abroad

http://www.infinity-abroad.com/programs-2/work-travel/ 

These are some of the important criteria to consider before joining the program. For more details, you will get to know more when you register for the program.

Lookbook of 2015

Summary of the year
January
Internship Industry Immersion Programme
A visit to United Voice
Risk Intelligence Challenge Trophy (RICT 2014/2015)
Finals with Awesome Humans
Skill: designed a poster

February
Myanmar trip during Chinese New Year

March
Miss Loo wedding sister experience
Local Committee Transition Camp @ Genting
Makeweekends - Design thinking workshop
Cut hair (8 inches) and donated as a wig

April
Last LLDS @
National Planning Meet for both term 1415 and 1516. First American to be the AIESEC Member Committee President in Malaysia
Post competition celebration @ Rakuzen

May
Outgoing Vice President of Incoming Global Community Development Programme in AIESEC Taylor's University
Jingle Bells and all the members and also the Exchange Participants
Birthday
First ice skating experience
First laser tag experience
Staying in Malaysia for the past 21 years, Climbed up to Batu Caves for the first time
Climbed Bukit Tabur
Jordan and Eunice Looi @ After Black
Amanda USJ

June
Taiwan trip
Free ride an assignment literally :')
Visit to Sekinchan

July
Pulau Pangkor

August
Celebrated  a special birthday
Pulau Lang Tengah Turtle Watch Project
JB trip explored Legoland, Kudo Art musuem

September
FIMM certified unit trust consultant
La Mossa TUSO concert

October
Unilever Futures Leaders' League (UFLL'15)
Semi finals
Pullman Hotel 3 days
Won two tickets of Music Run from AirAsia's FB contest by posting a comment
quick meet up with rabbit, Phiron

November
Ipoh trip
June's convocation

December
Moved house
Visit to old folk home
Australia

Learning @ Uni
Investment from Futures and Options
International Finance
Final year project case study - Complication between VISA and CUP in China

Freelance jobs
Part Time Job - Mystery shopper for pharmaceutical product, Ambank survey, CIMB Golf Tournament