Three Months Abroad...In Roughly Three Minutes

By Daniel Maguire, CIEE Work & Travel USA 2018 participant

My name is Daniel Maguire, I am a 22-year-old student currently studying a Masters in Accounting in Dublin Ireland. I currently live at home in Dublin, Ireland and in Summer 2018 I went on the CIEE Work & Travel USA program with my college friends to Chicago. 

Aside from my studies, I have a strong passion for travelling. I have travelled a lot over the last few years. Some places include Australia, Malaysia, and the majority of the major European cities. However, I had never been to America, even though I had always desired of going as a child. Therefore, I found this exchange program as a perfect way to fulfil my desire to visit America.

Personally, my aim for the trip was to submerge myself in the American culture. I had heard a lot of stories regarding people coming home from America with regrets about what they didn’t do. Therefore, my main goal was to do as much as possible within the three months, and document it in a video. Professionally, I had just finished my undergraduate degree, so I wanted this trip to be a break from my studies.

Before I left, I had the idea of making this video. The purpose of the video is to show viewers that you can come home from American without any regrets, and get so much done in such a short period of time. The video is in chronological order. I spent two months in Chicago, before travelling the West Coast to cities such as San Francisco, San Jose, Las Vegas, L.A., before stopping in New York on the way home. In each of these cities, I visited some of the top tourist attractions.

From watching my video, I hope it can encourage viewers to travel more, and see the world. In particular, I hope it shows people who plan on doing a J1 visa in the future, that you can have a fantastic trip, if you do it right.

For more information on the CIEE Work & Travel USA program, please visit our website.