Алиса Киреева (FCE). I место в конкурсе эссе
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (эссе, 2010)

Once upon a time, in an ordinary Russian city there lived an ordinary Russian girl named Alice, who has always wanted to get to the Wonderland. Actually, it was me and in 2007 without any White Rabbit’s help my dream somehow came true. The United States of America became my Wonderland for the Summer ’07 and this is not just a felicitous comparison as this is a country of incredible contrasts and inimitable combinations. But 'Begin at the beginning,' the King said gravely, 'and go on till you come to the end: then stop.' (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter XII, Alice's Evidence)

The first city I have found myself after a long flight was peerless New York. NY is a huge anthill with its never-ending traffic jams, rush-hour crowds and breathtaking skyscrapers. So I was immediately caught by this giddy bustle and ran down the streets like a scalded cat, staring at luxurious clothes in the bright shop windows, intricate buildings and manifold snack bars. "Curiouser and curiouser!" cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English) (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter II The Pool of Tears). So did I, while breathing in mixed smell of hot-dogs, subways and expensive perfume and hearing a lot of sounds from live music melody to crash of the road-building machines. There were people of different nations, like the whole world shrank in one city, so here and there I could hear some exotic languages and in many cases it was Russian. That was how I saw the USA first, but the place I had to stay all the summer completely changed my initial notion about the country.

According to the history, North Carolina was the first American territory, where English colonists attempted to settle down. By a strange quirk of fate, the first and the only one it was for me. I lived in a small provincial town on the Outer Banks quite close to the Atlantic Ocean and the whole life will not be enough to portray what kind of place it is. Orderly rows of cosy neat houses decorated with national flags and flowers, perfect emerald green lawns with bright-coloured porcelain gnomes and acid-pink plastic flamingos on it, stunning sunsets and the sky of stars, fearless squirrels and unhurried rabbits, curious graceful deers and bushy opossums – that was the other side. `One side of what? The other side of what?' thought Alice to herself. `Of the mushroom,' said the Caterpillar (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter V Advice from a caterpillar), but I mean the USA. In one phrase it’s called ‘The American Dream’ and there is really a lot to dream about. Most people think Americans are none too clever, I am sure they are just none too anxious as they have commoner-centered government and the oceans all around. The Atlantic Ocean... Now stormy and ominous and than still and tender, it has hundreds of different tints and scents. When I was dipping into it, I became a small part of the infinite living organism, which can pamper you with warm soft waves here and destroy the whole city on the opposite shore meanwhile. These were astonishing feelings and I will carry them with me for the rest of my life, as well as the memories which are connected with Virginia State.

As the main official aim of my sojourn in the USA was to work, I was selflessly working at two jobs and gathering ‘cabbage’ on my bank account. But after another ten days without days off, I suddenly decided to do something adventurous and striking. This was quite a new idea to Alice, and she thought it over a little before she made her next remark. `Then the eleventh day must have been a holiday?' (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter IX The Mock-turtle’s story). By happy coincidence, my friends were on the same wavelength and we immediately began to prepare for a journey to Virginia. On the first day of our mini-holiday we went to a rock-music festival, which took place in The Virginia Beach Amphitheater with more than 20 000 seats. There were a lot of famous bands during all day like ‘HIM’ and ‘My chemical romance’, and the headline of this spectacular show was ‘Linkin Park’. Just after that performance I became a fan of their music. The fantastic singing together with overwhelming drive that musicians were giving the audience won my heart completely and I, like a crazy fanatic, was rushing in the crowd to catch the drumstick or to ‘give a five’ to the member of the band. The second day off in Virginia was none the worse as we went to Bush Garden Park. There were dozens of different rides from the mind-boggling roller coasters to amazing 4-D and water attractions. The fairy-tales and cartoons’ characters were walking everywhere and as a whole that was pretty much like a magic dream. `Wake up, Alice dear!' said her sister; `Why, what a long sleep you've had!'

`Oh, I've had such a curious dream!' said Alice, and she told her sister, as well as she could remember them, all these strange Adventures of hers that you have just been reading about; and when she had finished, her sister kissed her, and said, `It was a curious dream, dear, certainly: but now run in to your tea; it's getting late.' So Alice got up and ran off, thinking while she ran, as well she might, what a wonderful dream it had been. (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter XII, Alice's Evidence). As for myself, I keep a lot of photos and souvenirs from my Wonderland’07 and nobody raises doubts about my trip. But after slightly more than three years I have been living over all of that and finding myself thinking that my summer’07 adventure is really close to dream... The American Dream.

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