# Travelling to the US to work for 3 months?



## Guest (Sep 14, 2009)

Hey everyone, my name is Victoria, I'm 18 years old and I live in Peru, greetings from the southern hemisphere!







. I've been reading this forum for quite a while now and recently became a member because I have some questions regarding a trip I'm doing to the US! I'm going with the J-1 visa for students to work at a small ski resort in Vermont between December and March. In Peru, no one lives at campus when they go to college, most of us stay at home with our parents. So IBS has been kind of manageable for me here! I also have gastritis unfortunately. I do yoga most mornings, which seems to help with my symptoms (I'm extremely gassy and always bloated, and with upper stomach pain because of gastritis).The trip to the US is really exciting for me, I'm finally gonna be independent, but going there with IBS seems like a challenge. I will have to live somewhere else where it's cold (it doesn't snow here, at all), away from home, to work as a waitress or cashier probably, share a room with 3 or 5 other people and eat God knows what in between work shifts, things I've never had to go through before!I've posted this topic here because it may seem similar to college students sharing a dorm and having a part-time job. How do you deal with it? I have this picture of me going around the restaurant, taking orders and suddenly passing gas in front of the customers, or having to take over the bathroom for a looong time, annoying my roommates... I'm afraid that all the money I earn will be spent in buying IBS safe foods and all... My morning and evening habits are definitely gonna change and I don't know how I'll cope...As you can see, I'm really excited and anxious at the same time. What do you guys recommend for avoiding public displays of leaky gas or avoiding problems with food? Should I have separate meals instead of sharing with my roommates? What do I do?!Thank you! ViCtoria~


----------



## evulienka (Jan 12, 2007)

Hi Victoria, wow, it seems like there´s an exciting adventure lying ahead of you! I´d recommend you to learn about the living situation as much as you can in advance - so that you will know what to expect from the beginning. But from what I´ve learned, no matter the situation you will adjust eventually. Even if you´re stuck in a tiny room with a horrible bathroom - I´m sure there will be other bathrooms around that you can use. I´m very gassy, too and I shared a tiny dorm room with two other girls last year - and I survived and so can you. It wasn´t really that bad in the end, once you settle in and get comfortable with your roommates things will be ok. Plus having roommates can be really fun, too







, it´s all those late night talks, private jokes, laughing until your stomach hurts - I´m sure you´re gonna have a good time.About the food situtation - it depends on who you´re gonna live with in the first place, if you have more roommates you can cook a meal here and there with one or two of them and if you feel like having your safe food you can always make something on your own - but you´ll figure all these things out once you settle in, trust me. I´m sure you´re gonna have a great time


----------



## Guest (Sep 15, 2009)

Hey, thank you so much for your answer!







It was really comforting, especially because I met some of the people that are also going to the resort at the US embassy. I'm pretty sure some of them will be my roommates. I think I'll tell them from the start that I have a chronic condition and that it may be somewhat uncomfortable and all.I'll try to get some more info about the area, what I know for now is that it's near Ben & Jerry's factory, haha!


----------



## PrettySickly (Jul 14, 2011)

I used to live in Central America and have never been to Peru BUT I know from all my travels that the US has way more free, public, accessible restrooms than anywhere else I've ever been. One little bit of consolation


----------

