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Work & Travel Program USA
That was an unforgettable summer and one of the best I ever had. Personally, I would like to recommend Work & Travel Program USA but also be aware that this program is not for everybody and carefully read brochures looking whether you fit in or not. I have been within a group of almost 60 students from throughout Europe and worked in Harrah’s Cherokee Casino in wonderful mountain setting of Great Smoky Mountains Resort. During a period of four months I have experienced a lot and what is the most important most of those experiences cannot be learned in school or university, among them I would like to emphasize job interviews, orientations, shadowing, test of my flexibility and adaptability to new situations, improved my English language, increased my knowledge of American culture and life, culture sensitivity, gained real-world experience, experienced global marketplace.

This was a first time for me to work in such diversity of colleagues Americans, Native Cherokee Americans, Mexicans, Jamaicans, Europeans and many other, in a capacity of runner, ice cream salesman, bartender at Fresh Market Square Buffet and Winning Streaks which does not exists any more. I have found that most Americans are friendly and eager to meet me and invite me for a party, hiking, swimming…

Please feel free to visit my photo album although digital quality of photos is not excellent.

Here are some links which might be useful:

Interexchange - Work & Travel Program sponsor

Harrah's Cherokee Casino & Hotel

Hostels in USA

Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians

Cherokee Language
The Cherokee people called themselves Ani Yunwiya, which means “Principal People”. They were the largest single tribe in the southern United States. While there are various explanations for exactly what the word “Cherokee” means, it is often said that other Native Americans gave them the name since it meant “People who speak another language.” The Cherokee language and Iroquoian languages evolved from the same mother tongue, but Cherokee become a unique language of rising and falling tones, spoken without much lip movement.
As the Cherokee Nation grew, the language developed three quite distinct dialects:
- Elati or eastern dialect – now extinct.
- Kituhwa or middle dialect – used in western North Carolina
- Atali or western dialect – used in Oklahoma.

The Cherokee language has its own written system or alphabet. A Cherokee man named Sequoyah, with the English name of George Guess, was impressed by the books of white pioneers. He found it remarkable that pieces of paper could transmit ideas. He called the books “talking leaves”, and he decided his people should also have the same sort of magic. Surely Sequoyah was a genius, because although he could not read or write in any language, he set about finding a representation for each sound in the Cherokee language. He worked at it for twelve years, and his syllabary of eighty-five symbols was officially approved by Cherokee leaders in 1821. In a very short time, most Cherokees were reading and writing the new language.
For those not raised with it, the Cherokee language is not an easy to master. Today some older Cherokees speak the language still, but the need for English is much more pressing, so younger Indians find little reason to speak Cherokee, although the language is taught in schools.

The Trail of Tears
In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears" or, as a direct translation from Cherokee, "The Trail Where They Cried" ("Nunna daul Tsuny") because of its devastating effects. The migrants faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march. Over 4,000 out of 15,000 of the Cherokees died.

The Legend of the Cherokee Rose.
No better symbol exists of the pain and suffering of the “Trail Where They Cried” than the Cherokee Rose. The mothers of the Cherokee grieved so much that the chiefs prayed for a sign to lift the mother's spirits and give them strength to care for their children. From that day forward, a beautiful new flower, a rose, grew wherever a mother's tear fell to the ground. The rose is white, for the mother's tears. It has a gold centre, for the gold taken from the Cherokee lands, and seven leaves on each stem that represent the seven Cherokee clans that made the journey. To this day, the Cherokee Rose prospers along the route of the "Trail of Tears". The Cherokee Rose is now the official flower of the State of Georgia.

Source: The Cherokee 1994 Heritage Calendar by Dorothy Sullivan, Memoray Circle Studio, Norman, Ok.