Finally, we've landed. We're in New York! I can't even believe it. It doesn't feel real yet. The girls and I went to get through passport control. A cheerful guy was humming some simple tunes while checking our documents—we had a good laugh about him with the girls. We went and got our luggage; what a relief that it was actually there. With a faint but still present hope, the girls and I went looking for WiFi. And we didn't find it again! What's up with that? We were promised it would be everywhere (though that's apparently a flexible concept). And our parents are worried, even though it's only 6 AM for them. They don't know I missed my flight in London. In the end, we gave up on the internet search and went to figure out the Airtrain, since it was already dark outside and we still didn't know where we were going to sleep.

Back in Moscow, I had found a guy through Couchsurfing, but I had agreed with him that I'd be in New York at 4 PM, but it's already 9 PM, and he doesn't know I missed my flight. Plus, I'm not alone anymore, I'm with the girls, and it's unclear if he can host all three of us. It's too late to go to a hostel, so the immediate prospect is sleeping on the street. At least I'm not alone.

With some help from people, we made it to the subway. Honestly, the people here are so kind; we didn't even ask for help, everyone just comes up and helps, telling us how to get where we need to go. Maybe we look that lost, or maybe people are just genuinely nice. Or both.

We bought subway tickets, also not without some help. Now we had to get to Gregory, the couchsurfer, though he didn't know about us or my delay yet. And it's not a given that he can host us all. But there's still no WiFi in sight, and the girls' SIM cards (the ones from the agency) aren't activated yet. So we decided to get to Manhattan first and figure things out there. We asked a nice woman how to get there, and we actually understood her answer! After London, we couldn't understand what Americans were saying at all—we didn't understand the flight attendants on the plane, we didn't understand what was being said around us... It was a total nightmare.

But despite the detailed explanations on how to get to the right station, we, as true Work and Travel students, lost our way and got lost in the subway. The situation was made worse by the fact that we forgot to take a subway map at the entrance, and without it, it was problematic to navigate. And then a strange sense of courage came over me. I went to the information booth with great determination and asked where we could get a map and how to get to the right station. Even though I was terrified of any conversation in English before (as it turned out, I was worried for nothing, but the fear was overwhelming at first). I didn't understand much, and then the girls and I clarified things together. But for me, it's an achievement to overcome my fear and go talk, and even partially understand what I was told.

In the end, we went in the given direction, but still did something wrong. A train arrived, we got on it, and were surprised—why does it look like a commuter train? A guy in uniform approached us and asked for tickets; naturally, we showed him our subway cards. He said that those are for the subway, and this transport doesn't count as the subway, and we have to pay $12 for the ride! Well, there was no choice, we paid. It turned out to be the LIRR, the very line I'll have to take to my employer. At least now I know where it is. It's good that we at least got on in the right direction and the train was taking us to Penn Station, not into the depths of Long Island.

Arriving at Penn Station, we finally found internet. We messaged our parents that everything is fine. I started writing a message to Gregory about my adventures, while the girls activated their SIM cards. I hadn't even finished writing the message when the SIMs were activated, so I chose the most effective way to communicate—a call. I called, and literally read the message I had just written. And miracle of miracles! He said he could host all of us, everything is okay! Our joy knew no bounds. Following Gregory's advice, we went outside and started hailing a taxi to his house...