This very famous phrase, which has already become proverbial, is heard by all foreigners arriving in the United States. We went through customs at the Washington airport, and then flew on a tiiiiny crop duster to New York. To be honest, I would never fly on such miniature planes again in my life. At 190 cm tall, I was hitting my head on everything possible.

And in general, Americans are strange. The flight itself takes maybe 30-40 minutes, but takeoff, landing, and taxiing on the ground take at least another hour. Add to this the check-in at least 2 hours in advance, security, and other mandatory procedures, and it comes out to the same time as by bus or train. But that's not the point now...

You feel America immediately! Stepping out of the terminal building, a wave of different air and a different smell hits you. All American cities have a peculiar, specific smell that I have not encountered in any other country in the world. That first smell I caught a year ago will forever be imprinted in my memory and will be a synonym for America.

You can get from JFK to Manhattan in several ways: by bus (never took it and don't intend to), by taxi, by an exclusively yellow taxi (convenient, but a bit expensive), and perhaps by subway. The subway is the cheapest way. A single ride costs around 2 dollars, but to get to and from the airport, you need to transfer to a special train, the AirTrain. So, to transfer to it, you have to part with 7 dollars.

The first time, the New York subway shocks you with its ugliness and complexity. These are not the decorated vaults we are used to seeing in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other Soviet cities; these are exclusively functional basements whose main task is just to let through the maximum number of passengers. Low ceilings, stuffy corridors, dirt, trash, and an unpleasant smell - that is the New York subway.

The second obvious scourge of the underground is the excessive complexity of its junctions. Although this complexity cannot be called unbearable. After all, 10-12-15 or however many millions of New York citizens use it. But it does present certain difficulties! Personally, it seemed to me that to competently plan a more or less complex and accurate route, you need to bring together at least three data tables: the time the train runs, the route the train takes in that area, and the train itself. If all three components match for one of the stations, then everything will work out for you; if not, it's better to buy a daily pass.

Safety in the subway, and in New York as a whole, is a separate conversation. Manhattan is generally safe if you don't go into evening and night hours north of 90th Street, but areas like Brooklyn, Queens, and especially the Bronx require special attention. Keep that in mind.

So, we arrived in NY late in the evening, we didn't want to look for a hotel or hostel anymore, and usually, you don't want to sleep because a student is tuned to Russian time. Therefore, we decided to start getting to know New York at night.

And the first thing on our program was Brighton Beach. A very interesting place, a refuge for Russian-speaking immigrants and just a piece of something similar to Russia. To be honest, I am very critical of people who, for one reason or another, left their Motherland at one time, maybe that's why I don't really like this place. It seems stagnant to me! It reminds me of Russia in the mid-90s, and Russia of those times is a very troubled place. It feels like everything remained in the recent past: people think in the old way, completely murderous fashion, hairstyles, signs. Just look at the sign above the office of a practicing doctor: "Specialist in pains." Service in restaurants is terrible. They just don't say a reciprocal hello or goodbye to you, but rudely ask you to wait! This does not paint this place in a good light, but every student who speaks Russian must visit this place.

Then, by subway, through all of Brooklyn, we approach what is probably the most beautiful place in the city - Brooklyn Bridge Park, from where a stunning view of the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan opens up. With the onset of darkness, the beauty doubles) Just imagine what a person feels seeing a city of such rank as NY for the first time. What they feel. Already at that moment, I felt that my long-standing dream of seeing America had come true, I was already trembling with happiness, although the most interesting was yet to come. It is also worth saying that in the first few days, everyone probably gets the feeling that there is still a long time before departure, that you have a whole summer and a whole mountain of plans and dreams ahead of you, you feel the strength in yourself to change something, to conquer something, to do something. In my opinion, this is the best moment you experience in the States! You need to try to prolong it, stretch it, save it. Otherwise, it will simply grow into monotonous working weekdays, and all dreams will boil down to calculating how many green pieces of paper I earned, and how much more I need to work to buy a laptop, a car, an apartment...

Next was a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge right into the center of night Manhattan. It is magnificent, it lives the same life as during the day. Even at midnight in the Wall Street area, you can meet white-collar workers who have come down for lunch. Life is boiling! How many loud words can one recall about New York, which have long become an unattainable dream for some and something mundane for others: Broadway, 5th Avenue, Empire State, Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, etc. You recognize them. I can bet that by closing your eyes and imagining America, especially if you have never been there before, you will paint pictures of New York specifically. Meanwhile, I would say that you can either fall in love with New York or hate it, there is no third option. If you are capable of spinning, catching the crazy rhythm of this city, if you are capable of getting used to its smells and disorder, to its mood, then it is for you. If not, then you will simply hate this city for its imperfection. I have been to New York 6 times, and I still haven't decided; three times I admired it, and three times I cursed it afterwards.

I also want to add such a detail. Often, when our impression of a particular city is created, the weather plays a big role. This is 100% confirmed by my observations. That is, if you visited a city for one day and that day was gloomy and overcast, then you will most likely not like the city. But on the contrary, if you visit even a modest town on a cloudless, warm day, you will have pleasant impressions of this place. Therefore, when planning your travels, check the forecasts!

We walked around New York all night and all the next day. Despite the bags that we didn't know where to leave and dragged everywhere with us. Here the difference was very noticeable, who had more to drag, and who only had a backpack with a laptop) We sailed on the Staten Island Ferry past the Statue of Liberty (for free), wandered through the old narrow streets of the Lower City, in the Wall Street area, visited the area of the former intelligentsia in Greenwich Village, where we accidentally stumbled upon the house where Vladimir Pozner, a domestic journalist who filmed "One-Story America," lived in his youth!!! Paying tribute at Ground Zero, I was personally surprised by the scale and speed of the construction of the new structure, by how many workers and equipment were involved in the process.

Broadway is undoubtedly the main street of Manhattan. From the warpath that it was in the days of the Indians, it has long turned into a path of friendship. Crossing the island diagonally, Broadway passes through all the districts of the city, it sees both the ruins of Chinatown, and the red-brick buildings of Greenwich Village, and the skyscraper pillars with the Empire State Building at the head, and black neighborhoods like Harlem. If you walk along Broadway, you can quickly get to know New York as a foreigner can.

New York is huge and complex. At first, the transport system put me into a certain stupor, but it is almost impossible to get lost on the streets of Manhattan. They intersect perpendicularly, forming a grid of parallel avenues and streets.

But the most important and most valuable thing that is in the "Big Apple," what gives the city charm and sharpness - are the residents themselves, the New Yorkers themselves! This city is a big mix of all nations, here is the highest percentage of newly minted Americans, only a part of whom speak English. Here you can meet a representative of any nation, any people. Like in a cauldron, people, traditions, customs, habits, and stereotypes of the whole planet have mixed, giving birth to the image of the whole city! They are free, they are independent, they are purposeful, in love with their city, and saturated with patriotism for it. They consider themselves the capital of America, and the majority on this planet agree with them. They are unique...