I will never forget my first impression of New York. After my first look at those skyscrapers... I remember my friend and I wandering around the city subway in total confusion, maps in hand, completely preoccupied with the thought of "how do we get to our hostel now," when we stepped out of the subway and were literally frozen in place. When you look up and see these huge stone structures for the first time, with no end in sight in the sky - it is something incredible and indescribable! How happy we were then!

Later, when you get used to this atmosphere: the noise, the strong smells, the colorful and so different people around - it doesn't seem so unusual anymore. But the ability to shock and stun a foreigner with its stunning appearance - that is something you can't take away from New York.

It was already getting dark (we arrived at 3 PM, but the hustle and bustle at the airport and the trip to the city took a lot of time, so this was all happening around 8 PM), and we needed to find a place to sleep as soon as possible. We were rushing along our planned route, simultaneously photographing everything in our path and looking at what was in our 360-degree field of vision with our mouths agape. That was when we realized one wonderful thing: how lucky we were that our luggage didn't arrive on time! Yes, yes, what seemed like a tragedy to us at first turned into a clear advantage a few hours later. Thanks to this, we were able to get to the right place quickly and lightly, while simultaneously enjoying the architectural beauty of Manhattan. And we had to walk quite a bit that evening. Our mistake was that we didn't book a place in a hostel in advance. We hoped for luck and that "it would be clearer on the spot." This made us a little nervous because the initial hostel we had planned was already packed that evening, and it was already around 9 (a note: not all hostels have 24-hour administration; the one we eventually stayed in had check-in until 10-11 PM).

Getting back on the subway, we couldn't figure out exactly which station to get off at, and then a woman (who seemed to have been watching us for a long time) approached us. She and her friend offered to help us, while actively asking us who we were and where we were from. Upon learning that we were from Russia, the woman became even more animated, saying that she had been to Saint Petersburg herself and was extremely struck by the beauty of this city. Then we chatted quite long and nicely until they led us to the necessary intersection, where we said goodbye. That was the second time that evening we were surprised by the openness and sociability of Americans. You get used to this later too: when everyone around is extremely polite, smiling, when a stranger you make eye contact with can easily say "Hi! How are you?". True, of course, not in metropolises like New York, where the pace of life is frantic, but in more modest cities - easily. And even in metropolises, if you approach any stranger with a question or problem, you definitely won't be left without help in return. That's just the mentality.

However, this American communicability has a flip side. Meeting an acquaintance with a smile on their face with the phrase "Hey! How are you doing?", "What's up?" etc., an American does not expect an answer from you. This is just an accepted tribute to politeness. They are hardly really interested in how you are doing, so they don't expect anything from you other than "I'm fine, thanks". That's why everyone around is "fine" and everyone is smiling, even if in reality the person is in despair and deep depression. Such duplicity is initially jarring: "Why even ask how I'm doing if they don't even expect an answer from me?". There is no sincerity, no real openness, everything is superficial. But then you realize that not complaining and not dumping all your problems on your interlocutor when you meet is not the worst quality, and you want to adopt the optimism and lightness in communication.

Our next 2 days in New York (and 4 more in September) went wonderfully: leisurely breakfasts spent in Central Park, China-town, Brooklyn Bridge, Times square, Empire State building, Wall street - I won't describe to you how good these places are! Because I believe it is better to see once than to hear 100 times. All my attempts to convey to you my emotions experienced during their visit will not convey even 1/1000th of all the impressions. So I will move on to the most important thing;)