A short layover and here I am at the New York airport. You quickly grab your luggage and rush to get to your hostel, where you are already expected.
When you are alone, it is a special experience. There is a certain magic in it too. I walked out with a backpack on my shoulders and a suitcase on wheels. I felt like a grain of sand in this huge metropolis.
"Only now, looking at the stars whose names I did not know, did I realize how far I was from home. Not just from home — from the entire Earth. Infinitely far. Life seemed to have turned a few pages and started a new chapter. It is not yet known whether it is interesting or not, sad or cheerful. Just new. Only I — the main character — am the same."
It was already evening and it was raining. When I left, it was raining, and upon arrival, the weather was the same. The only difference was that this was already a different country and there was no turning back. I successfully made it to the hostel, having talked to a traveler on the way. This was the first dialogue with someone who was a stranger to you, but so sincerely happy for you and for this opportunity to find yourself in a new world. I arrived at the hostel and found a desk with an InterExchange representative, where they kindly explained where to go and what to do. After the trip, I needed to sleep and recharge before a whole new day in New York.
That feeling when you are in Manhattan, 15 minutes from the famous Times Square. At the hostel, I met a girl from Poland and her boyfriend, and the three of us spent our first morning in New York.
We went to make copies, and then found a cozy cafe where we had breakfast together. (What was unusual was that in America, document copies are made in self-service mode and payment is made by card; few people knew this). It is so simple to sit and have breakfast with the same traveling students and tell each other about everything.
When you cross the street in New York, you watch this cycle of movements of the locals. Everyone has a watch on their hands, and by 6:30, everyone is rushing to work. People who live in motion. A city that never sleeps. The weather was getting a little better. Already at 9 a.m., we were waiting for a lecture from our sponsor's representative about what awaits us and how to behave. We were fully instructed and had bracelets put on our hands. This bracelet accompanied me until the moment of departure. We were also given commemorative gifts, like t-shirts and pens, and we happily went about our business.
For the first time, I had to face the American subway, so incomprehensible and frightening. When you need to get to a place and you absolutely do not know how to do it, you involuntarily start asking everyone. Everyone seems ready to help you, but New York is so big that not everyone knows all the places there. So I had to look for it myself. I managed to get lost in the subway, and besides, I learned Lesson number 1 here. Never rely on someone's help if it is not a police officer or an information service representative. A kind person who volunteered to help me took 20 dollars and sent me on the wrong path. And only later did I guess that I had been scammed for money. (We laughed for a long time that I didn't give him all the money). It was pouring rain, and in the end, I returned to the hostel. From there, we decided with that same couple to go for a walk around night New York. It was great, even though the weather was not pleasing. Wet but happy, we saw another world.
Everything is in lights, in the beautiful windows of huge stores and in wonderful places. You make your way through the streets and meet places from once-beloved films on your way.
I could never have imagined that I would be standing opposite the place from the ending of one of the parts of my favorite movie "Home Alone".
I could not believe that here it is, the famous Grand Central Terminal with its stunning architecture, antique chandeliers, and incredible high vaulted ceilings.
"Grand Central Terminal represents everything that New York is. It is big, it is loud, functional, full of people, noisy, but it has one more New York quality that we often forget: it is beautiful."
Then there was the night Times Square with all its magic. Everyone there seems happy, taking memorable photos and fooling around. And it seems at this moment everything is so insignificant, because you are there. Standing with all these people, and at this very moment, you are part of this other world. The very next day, I had to leave for South Carolina. It was a little sad to sit and drink coffee in the morning and realize that 2 days in NY had passed. But it is so great to wake up and run for coffee, while simultaneously trying to contact family via Skype. Then the airport again, only a different one. The one from which I was leaving for a whole 3 months. Waiting for my flight, I spent 7 hours at the airport by chance. And all this time in my head, I was trying to paint a picture of the place where I was going. (Lesson number 2: book tickets in advance and you will get the opportunity to spend more time enjoying a walk around this or that place). I periodically fell asleep, read a book in English, and thought about everything. I did not know what awaited me. This was the very beginning of the journey. Now it seems that this time is so far away.
