How often in everyday life do you encounter something absolutely new, something that goes beyond your perception of the world? From that moment on, until I returned home, I felt like a pioneer every single day. Every new person, new place, new word – at first, you just can't keep up with being amazed by everything you encounter. Of course, I hadn't traveled much before that summer, but even ordinary things blow your mind.

I should mention that while preparing for the trip, a few more people joined Misha and me. It's easier to look for housing with a large group, and it's more fun to live together... In the end, six future friends met at JFK Airport – three of whom we were seeing for the first time.

The first challenge for me was the transfer from the airport to Wildwood, our home for the coming months. Misha had arranged in advance with a Russian guy who had been living in the States for a long time and was willing to take all of us (!) with our suitcases (!) in his car and drive us to the house (a four-hour drive) for five packs of Russian cigarettes (!). Honestly, I'm not a very trusting person, and the idea seemed suspicious to me. There were 5 girls and one guy, with a bunch of money and documents... But this was the first broken stereotype of distrust towards people – the guy turned out to be very sociable, gave a lot of useful advice, and drove us with a breeze right to the doorstep. Outside the window, the landscapes of New York flashed by: the Brighton Beach area with its Russian "pelmennaya" and "varenichnaya" spots, a tiny Statue of Liberty, dozens of convertibles (I think I had only seen a couple in my life before), unusual road signs, endless forests under the scorching sun...

Getting out of New York traffic

Somewhere on the horizon, the Statue of Liberty is visible

That's how our American life began.

The owners of the house turned out to be sweet pensioners with two miniature dogs. Every year, they rent out exactly half of the house, with a separate entrance, to students, while they live in the other half. A kitchen, bathroom, three rooms and a living room, a porch in front of the house, and a barbecue area in the backyard – everything was at our disposal.

Our wonderful house

To be honest, it was very difficult for me to understand everything, as I hadn't managed to watch any series in American English... That's definitely something I should have changed. However, almost everyone has a language problem at first. I didn't expect it to be so bad (with my perfect grades), but over time you get used to it because there is no choice. You get used to the fact that half the words fly past your ears – because of the slang and the speed of speech.

You also get used to the reality surrounding you. The first few days we walked around the city on foot and admired almost every house, every car, every shop... Judge for yourself:

Street names and countless flags immediately let you know what country you are in

Wonderful American houses

Of course, I knew what our Wildwood and one-story America looked like in general. But seeing it in reality is not at all like in pictures... At first, all you can do is take photos and be amazed.

The ocean was a special impression for me – before that, my limit was the Black Sea. Unlike architecture, shops, an unusual mentality, and everything else, you don't get used to the ocean. Every time it meets you in a new way – with icy calm or stormy foam, blue smoothness or black abyss... You might say that the sea behaves the same way, and you would be right, but the majesty of the ocean surpasses any other majesty in the world. Especially when you realize that your home is somewhere beyond this infinity, on the other side of the globe...

First meeting with the ocean