Around 11 a.m. on July 29, we finally landed at JFK airport, safe and sound... Honestly, I had spent a long time imagining this moment—stepping off the plane and taking my first steps in New York, playing the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys song in my head) But in reality, it wasn't as magical or exciting, because all I could think about was: “Oh my God, we are in America, on a completely different continent, so far from home! What are we supposed to do?!”) But God didn't answer, and I felt more and more panic and anxiety) I think everyone who goes on the Work and Travel program expects something grand and unrealistically awesome... I want to warn other dreamers like me right away and bring them down to earth: America is not another planet, and the people living there are just as ordinary as you and me (well, maybe a little strange, but only at first... later you'll get used to it and become just like them)) And the air there, by the way, is the same, and the sky is no bluer than ours... I'm writing this because I myself thought that even breathing in the USA would feel somehow special.) Well, anyway, we arrived at JFK, picked up our luggage, and went through security. A nice gentleman looked at our documents, stamped our passports with the I-94 form (a small piece of paper that you absolutely cannot lose, and you must return it when you leave), and wished us a great summer. After that, we happily wandered off to find representatives from our agency so they could tell us how to get to the Port Authority bus station. To our great disappointment, we found out that since we arrived at the end of June, the agency representatives were no longer meeting anyone... And right then, a Russian immigrant man ran up to us, deciding to profit from poor, lost students. He started offering us various services for almost “peanuts,” but we politely declined and went outside. There, we saw a guy we had flown with on the plane, and he advised us to take a Shuttle Bus that was just about to leave. This Shuttle Bus took us to Port Authority for 18 bucks. While we were driving to our station, I somehow managed to hold back my emotions... JFK itself is located in Queens, and honestly, there wasn't much to see there. But as soon as we entered Manhattan, it was like I ended up in the “Sex and the City” series. Life in this city doesn't just flow, it boils... crowds of people everywhere, everyone is in a hurry, everyone is busy with their own business... and all around are huge billboards, advertisements, and more people, taxis... Well, anyway, they brought us right to the Port Authority building, we grabbed our luggage, and went inside. Port Authority is a huge building with tons of cafes, shops, information desks, etc., on every floor. We somehow found the place where they sold tickets for Greyhound (a very famous company providing bus transportation within America). And that's where we had to decide exactly where we were going. A ticket to Cody, the town I desperately wanted to visit, cost a whole 265 bucks (per person, of course), and it took 3 whole days to get there... all of this didn't make Asel very happy, and she started trying to persuade me to go to some other, closer state... But I wasn't going to back down from my goal, and in the end, we had 2 tickets to Cody with a buuuunch of transfers) Unfortunately, the ticket was for the next day, and we needed somewhere to spend the night since we were exhausted from the long journey. We dropped off our luggage right there at Port Authority, paying about 8 bucks each. Stepping outside, we felt the so-called “culture shock” in full force. Perhaps that was the moment I started disliking this New York... how do people even live there?! The city, in fact, is terribly dirty... I guess I'll be the only person who didn't like this praised New York, but a city this noisy and crowded just isn't for me... I felt like I was suffocating there... We couldn't even step aside and think calmly—there were people everywhere! We somehow found a T-Mobile office and bought a SIM card, then bought an international calling card at a regular store and called home. After reassuring our families that we were alive and well, we started looking for shelter for the night, but since hotels in New York, especially in the center of Manhattan, are unrealistically expensive, we just wandered the streets waiting for a miracle... and a miracle did happen! Although I am by nature a terribly inattentive person, I still noticed a small “Hotel” sign on one, well, veeery terrible building... We didn't have much of a choice, so we decided to risk it and go into this hotel to ask how much it would cost to stay for one night. A suspicious African-American guy opened the door for us, although at first, all people there seemed suspicious to me) Staying there for one night cost 60 bucks for two people, which made us very happy, and we agreed without hesitation. Although, after entering the room and seeing our “luxury apartments,” I spent a long time wondering what we even paid those 60 bucks for, as the room was, to put it mildly, terrible... I'd rather not even talk about the bathroom) Leaving our bags, we decided to go buy something to eat and take a walk, no longer having the headache of where we would sleep. We bought some strange salami burgers that almost made us sick... how do they even eat that?! Also, Asel got the idea to buy strawberries, which looked like plastic props and didn't taste any better. We didn't walk for long, as we were afraid we might just get lost, and it was already getting quite late. So we decided not to risk it and headed back to our wonderful hotel)