The plane from Moscow landed in JFK airport. It was evening but, for most people on the board, it was almost night. Ten hours of flying plus eight hours of time difference promised to make my first couple of days very productive. But it was nothing in comparison to all of those mixed feelings and expectations that stupefies visitors’ heads.
The Big Apple, the land of opportunities, a city-dream, the centre of all American and world capitals, a city of contrasts, a concentration of luxury, and poverty of "colourful" quarters. A city of yellow taxis and fast food. That’s what they say about New York.
An ordinary girl from a different part of the world thought that this city was an amazing chance to express herself in a different University and a different atmosphere. This also provided a great opportunity to compare people, cultures, students and thoughts.
New York opened its embrace. Huge buildings made of glass, everybody running around, looking for
something. Time. Speed. Life. On the question “What is NY for you?” everybody will answer in their own way. For the refined aesthete it is, of course, Carnegie Hall, Broadway and Metropolitan opera. For the whimsical fashionable woman, it is Soho, Fifth and Madison Avenues. For the fan of club life – Pacha, Mansion and Ultra. What is NY for me?
People.
People in New York are totally different. But all of them feel extremely American. That’s the difference if you compare America with Canada. One can for instance go to his/her boss and say that in their homeland country there is a public holiday – and the boss will most likely give a day off. But in America everybody should be the same and celebrate Thanksgiving Day instead.
A high number of Americans are very kind and open-minded. It is very unusul to hear ''I like your shoe'' or ''Smile, exams are almost over'' from a random person in Moscow. However, Americans also come across as quite uneducated. Most of the people, with whom I used to talk thought that Moscow is the capital of some state; The question ''Where is Sweden?'' appeared to be a dead-end question. Once, we got a great answer – ''I know where it is! It close to Turkey!'' One of SUNY students didn't even know what Central Park is. Even so, these individuals probably don’t need to know that.
Mostly, American youth feel younger than they really are. In Europe, nineteen-year-old old boys already know who they are and what they are while their American counterparts are joking and playing around.
City.
Despite the fact that NY has existed a hundred years, it still makes an impression of building in process type of a city.
There is all this heap of a stone and iron, kubes without roofs, with thousands of windows, all that spreading for miles, without and expected termination date.
But it would not be right to say that NY is not beautiful. On the contrary, as an embodiment of the sum of blessings of a civilisation it is harmonous and even gorgeous.
Manhattan is always full of things to do — coffee at «Starbucks»; have a chat with the children of Russian immigrants and hear from an American person “Zdravstvuite, borsh', babushka”; set oneself a target – to see the primary Christmas tree of the country at the Rockefeller centre; on the way there make a stop at the train station in order to look at the beauty on the ceiling; walk out on the Time Square and be stunned from the amount of advertisement; walk down Broadway and realize that it will never end, thus turning to the first corner bar; see in different hours of day and night stunning and rich and powerful Fifth Avenue in order to agree with the core New Yorker citizens that the city is unique.
Difference.
It could sound strange, but the differences between New York and Moscow were not so obvious. Probably, because the two biggest countries in the world are trying to go in step with time – fashion, money, and progressive young people.
The differences are mostly between religion, personality, belief structure, past experiences, affection expressed at home, and some other factors. A country affects human behavior and culture. I mean the length of pleasantries and greetings before getting down to conversation; the level of tolerance for being around someone speaking a foreign (not-understood) language; politeness measured in terms of gallantry or etiquette (e.g., standing up for a woman who approaches a table, yielding a seat on the bus to an older person, etc.) are all examples of possible cultural differences and traditions.
In Moscow it is a good manner for the arriving person to greet the others. Another example, someone who walks into a group of persons eating would say “priyatnogo appetita” (enjoy your meal). It is a good manner to help women to put on a jacket. It should be noted, that feminism is a big thing in America while in Russia women like to be a women and boys are supposed to be gentlemen.
I thought that paying attention to customs and cultural differences is very important sometimes, and ignoring these can get an unsuspecting person into trouble.
.jpg)
