Pine Street was the name of the street where I first stayed when I came to the United States. For a long time, it was the place I returned to at the end of each day. After school, field trips, visits to parks, or time spent exploring unfamiliar parts of the city, I always found myself back on Pine Street. At first, everything around me felt unfamiliar, from the streets I walked to the city itself. But through the simple repetition of leaving and returning, walking the same routes, and spending time in the neighborhood, the unfamiliar gradually became familiar. Over time, Pine Street became more than just the name of a street. It became my first point of reference in the United States, a place connected to the beginning of many experiences, memories, and ways of seeing that have stayed with me ever since.
