My wife's niece is a medical student in Russia. A few years ago she came to the US to stay with us for the summer. At the time she was 20. She was tall, blonde and very pretty. After 2 weeks with us she was bored and said she was going to NYC and stay there for 3 weeks by herself. At the time she spoke and understood very, very little English. My wife was upset about her going as was I.
She went and connected up with other young Russians in the Brighton Beach area. She ended up sharing an apartment with 7 other people in upper Manhattan. She got a waitress job in an Italian restaurant and bar. She traveled all over Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. She told us she would stay out all night and a few times slept on the beach with others.
We went to see her 2 weeks later and she took us all over Manhattan. Introduced us to a couple of her male friends. She was fine there in NYC and never had any problems.
I am telling you this because my opinion is Leora not as much as Malia is exploring the city and enjoying meeting new friends as well as having a great time.