Application folder is empty
As stated by Tom. you may be looking in the wrong Applications folder.  There are 2 - the main one is in the root directory so all users can access them: There are various ways to see root - I use shift-command-c  from a finder window - you should see all your drives/network/servers etc.  Click on main OS drive, probably called Macintosh HD and the main App folder will be there. You will also see the Users folder.  If you delve into there, you may well see another, possibly empty Application folder.  This is for Apps to be used by that user only.