I thought today was the perfect day to tell you about my love for the city that never sleeps!!!!
My love affair started with New York at the very young age of 11 when I got the chance to stay with an American family for 6 weeks in the summer of 1992. They were the Oliver Family who were an amazing family and showed me the sights and sounds of Manhattan, New Jersey and the Jersey Shore.
During my stay with The Oliver's they took me into Manhattan for the day and all I can say was WWWOOOWW!!! As a kid of 11 years old and watching films all my life, it felt like at that moment I was actually in a film. I was lucky enough to be taken to the top of the World Trade Centre and have my photo taken there and that will forever be a treasure!!
1999 came around and I was entering into my first year of a university degree in Hotel and Tourism Management and all I could think about was third year which was a year's work placement. Usually the students have worked for Aer Lingus in Boston but my year was different and out of my group of friends I was different - well that's what my lecturer said anyway. I started to get worried but when she said I had the choice of Newark, Chicago, LAX, Baltimore and finally JFK! Once she said JFK I was sold and told my lecturer straight away that JFK was where I wanted to go. She asked if I wanted to think about it and I said no, that I was certain that I wanted to spend my year there.
June 16th 2001 I boarded Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to New York JFK and that was the start of the best year of my life!!!!
During that year I experienced everything from Yankee's & Mets Baseball games, the tragic day of Sept 11th, new friendships that are still in tact today even though an ocean separate's us, opening day of the US Open, Central Park, Queens, Brooklyn, Rockefeller Centre at Christmas, 5th Avenue on St Patrick's Day, Jones Beach, the 7 train, MoMa, Broadway, Meeting Huey from the Fun Lovin Crimials coming out the backstage door of the Stereophonics gig that we went to and many many which I'm hoping to share with you here.
I've been back to the wonderful city every other year since living there and hoping to make a trip back there very very very soon!!
