New York no more

Sadly, this is the last of my Saatchi NY Switch posts. I'm already on the slopes in Park City, Utah and soon to leave the snow behind for the bright lights of Vegas and all the 'plastic fantastic' that LA has to offer. A week of 'exploring' is a requirement of the Switch program and so it is that I've ended up in Utah - home to the Mormons and 2 of the Best Rated Ski Resorts in the US (spotted the Australian moguls ski team today) ... soon to be followed by The Hangover-esque moments in Vegas.

A friend living in NY said that 6 weeks would be just enough time to settle in and start feeling like a local. And he was right. I left NY, not quite kicking and screaming, but close to it. Even with the promise of skiing and Vegas ahead of me, I was miserable at the realisation that it had all come to an end and choked up as we drove out of Manhattan and towards the airport.

However, blogs full of emotion and nostalgia are boring. Especially amateur blogs.

In summary, here are some of the things I'll miss and things I'm happy to leave behind (in no particular order)...

Miss:
- Walking the streets of East Village
- Having the freedom to be selfish and only think about me
- Trying somewhere new for dinner and drinks every night and the range of amazing and hole-in-the-wall restaurants on offer
- Chicken salads and Pinkberry with Mel and Juey
- Egg whites in a carton
- Gina's exclamations and laughs of disbelief echoing down the hallway
- Weekends walking around Soho, Noho and Nolita
- Trying everything local from Beer Pong to Mac and Cheese, from Ditch Dogs to Root Beer Floats, from Tide to Go to Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie
- The shoeman at work
- Feeling like a local because everyone comes to New York
- Monday night dinners at Village Naturals with Mic and Gaby
- Cheap cab fares
- Five Guys lunchtimes with Vanessa and Burrito Bowls with Travis
- Walking through West Village to get to work
- The calibre of artists and exhibitions here and the plethora of museums, galleries etc
- Wandering the aisles of Wholefoods, Duane Reade and Westside Market
- Dinner Club catch ups
- R&B and Hip Hop being played in clubs everywhere, it's not just for wogs in their hotted up cars on George St
- Kerri's LES apartment (my temporary home)
- The Remedy 24hr diner across the road
- Laughing at Americans with my Australian-living-in-New-York friends
- And most of all, my friends who made the city what it was. To the new and the old, to the locals and to the ones from home, you know who you are and I can't wait to see you again soon

Happy to leave behind:
- Crazy cab drivers
- The time vacuum - too many things to do and not enough hours in the day
- The silence in the lift at 'The Bank'
- People exclaiming at 'how far' I've come from Sydney and that it's too long a trip for them to ever consider (come on America, harden up, let's get that "75% of people have never travelled outside the US" statistic down)
- The long wait for the F and L train
- Shallow toilet bowls
- Rats hiding in garbage bags
- Having to test every piece of creative before you can run it in market
- NY men who talk about themselves the whole time and think they're the best thing that's happened to you or that they are the most educated people you've ever met
- The lack of fresh air

The list above would never have even been created if it weren't for Amy and Sas in NY (Sas for introducing us, Amy for pushing so hard to get approvals on her end), my Saatchi NY team for so willingly taking me on despite extreme pressure and already being short staffed, and my Saatchi Sydney team, Alex, Dan Smith, AJ and Dan Spencer for agreeing to Switch so quickly and making it happen so smoothly.

It's been incredible. Thank you all so much.

The end.

NY i'm already missing you:


Final Saturday night - Paulie's B'day:


Leaving our mark. American Eagle Outfitters
10-storey billboard in Times Square:


Final Dinner Club at Bri's house:


Goodbye NY, Hello Park City.
Heading up the mountain:

The New York dating scene

The New York dating scene is a world (and blog post) unto itself. The following are things I've learnt, observed and been advised on by both locals and visitors experiencing the same thing.

In no other city are such rules, practices and behaviour so widely-accepted.

1. Guys will approach you anywhere - on the train, on the street, in a 24 hour diner with no shame after attempting to cockblock the guy you're already talking to, in the queue for a public toilet, at a self help lecture, the list goes on. If you want to pick up tonight, you know you can. All you have to do is walk out the door.

2. There are 40% more women than men in this city. So guys get to have their pick and it means they are rarely going to commit. Like a kid in a candy store, when you have so much choice, why would you choose just one? And it's for this reason that...

3. Guys punch above their weight. Waaay above their weight. It's almost impressive and awe-inspiring what the average looking bloke can get here. But it also leads to insane egos and what most women commonly agree upon..

4. The problem with New York men is.. they're from New York.

5. The Australian accent carries its weight in gold. And it also means Australian guys will punch WELL above their weight. Astonishing really. Open your mouth and the American girls will open their....

5. Cougars are acceptable. In fact, they're not even really seen as cougars because being 30+ and single is normal. (There have actually been very few 18-23 year old sightings which is quite refreshing compared to a Saturday night out in the Cross.) As one friend put it - it's NeverNever land and the Peter Pan phenomenon. No one has to grow up here and no one is in the rat race to settle down, worrying about when they'll buy their first home and why they need to have a baby by 30.

6. You can be regularly sleeping with 5 guys or girls at once and it's acceptable. No one thinks you're the town bike.

7. On the same hand though, you can be seeing someone every single day for 3 months, 6 months.. a YEAR and unless you've had the 'exclusivity chat', you're not exclusive.

8. 'Going public' is different to 'seeing someone' but doesn't mean you're 'exclusive'.

9. Online dating is acceptable and not for losers or geeks or freaks.

10. Physical distance is as much a problem here ("He lives all the way uptown. It's just so far) as it is at home ("He lives in the Shire..what a schlep when you're coming from Bondi"). Thus, often leading to couples moving in together very quickly and out of convenience..and because the rent is so damn high.

12. If you meet a girl or a guy and you think they're something special, get them the hell out of the city and bring them back home. For both your sakes.