New York was the best experience of my life. I can’t wait to go back. Everyone probably says this but I can really picture myself living there one day. I’ve been obsessed with the city for years (to the point of which I have memorised the geographic detail of the maps plastered over my bedroom walls) so finally getting to spend a few days there was truly amazing. There is only so much Woody Allen you can watch and Fitzgerald you can read before you really have to withdraw your savings, step onto a plane and take the leap. A 10 hour bus trip wasn’t how I imagined arriving in the city for the first time, but it was an interesting adventure… like something out of a Keroac novel.

Highlights for me included the snippets I saw of Greenwich/East/West Villages, Soho and Brooklyn (these are areas I must explore more deeply whenever I may return). Of course MoMA was fantastic, especially the furniture collection (complete with chairs and lounges by Alvar Aalto, Ray & Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen) and the New York School/Abstract Expressionism exhibition (the Rothkos were mesmerising). Yet going on the free Friday night seemed to be both a blessing and a curse (blessing because it was, well, free and a curse because of the hordes of people who spent on average about 20 minutes looking around before crowding the lobby and store). The Guggenheim seemed to attract a slightly more discerning crowd of art lovers and the Kandinsky at the Bauhaus exhibit was beautifully put together and provided an interesting insight of his metamorphosis as an artist, from his early almost Fauvist works to the later purely abstract geometric explorations he is most known for. And not to mention, as I am such a FLW addict, the building itself was a spectacle.

The food was delicious - from bagels in the morning to fresh sushi or classic wood-fired pizza in Brooklyn at night - New York certainly doesn’t disappoint when it comes to interesting culinary nooks. And who goes to the city without returning with a bag double its original weight? I definitely put the strong Aussie dollar to good use, my most proud purchase being a beautiful Diane von Furstenberg skirt (if I didn’t have to catch a plane home in a couple of months I would have bought out the entire MoMA Design Store too).

All in all, it was a perfect trip and I’m now more motivated than ever to work harder and get back there as soon as possible (maybe for a lot longer next time too!)