After a year living in New York the day has finally come to go home. Right now I’m definitely sad about leaving the year behind, I have met so many great people, seen such amazing places and really have had the best experiences. I couldn’t think of a better way to start off my career and I’m leaving New York feeling very inspired. I thought I would share some of my favourite things from the past year and also some of the lessons I’ve learnt along the way.
Friends
Everyone who moves to New York does so with an open mind and excited for a fresh start so it was an easy place to make new friends, but I definitely got very lucky with the amazing friends I made. This absolutely has been my favourite part of living in New York. Without a doubt, the friends I made here made the experience for me. I met some of the craziest, funnest, smartest and most loveable people in the world I’m pretty sure. It breaks my heart that after becoming so close with people I’ll now be 3,000 miles away, but these friends I know I’ll have for life and I can’t wait to see where our paths cross again.
I’ve learnt the importance of having good people around me. Positive-thinking, hard-working, outgoing people who are looking to have fun – these are my kind of friends. I’ve learnt so much from all the friends I’ve made this year. I’m so excited to see where everyone ends up – because I know it’ll be somewhere amazing. I miss you all so much already.
Travel
I’ve been extremely lucky to see as much has I have this year. I wasn’t aware when I got the job with Tourism Ireland that I would have the opportunity to travel with work. Within my first month I was travelling to Vegas to work at the largest Trade Show in the world – IMEX America. After that I made it my mission to get to at least one place a month – to really make the most of my time in the U.S.
Throughout the year I saw Washington D.C. (Four times) , Miami (Twice), Nashville, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Dominican Republic, Cape Cod, Boston, Martha’s Vineyard, The Hamptons, Milwaukee and Chicago. It really has opened my eyes to how easy it is to get places at home. Travelling throughout the U.S. is actually more expensive than it is to get places in Europe from Ireland, so us Irish have no excuse. I love travelling to new places, seeing different cities and feeling the vibe of a different culture. I plan to make the most of the next year by visiting as many places as possible – starting with London and Paris in the next month.
This year I’ve definitely learnt that experience is more valuable than money will ever be.
Work
Wednesday marked the end of my first year in my first marketing job and I’ve honestly never been so excited to look forward. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my career. Being in New York, meeting the amazing people I have and being exposed to the incredible experiences that I have, I feel very motivated to work hard and keep progressing.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with the nicest team in New York for the last year and I’m looking forward to meeting my new colleagues in Dublin when I get back. I love that I get the experience of PR (in work) and Digital Marketing outside work (in blogging. I’ll be finishing the post-grad I’m doing in International Business this coming year, as well as starting a new course in fashion which I’m SO excited about (I’ll have more details on the blog soon).
As I mentioned in a previous post, I can’t wait to experience blogging in Dublin for the first time, as well as getting back into modelling. I will be represented by the Holman Lee Agency in Limerick as well as the Andrea Roche Model Agency in Dublin – so hopefully it will be a busy year.
My lesson regarding work is a quote one of my good friends, Lisa gave me on a notebook as a going away present:
“This is the start of anything you want.”
I really have learnt (as cringey as it is) that anything is possible, as long as you believe in yourself and work hard. Learning to be more confident in myself and in what I know and am good at is a big thing I’ve learnt over the last year. You only live one life, you might as well try your best to make the most out of it. I know I have for the last year and being surrounded by all my amazing friends definitely helped ♥ Here is a video I made with some of my favourite moments from the year – looking back there is not a single thing I would change.
So for now it’s on to the next adventure… Until next time NY!
