People often ask me to make comparisons between my two homes and I usually respond with – “New York is like London on steroids”, before trying to explain such a statement. At the core, it’s rather simple. London has the same energy, the same buzz, fear and excitement about it. The feeling of never quite knowing exactly what’s going to happen tomorrow. Take that notion, multiply it by 10, place 1.6 million people in an island you can walk across in 20 minutes, add a generous helping of people with seemingly no qualms about talking to anybody about anything and you can begin to understand what I mean.

I honestly believe I would’ve found it harder emigrating to any other place in the world, mainly because I’ve managed to make such good friends in such a short space of time here. It’s a commonly held belief that it gets harder to make decent friends, the older you get. I don’t mean mere acquaintances, I’m talking about the type of friends you can talk to about anything. The kinds of people you meet on your journey through your teens and early 20s, who tend to stay with you for some time.

Starting in a new place with none of those old-schoolers around does make it seem rather daunting at first. Here though, being able to sit in a bar and strike up a conversation with the person next to you without them thinking you’re coming on to them or a nut job, is strangely refreshing. Bar tenders inviting you out drinking with them after their shift ends. A group noticing you hanging out on your own and inviting you to join them for a round of darts. Just a few examples that I honestly feel, just don’t happen in London, or many other places for that matter. At least not with the same care free attitude.

I think the key reason for this almost overwhelming sense of just getting stuck in, comes from the chemistry that makes Manhattan tick. Very few of the people I meet are from New York, even fewer from Manhattan. This combined with the energetic attitude exhibited by most who choose to live here, makes for a very real sense of everyone being in the same boat. You’re not a New Yorker till you’ve lived here for more than 7 years I hear. And so in those 7 years, you’re still a newbie, still trying to find yourself among the noise, the smell, the Tuesday 4am last call, the homeless guy you’ve had conversations with who still pretends to be deaf, the constant sense that somewhere near, something awesome is happening.

And I love it.