lessons from nyc.

1. Eating healthy food will cost approximately 7 times as much as eating unhealthy food.


2. If you show interest in sub-way serenaders, they will show interest in you. Persistently, and also physically.


3. Standard drinks do not exist in Manhattan.


4. "Vodka and Sprite" is NOT the same as "vodka and lemonade". NB: It is, but don't get into an argument with a Polish barmaid in Brooklyn about it.

5. Never attempt to use your understanding of the London tube network as a reference for your understanding of the NYC subway network. It is, most definitely, nowhere near the same.

6. If you think something is worth seeing, chances are, several hundred people agree with you and they are all waiting to see it too. Be prepared to queue (in a wholly disorganised and un-British manner).

7.  Just because a guy who looks like a local is standing at the curb looking ready to cross, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a good place to cross. It may actually be that he is just waiting for his dog to finish defacating. NB: There is no dignified way of walking away from said man once you have realised that you have just been stood next to a stranger and his defacating pet for a good few minutes for no reason.

8. Cheese as NY knows it is not the same as the rest of the world knows it. Therefore: always hold the cheese (please).

9. The Statue of Liberty isn't as big as you'd imagine. But you will still squeal out loud the first time you see it (well...I did).

10. The best stuff that'll happen is the kind of stuff you never really considered that would happen. This includes, but is not limited to:
-eavesdropping a high school field trip to the Met, and being amazed at how articulate young Americans actually are.
-watching parents interact with their kids. Anywhere. And realising that maybe there is some attraction in having children after all.
-getting danced on by a tiny Chinese guy, telling him you have a boyfriend and indicating a random black guy, then watching tiny Chinese guy go and shake a strangers hand.
-catching an open mic night by accident.
-sitting with and talking to a psychology professor in a deli because it was the only place there was left to sit.

11. Always tip your waiters and waitresses, thank you very much and goodnight.