This time last year I was leaving NYC having swiftly fallen in love with the place after 2 weeks (such a cliche, i know).  I headed to Europe for a few months and was lucky enough to return to the Big Apple on my way home in February this year. The two visits couldn’t have been more different.

The first trip was sweltering hot, my friend Kate and I managed to catch a heat wave that recorded the highest temperatures in 10 years (103 degrees fahrenheit or 39 degrees celsius) and humidity I’ve never experienced outside of South East Asia. Together we partied hard, ate, shopped, drank, saw EVERYTHING (including Brooklyn and The Bronx), made friends with everyone in the two hostels we stayed and left sleep deprived and shattered.

The second trip was solo and averaged 2 degrees celsius. I never felt alone (except when I had to go out for dinner having watched two back-to-back episodes of Law & Order, which is apparently way scarier when you’re in the city that the show is set in), I felt more at home than I had in weeks and enjoyed walking the streets and re-visiting my favourite restaurants. I also got to take many of the same photos, as you can see above.

Comparing and contrasting hasn’t been this fun since year 12 english!