Big City Life

By Tara Clampett

I cannot believe it has been almost two months since the big move from Florida to New York! It feels like just yesterday that my Floridian roommates and I were packing and weighing our suitcases and saying our goodbyes. 

While the move up north has been a big adjustment in terms of different living arrangements and a completely different job, I am enjoying the challenges and of course living 30 minutes away from the Big Apple. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be able to tell my friends and family back home that I am going to New York City for the day!

One of the highlights of my time here thus far is the "Amazing Race" that our clubhouse manager organized for us. The first leg took place at the club after hours. We had to do a few challenges and the three winning teams got to spend the night in an amazing hotel right in the centre of Manhattan and luckily, we were one of those teams! 

The second leg took place through the city itself. We started off at 10am at Penn Station and finished at 10pm in Times Square. During those 12 hours we worked in pairs as we travelled by foot around New York City from clue to clue, EXACTLY like the TV show! After lots of running through Central Park, the Subway, SoHo, Chinatown and the Brooklyn Bridge (to name a few), my roommate and I won the 2019 Glen Oaks Club Amazing Race and our photo was shown on the billboard in Times Square.

This made all the sweat, stress and almost tears all worth it! A HUGE thank you to Steve and all the Glen Oaks staff who made this day one of the most memorable experiences I will ever have. Having a management team that cares for and looks after their staff makes all the difference.

Looking back on the race and some of the tasks we had to do, made me realise how one grows through this experience. Whether we had to gather a crowd of random people on the subway to cheer for us, dance in front of people on the train or ask complete strangers for directions, I was up for it. If you had asked me to do this five years ago, before I came on the Workaway International programme, I would have said ‘never in a million years’! So, here is to growth, adventures and some of the best memories to cherish for life.