HomeThoughts From Kate Hickey

Kate Hickey hails from Clontarf and has been living in New York for four years, working as the Editor of IrishCentral.

How’d you end up there??I came here initially for three weeks to help out the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform. As luck would have it, the position of Editor of IrishCentral opened up and I jumped at the chance to stay on.

Most annoying Irish stereotype you come across??New York is such a melting pot of nationalities that this rarely comes up, however right now it’s the St Patrick’s Day season so everything’s coming out of the woodwork. Manhattan on St. Patrick’s Day is overrun with green-bedecked mobs who think being Irish for the day is all about getting drunk and rowdy. That stereotype we can definitely do without.

What food do you eat most where you are now??Sushi. You could crave any food in the world here and have it delivered to you within the hour but I’ve definitely been eating a lot of sushi recently, with dollops of wasabi.

What did you learn from the place you’re living in now that you wouldn’t have learned here??Probably patience and to stop apologizing. One thing about living in Manhattan is the crowds. Every day there are over 10.6 million people milling about this island, which is only 13.4 by 2.3 miles in size. Rush hour in New York will definitely make you find your happy place. As for apologizing, this is just a habit that Irish people have and I don’t think we even notice. If someone walks into us we say ‘sorry?. If someone holds a door for us we say ‘sorry?. I realized that New Yorkers respond to this by saying ?that’s okay? or ?it’s not a problem?. After a while you notice how strange it is to use the word ‘sorry? all the time.

Do you want to come back? Rate from 1- 10 how badly you want to come back.?This is a tough one as my decision changes on a daily, or possibly hourly, basis. I love New York and everything it has to offer from a professional, cultural and jaw-dropingly exciting point of view but Dublin will, most certainly, always be home. I miss my family, friends, and being so close to Europe for quick trips abroad, too.?For now I’ll say I’m about a 5 to 10 on any given day.

Kate Hickey @KateHickey_