The Windy City

There isn't much time to write--I'm home for less than 16 hours before heading right off again--but I just came back from Chicago and have a few quick things to say. The rest can be said in pictures.

There were two reasons for our (me+my parents) trip to Chicago:
1) I needed to pick up my Spain visa from the Chicago consulate.
2) My oh-so-talented 17-year-old sister, Jenny, was doing a jazz dance and tap dance workshop at Northwestern for the week, and we were going to go see her final performance.
Ok. That said, let's move on.

I haven't really ever been to Chicago, which is surprising considering it is roughly 4.5 hours away by train, which goes straight from Ann Arbor to Union Station. That's basically the equivalent of heading to NYC from Cornell via the Shortline Bus, which I do once a semester or so. It must just be my age and the trends of the people around me: going from Ithaca to NYC is a pretty popular past time, whereas not too many Ann Arbor high school townies chill in the Chi for some weekend fun (they're too young to even get a hotel room)! The only time I remember going to Chicago was to visit Northwestern, which was really a visit to Evanston with a quick stop in Chicago for less than half the day before heading back to Ann Arbor. Oh, glorious weekend college visits.

I liked Chicago. A lot. I wasn't expecting to. Most people I know at school like the idea of living in a big city (namely NYC) for at least a year or two after graduation, to have the experience of living in a city. I'm not like that at all. I have pretty much no interest in living in NYC. It's fun to visit, but once the trip is over I'm almost always ready to head back to my grassy hills and pretty walks. (I could have said "gorges walks"-- aren't you glad I didn't?) I was assuming I would feel the same way about Chicago, but I didn't at all. I can picture myself living there fairly easily and it makes me excited to think about spending more time there. I love seeing water; I loved being so close to Lake Michigan. The city felt clean and well-kept, but the biggest thing was the people. Chicago is so obviously in the Midwest, and I LOVE that. Generally, the local people were much less style-obsessed than in NYC and incredibly friendly. The open friendliness about the Midwest is what I miss most when I go away and it was a pleasant surprise to find that same niceness in a major city. On one subway ride to Evanston, three different people who were sitting noticed my walking boot and aggressively offered me their seats. I'm typically not a fan of chivalry, but in this case... it was great!

Oh, and my sister's performance was stellar. She does all kinds of things I could never do, and going all out with your body in front of an audience is one of them. She was the youngest one in the workshop (most were adults), so I'm not sure how much of a feel she got for the "real" Northwestern, but I hope she goes there. I think it would be a great fit for her. Sheltered suburbia (Evanston) with a nice campus (and the lake!), but fun, late-night, adventurous Chicago just a subway ride away.

Enough blabber. Time for pictures.

My dear parents on the La Salle bridge (ahh... shoot. I think it was La Salle. Rory, if you're reading this, everywhere I went there was La Salle everything and I kept thinking about our 5th grade project and your dad's accent when we interviewed him on cassette tape for Compton's class).

The bean! I was very excited to see it.

Me and my mommy at the beginning of our boat tour (yes, we were in full tourist mode).

Um, does this need a caption? I'm being ridiculous. It's what I do best! The views on the boat were really something...

I rest my case.

We, of course, did more than this boat tour, but these are the best pictures, I think. Unless you want to look at pictures of art from the Art Institute that you could see on other internet sites or look at pictures of my sister messing around, but I think you're probably good. The boat tour was also great because of the new perspective of the city (seeing it from the water) and all the history that went along with it (I could totally be a Chicago tour guide)...

I used my new Nikon SLR for the first time on this trip. It was a birthday present and it is wonderful. I'm sold.

Boulder tomorrow, China on Tuesday!