Getting to Know Chicago

In the past couple of weeks I have been all over Chicago with my housemates, seeing what there is to see -- often for free! I never thought I would say this before, but big cities are really interesting to live in, and I might even enjoy living in one for an extended period of time (i.e., more than just one year for a service program). I am not confident with my directional abilities, and I still get anxious when I lose my bearings when wandering around the streets of Chicago, but tourists ask me for directions on the L and seem convinced that I know what I'm talking about now so I guess that's something. My housemates and I read the book Chicago - Never A City So Real for our group book this month, a series of short non-fiction stories depicting the variety of Chicago's good, bad, and complicated through the eyes of the people the author interviewed. I'm constantly learning something new or experiencing something new in Chicago, but as with many subjects in school, the more I learn the more I am convinced that there is no way I will be able to learn most of what there is to know about Chicago in my year here.

I finally saw Lake Michigan for real this past weekend. I'd seen it a few times from a bus, once on the way to the Lincoln Park Zoo and once on the way to the Museum of Science and Industry, but that didn't really count. For anyone who hasn't experienced Lake Michigan, it is more like "Sea" or "Small Ocean" Michigan than any lake I've ever seen. There's a sandy beach and the water stretches out to the horizon in all directions beyond the city. Lake Michigan and the Loop (downtown area) are good reference points for directions now and they have helped me get my bearings more than once. The skyscrapers of the city always loom in the background, no matter where you are. If the clouds aren't too thick or low and there aren't too many buildings around you, the Loop is visible most of the time. It's still sort of surreal to be standing at my stop on the Blue Line waiting for the El, with the morning rush hour cars whizzing by (or crawling by, depending on traffic congestion on the Eisenhower Expressway) below me and the Loop in the distance, knowing that I am participating in the massive force that is daily urban life in Chicago.

And... they have fancy cupcake shops.