Personal Archives
February 12, 2011
My time in Chicago is fading. Two weeks from yesterday, I will be packing up yet another rental car and proverbially stamping a giant “Return to Sender” sticker along the back. Has it already come to this?
I haven’t blogged during the second half of my time in Chicago. In fact, I haven’t posted anything since early November-over three months ago. Though a lot happened during that time, the idea of sitting down and writing something about my recent experiences or reflections always just sounded like a chore. I didn’t feel like I had anything to say that I hadn’t already said.
I absolutely love Chicago, and it had really started feeling like home. However, going back to Texas over Thanksgiving and Christmas helped me realize just how much I really do love Dallas. It’s my true home, and I ultimately want to end up back there. I was always tentatively planning on moving back to Dallas at the 6-month mark, but that’s when I made the final decision.
So, the new year has seen my heart and mind pointed southward. I still adore Chicago, and I’m so glad that I’m here, but I’m also very excited about getting back home and finally settling in.
Now that my days in Chicago can be counted on my fingers and the toes of one foot, my emotions are becoming increasingly conflicted. More on that later.
Good luck, and good fortnight.
Posted in Personal | Blogging | Chicago | Moving | Time | Transition
November 4, 2010
As I recently mentioned, I’m working through moving from one phase of my great Chicago Adventure to another. The Genesis of this transition was a couple of weekends ago, when a friend was in town and invited me to a house concert in Pilsen. “Sounds great!” I said. “See you there.” I’d never even heard of Pilsen.
Pilsen, it turns out, is a large neighborhood southwest of downtown. So I jumped on the L and headed further out from home than I’d yet gone. The apartment where I was ultimately headed was a 15 minute walk from the station, so after getting off the train, I found myself strolling down a street unlike any I’d yet seen in Chicago.
After just a brief glance, its obvious that Pilsen is a predominantly hispanic neighborhood. The restaurants, shops and storefronts were all lined with Dia de los Muertos decorations, the sides of buildings were beautifully painted in huge, distinctly urban-hispanic murals, and the sweet scent of Mexican bakeries filled the evening air as I passed block after block dotted with art galleries and handmade craft shops. From the brief experience I had, it was a lovely, charming neighborhood.
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Posted in Personal | Balance | Chicago | Chipotle | Dallas | Kickstand | Life | Pilsen | Transition | Yelp
October 29, 2010
This weekend will mark two months of my living in Chicago, which means that I’ve already been here for a third of my intended six month stay. To celebrate this milestone, how about a recap of the past eight weeks?
I really like Chicago. I mean, I really really like it. I honestly cannot imagine a better, more epitomic American city. It fully embodies exactly what I’ve always thought a metropolis could and should be. Chicago is simply a great town. And the experience as a whole has been as contrary and different as I’d hoped it would be.
Having come two months into my time here, it’s becoming increasingly fascinating to look back on my time in Chicago. The more time that passes, the more perspective I have on the infant stages of the journey. Even in the short amount of time so far, there are several distinct stages that I can identify though I was largely oblivious to them at the time.
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Posted in Personal | Chicago | Chipotle | Maps | Milestones | Moving | Phases | Routine | Stability | Starbucks | The City | Transition
October 24, 2010
One question that I’ve been asked quite a bit lately is “What are Chicago people like?” And honestly, until it was asked me, I hadn’t even thought about it. Because people in Chicago are, for all practical purposes, just like people in Dallas.
We from the southern states hold a bit of a preconception that Northerners are loud, short, vulgar and unfriendly. I think New York has largely been responsible for that idea, because from what I hear, it’s absolutely true.
Chicago has been pleasantly contrary to that stereotype. In fact, most of the interaction I’ve had with people here – passerbys on the street, waiters, clerks, retail staff, co-workers, church members – has shown Chicagoans to be friendly, helpful and polite. Drivers might be the exception to that, as you can’t walk two blocks without hearing screeching tires or someone laying on their horn.
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Posted in Personal | Accents | Chicago | Dallas | People | Race | Segregation | Stereotypes
October 7, 2010
So, I’ve been in Chicago for over a month now. I’m still coming to grips with that, in fact. It’s not that it feels like it’s been longer or shorter than that. But labeling that span of time as a month just doesn’t sound right at all.
I think this is largely because there was so much leading up to me actually driving to Chicago. There were months of planning, dreaming, praying, and preparing that were just as significant as the move itself. A month doesn’t sound right, because I’ve been “here” in this new phase of life for much longer. But that 15 hour drive? Saying goodbye to my parents, sister, friends, and home? No, no, that was just a couple of weeks ago.
If you’ve followed my trip at all, you’ve probably realized that I love Chicago. Adore it. The city is absolutely fantastic, and I would not trade the past five weeks here for anything. But Chicago itself was only part of the reason I came here. Of all the attributes of Chicago that drew me here, the most significant one was that it wasn’t Dallas. My loving family, phenomenal friends, and charming life as I knew it were nowhere near Illinois.
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Posted in Personal | Chicago | Family | Friends | Growth | Independence | Introversion | Loneliness | Seclusion
September 25, 2010
It’s been nearly four weeks, and I have to say that city life is almost exactly as I’d imagined it. Even if we haven’t actually lived it ourselves, we’ve seen it in movies and TV shows, and those are – practically speaking – very good representations of what it’s like.
The buildings, the people, the streets, the cabs, cars, buses, trains, bars, shops, and parks. And all within a block of wherever you are at any given minute. Everything is so condensed. Communities and districts that elsewhere would be spread across a mile or more are all squeezed into a block or even a street corner. Everything is just close. Even if something on the other side of town, it feels like it’s just around the corner.
As expected, the biggest difference between Chicago and Dallas is in the way that I get around. Since I don’t have a car, I walk, take the bus, take the L, or in most cases, some combination of those. Trips happen in legs rather than one mundane stretch.
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Posted in Personal | Chicago | Coffee | Dallas | Novelty | Simplification | The City | The L | Transportation | Travelling
