When life was sweet...

I’ve been here for about eight months and I haven’t fully adjusted to the Kansas lifestyle. Just what that entails, I have no idea. I suppose it means that I haven’t gotten used to the lack of public transportation and classy dining options and better shopping options. Does this make me a snob? Perhaps. But regardless of how screwed up Chicago is policy and expense wise, it’s still a world-class city and still the place that I still identify with, despite the fact that I lived in the ‘burbs for eight years after graduating from high school. It was refreshing to know that whenever I needed a getaway from the SUVs and spoiled kids and American Eagle hoodies, I could hop a Metra train and go spend a ton of money in touristy-trap downtown Chicago with my mother and little sister.

Our downtown visits had a pattern: we’d arrange to meet around noon, since we had to plan around the Metra’s arrival time (which ran every hour and took about an hour and 15 minutes to get into the city from my town). I find my mother at her bank’s Gold Coast branch, she’d hit the ATM and then we’d head over to Carson’s. Once Carson’s closed (a move that deeply upset my mother), we had to find alternative department store pickings. So to Macy’s we’d go. There we’d spend way too much money on designer underwear and shoes and then decide to find a place to lunch.

And then comes the problem: after spending our hard earned dollars on our designer underwear and shoes, we’d be low on funds and therefore unable to dine at the classier establishments. As a result, we’d find ourselves having to choose a chain restaurant, a move that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, considering that we could pay less for the same food outside of the city center. Bennigans? Always a good choice, until they closed. Friday’s? That usually works, although it’s so far down the Mag Mile that we’re usually exhausted by the time we get there. Popeye’s? Always solid.

Following the food, drinks and laughs we’d head back out to do more shopping, preferably at a music or book store. We’d stock up on cds and/or magazines and realize that it’s soon time for us to depart, as I have to catch the Metra on its own cuckoo schedule.

(For anyone who is thinking of stalking us, please be aware that we’ve since switched up our routine. Shazaam.)

But despite the monotony and the routine, I would gladly give up this Kansas lifestyle to have it back. I miss the diversity, the rudeness, the Tina Turner impersonators, the homeless people who would get angry if you only gave them change, the hookers riding the train and so much more. Well, I could do without the hookers on the train, since I’m confident they weren’t wearing any underwear and I didn’t feel comfortable sitting anywhere they might have been sitting.

Grody to the max.

All in all, Chicago is a great town. There’s something for everyone and if you have a strong desire to blow through a ton of money, it’s definitely the place to be.
I’ll see you soon, you awesome city, you.

Restart 1.2.3.

It's been almost a year...a whole year. And so much has gone on. I said so long to Illinois, so long to Chicago, so long to that bus-driving business and hello to my new life in graduate school. Studying political science is indeed as stressful as you might imagine. It's hard to keep personal ideologies out of objective studies but it always makes for interesting classroom debate. This large campus environment is still pretty alien to me but it's great for people watching, but not in that creepy BluBlockers sunglasses-wearing way. The term is almost over and I got a shiny new computer so hopefully I can keep up with this writing business. Shazaam.