A Shore Thing

As the Minnesota heat makes me ponder if I've temporarily relocated to the South, I think back to fonder and cooler times in Chicago a few weeks ago. Lake Michigan was a hop, skip, and literal jump out Emma's window in Hyde Park. Being that Lake Michigan is one of the Great Lakes, it looks and feels more like an ocean than a freshwater body of water. The view is so vast that you can't locate the shoreline in the distance. However, you can see Indiana from Emma's apartment window, which is not a good thing according to Chicagoans. All I knew was that I was mesmerized every time I found myself staring out the window. As far as I'm concerned, the only other place I wanted to be that weekend was on one of those sailboats.

This first set of photos was taken from Emma's rooftop, proving that the view is spectacular anywhere in Chicago.[The Sears Tower shrouded in haze.]


[Why yes, Chicago has its own flag.]

Also in Emma's neighborhood and her whole reason for moving to Hyde Park, The University of Chicago.


The students I saw fit the crazy competitive reputation of the school that I had been promised. While taking the bus from the city center to Hyde Park, I eavesdropped some undergrads debating the new Woody Allen film, "Midnight in Paris." Although I found it to be one of the most delightful films I've seen all summer and a recent best for Allen, this feisty freshman claimed that its references to Hemingway's A Moveable Feast were "too superficial." Furthermore, when we met Emma's friends at the local dive bar, we found a man suddenly at our table saying he had to leave his friends' conversation because they wouldn't stop talking about evolution. Darwin over PBR? It was like I was another realm. However, as you can see, the campus is like something out of a Gothic fairytale. Just being around all of that ivy and stone made me want to rush to J. Crew to buy corduroy and play Frisbee on the quad, two activities I have never done, but seem idyllically collegiate. I may not want to attend University of Chicago, but I could gladly stare at its Harry Potter-esque campus all day long.
This will be my last post from Chicago. Thank you again to Emma for showing me around, introducing me to her friends, and just generally making me feel at home in a city that I've never felt close to before.