city

monday, i got to spend the whole day in the city (chicago). a really cool friend of mine from college has been living there for 2 years, and we finally got a chance to hang out! we both tend to be really busy which makes this difficult, but after a month of failed attempts, we actually achieved the impossible. fantastic.

i haven't really gotten to spend that much time in the city since i moved to the fabulous state of illinois...so, this was a welcome deviation from the routine of my life in the burbs. the weather was perfect. well, it may have been a little warm. ok, it was hot, but i have promised myself that i will never complain about it being hot outside, because i know that it will only be a few short weeks until it won't be warm anymore. so, i don't want to waste the great weather complaining about it being too hot...

anyways, i got downtown at about noon, and after a short walk and a couple of phone calls, lauren and i finally met up! family reunion. ha. from there, we took the blue line out to bucktown and wicker park (which may be my new favorite neighborhoods ever). really cool/artsy district. we ate lunch and just walked around a bit before heading over to the beach at lake michigan. now, i have always had a problem with people referring to areas around lakes as beaches, because in my mind, the word "beach" denotes saltwater. however, i suspended this abhorrence for the sake of an incredible afternoon of people watching with lauren. it was so crowded. lauren and i found a cool place to sit on a concrete wall that jutted out into the water--perfect place to people watch and get splashed a bit by the occasional big wave.

from the beach, we walked over to the zoo in lincoln park and hung out with the primates for a bit and then on to wrigleyville. a really wonderful afternoon of just walking around and taking it all in. about two hours before i had to catch a train back out to the burbs, we went back to downtown, and sat at a fountain. a great close to the day. i share lauren's love for fountains. i guess i just like water shooting up in the air. ha.

i guess the most interesting thing to me about the whole day is that it wasn't the sights we saw that were really breathtaking. it wasn't the weather. truly, i can't really put my finger on it, but there was just something about being in the city that was exciting and new. the small intricacies of parking on the street, having a monthly bus/train pass, having no personal space, and being so close and so far away from the vast majority of the people you see everyday just really drew me in for some reason. perhaps, it's simply curiosity. a life different than my own.

i'm not really sure what it was that drew me in, but i do know that for most of the train ride home, i couldn't get my mind off of the city. maybe i'll live there someday. i can't help but think that it would really open my eyes to get out of suburbia sometime and wrestle with new ideas/challenges. just a thought.