Love at First Sight

Friday, November 9th.
Chicago, Illinois.

     As many of you know, University of Chicago was my dream school.  As a senior in high school I remember not even thinking about going to college straight out of high school and then a few days before applications were due, I frantically applied to five or six schools.  I don't know what I was thinking.

    The thing that intrigued me about UChicago was it's level of intellect...the school of thinking.  I also loved the idea of trimesters, since we all know that I hate summer break being so long and winter break being so short.  It just made sense to me.  I loved the idea of the school, the thought of having that level of conversation with people, living in the city...but I lacked a few thousand that would without a doubt build up over my four years of undergraduate school.

    So I chose Duke.  Don't get me wrong, I am very proud of going to school there.  I have met absolutely amazing people who I admire in so many aspects.  And the few close friends I have, that have allowed me the privilege of being a part of their lives, are beyond any definition of a true friend.  Also, Duke has done a lot for me and has taken care of me as its own child in ways I could never have fathomed. I miss all of my friends at Duke beyond words right now during my leave! 
     I love Durham, North Carolina and I love that NC has the best of both worlds, the mountains and the beaches.  I am utterly homesick for my beloved Madison, Mississippi.  I enjoy the times I do spend with my sister in New Orleans, Louisiana.

     But never have I been to a place that I've fallen in love with at first sight.

    My younger sister and I aren't the closest to my older sister.  We lack connection with her on so many levels, and I guess we are both waiting for her to get to know us, who we are, and who we have grown to become as young women.  I am going to stray away from talking about that in this blog because it takes away from my wondrous experience. 

   So I begged my older sister to let me go to Chicago with her.  It's her fourth interview for residency.  The city has always been something that we mention here and there, I thought about when I considered UChicago, but when I found out she was going...I had to find a way.

   I had never been before, and I have to say...it was everything I had dreamed of an more.  By far the most marvelous city I have been to (yes, more so than New Orleans), Chicago is a place I cannot put in words.

   Our main event for the day was the three hour bike tour we had reserved.  We killed time walking to a few shops before arriving at our one o'clock tour.  We were given bikes...that had names.  I was given Elvis.  My sister got Judd.  To our luck, which I initially thought would be super awkward, my sister and I were the only two signed up for the tour.  Our own personalized tour.

   In general I absolutely do not enjoy being a tourist.  I like exploring on my own, but I'm not fond of guided tours on double-deckers or ships or...  But I have to say the first thing that got me hooked was the personality of our guide.  He was awesome-- full of humor, wit, and friendliness.  He gave us a tour that he didn't normally give since he didn't have his normal group of 25 bikers.  We learned a lot of fun facts about Chicago.  For one, it's not called the windy city, because of the wind--but rather--because Chicagoans were known as braggarts, proud braggarts at that.

To save you all the details,  I just want to say...
I think I could see myself living in Chicago one day, and being very, very happy there.