greetings from chicago!
i can't believe it's saturday and i am leaving already. i've had a great trip, visiting northwestern and u of chicago law schools, as well as sightseeing and hanging out with friends. both schools were impressive and touring the campuses, sitting in on a class and speaking with my friends who attended both schools made me very excited (and hopeful) about the possibility of attending law school in chicago.
here are the sightseeing highlights:
- magnificent mile: just like fifth avenue in new york city, excpet longer, with more malls and stores
- shedd aquarium: huge indoor aquarium, with a large dolphin and beluga whale tank, as well as cool exhibits such as a filipino coral reef and the annual flooding cycle in the amazon.
- millenium park: the "bean" is this really cool silver ellipsoid that reflects very clearly the chicago skyline.
- shannon ford walking tour: a great descriptive journey through the tourist highlights of downtown chicago.
- lake michigan: you really can't see the other side!
- giordano's pizza: surprisingly, just as good as zachary's. thanks shannon and bill!
a few chicago downers:
- the "L" train: maybe it was just the construction coming in from evanston, bt the train was excrutiatingly slow at times. a true test of my patience, which has probably been pared down by the fast lifestyle in new york city.
- aggressive sidewalk panhandlers: i honestly think it's worse than new york and san francisco. i think i had gotten used to lazy panhandlers who just sit there with their cup, but here they actually are very proactive about asking for change.
- ucla vs. cal basketball: it sucked.
big thanks to:
Jack - as always, an awesome friend and host. thanks for putting me up (and probably putting up with me) for the past four days. in addition to being considerate and helpful, it was nice to catch up. plus his place was amazingly neat!
Andrew - thanks for going above and beyond to make sure i learned and experienced everything i could about northwestern while i was out here. it was great catching up and hearing about your time at northwestern, as well as your future plans. have a great time in china!
Shannon and Bill - Bill, thanks for taking time out of your day to speak with me about U of Chicago. i found the exchange between you and justin fascinating, and it really fired me up about going back to school. Shannon, thanks for the great walking tour. it's always good to see you, so i'm looking forward to seeing you again in two weeks at tommy's wedding. to both, thanks again for the great dinner!
- go simpsons! (although i did get three of the five freedoms)
- another montreal post by gerald
5 comments:
Mike, it was so good to see you, too! I'm so excited that I got a mention on your blog. The Shannon Ford Walking Tour, despite being partially fictitious, does give you a good feel for Chicago (I think). Hope your trip back went well, and I'll see you soon!
That silver bean looks cool! How was the weather while you were there? It's been pretty cold over here in NYC.
Giordano's looks really good, the first time I saw it was on Amazing Race season 8 I think, one of the challenges was to scarf down a whole pie between the 2 team members during the final leg (I might be wrong though).
hey mike, glad to hear you had a good time in chicago! i'll be skiing in tahoe for spring break but i'm excited to see you in philly! when do you come down?
"surprisingly, just as good as zachary's." You have just touched upon a subject gastranomically dear to me. Zachary's is only as good as Chicago style pizza is available in CA. Giordano's, on the other hand, is sublime among the real Chicago-style pizza experience. I swear it's just not the same outside of Chi-town. Ah, how you've reminded me it's been much too long since our last visit with the in-laws! Next on the list: Lou Malnatti's.
Yes Eunice, deep dish outside of chicago is not the same, but I wouldn't say that it's worse. It's really a matter of preference I think, as the sauce and crust vary greatly.
Julia- I haven't planned my trip to Penn yet, but hopefully I can make a trip in April or so. Skiing in Tahoe, I'm so jealous!
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