Chicago

What an amazing city! For those of you who haven't been: GO. I spent an incredible 4 and a half days in the Windy City, and I felt that I could easily stay there for a month without getting bored.

The University of Chicago is exactly what I would dream of in a university: a gorgeous campus with trees and beautiful, grassy malls and with old, gothic-styled buildings. I could feel the energy on campus as I watched the students walk around in snow flurries the first day I arrived. The student neighborhood around the university, Hyde Park, is full of cute houses, and it is peaceful and quiet, much like my own North Campus/Hyde Park neighborhood here in town. While I was there I was totally sucked in to the spell of the place, and I felt that I ought to go there, somehow, someway.

Downtown Chicago makes Austin's downtown look like a child's play city. Everything there is just larger and grander in many ways. My mom and I stayed on the Magnificent Mile and ate and shopped ourselves silly. We only made it to one Museum, and it was huge! I'm sure the other major museums in town would be similar. One evening we went to the neighborhood where the Blue Man Group plays to see their show. That was fun too!

Deep dish pizza is fantastic too!! And my soon-to-be sister-in-law's sister owns a designer toy shop (Rotofugi), which is attached to a gallery for local artists that they also own. Visiting it and their eclectic neighborhood reminded me of the more artsy parts of Austin, so I loved it, of course! I also now own my very own Dunny. :)

If I don't move their now, I definitely hope to be able to live there one day!