In the “Mecca of the Midwest”: What I’ve Learned in My First Month in Chicago

As the late actor, director, writer and comedian Harold Ramis once said about the city I now call home:

Chicago still remains a Mecca of the Midwest — people from both coasts are kind of amazed how good life is in Chicago, and what a good culture we’ve got. You can have a pretty wonderful artistic life and never leave Chicago.

It’s hard to imagine I have only been in this city now for a month. Just over a month ago, I packed up my life into a rental car with my parents and my tunes, and we drove 2,178 miles to settle me in for my year-long graduate program.

Now that I have (mostly) settled in here and gotten (a bit more) used to all of the aspects of living in a new city, why not write a post for Medium regarding all of the lessons I’ve learned? Enjoy!

Commuting is a different beast when you don’t have a car.

One of the main reasons I love living in a city — like Chicago, or Seattle when I was in undergrad— is that you don’t technically need a car. There are buses, trains, LightRail, and even plain ol’ walking, which is honestly my favorite option if I’m able to do so (apparently winter happens here, y’all).

However, since arriving to Chicago, I’ve realized just how exhausting commuting can be when you’ve been so used to something else. When I was in the Bay Area, I was able to drive to work in half-an-hour, then stay after work to use the university gym, and then drive home in 15 or 20 minutes.

Here in Chicago, I am looking at a one-hour train commute to classes downtown, then a hour-and-a-half train commute to the gym in Evanston, and then a half-hour train commute back to my apartment. Which leads to a very tired Grace! (Third person, my apologies).

I am still trying to accurately time out when and what I am able to do in terms of how long the commute will be — hopefully will be able to figure this out sooner rather than later.

At least my calves will get more toned, right?

The weather is cuckoo-bananas.

When we first arrived in Chicago back in early June, I thought the weather we were experiencing would be what I would have to learn to endure over the next three months: hot and humid, with no real hope of escape via shower because you would just start to sweat immediately after the faucet turned off.

However, in the four weeks since, I have realized that the weather is almost as sporadic as Ramona Flowers’s hair in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. There have been days that are hot and humid, yes, but there have also been lightning and thunderstorms, monsoon-ish rains, and gray skies that remind me of Seattle October or Bay Area December.

I am glad that I continue wearing cardigans like the 75+ year old woman I internally am, but the change from morning to evening on any given day is very difficult and strenuous. Plus, my suede oxfords don’t do well in rain, so, c’mon Mother Nature!

Make sure to get your RBF in check.

I’m one of those people who is just naturally smiley. I know, I know, it can get very annoying on my end as well. Especially when I’m back in a city.

Now that I’m in Chicago, I am on average seeing 50 people per day, what with commuting, classes, the gym, and people in my building. Truly, it’s not that many people in the grand scheme of life, but it’s enough people to perhaps get harassed or annoyed by another person once per day…which *news flash* has happened.

Two that stick out thus far are (a) the “man” on the train close to my 72-year-old father’s age, who raised his eyebrows at me and smirked for half-an-hour, and (b) the irritant at my train stop who continues to tell me he “likes my body” every time I go by. YUCK.

Yep, although I’m a sweetheart 95 percent of the time, I definitely need to make sure I have my RBF in check whenever I’m in public…which may be difficult, but will more than often be necessary to survive the windy city.

Getting to know your grad school cohort can often be synonymous with alcohol…

I have probably had more alcoholic beverages in the past four weeks than I have in the last six months.

Yeah, after graduating from college and focusing more on my weight loss and fitness goals, I didn’t really feel the need to drink much, if at all, during the week. However, with the start of graduate school, trying to get to know my cohort, and generally living in a new city with a ton of other millennials, I have found that happy hour and grabbing drinks is one of the most popular ways to hang out with others and get to know others.

This has also meant that I have imbibed in cheladas on a Monday at 4 p.m. and have downed five Red Solo cups of champagne in one go.

While I doubt that I will continue at this rate — I’m perfectly comfortable with drinking twice per week, but not more than that—I do hope that I will still be able to get to know as many of my cohort members as possible…all while being a responsible-seeming adult.

You may feel lonely, and that’s okay.

Now that you’re in a new city, you may feel lonely. Sure, you have your new grad school classmates and maybe neighbors/commuting friends/people you see around town, but the feeling of loneliness is completely normal.

I built a pretty amazing base of friends and close family back in the Bay Area and in Seattle, but one thing that I keep reminding myself is that it takes time to find your people. They can sometimes appear out of the ether…but usually, the time spent together over weeks, months or even years strengthens your bond and truly gives you insight into who to let into your life and who to care about.

There are already a great deal of amazing people I have met here in Chicago, and I am lucky enough to have a few people in the area who I’ve known for even longer. Even still, feeling lonely and taking that time to reflect on your own self care is important and necessary — so don’t fret from the loneliness, embrace it!

Living in a city has a lot of perks.

As I have previously learned through my exploration and embrace of Seattle and the Bay Area, living in a city is pretty dope. There is almost always something going on, literally every night if you really want to go out every night (not my cup of tea, but whatever floats your boat).

Seriously, I just saw Aubrey Plaza and Jeff Baena speak about their new movie The Little Hours. And got to ask them a question, five feet away from them. How lucky and amazing is that?

Overall, this first month in Chicago has been utterly stupendous. How much better can it get, we all may be wondering? I guess we just have to wait and find out!