An Immersive Week in Chicago
Coming from the suburbs of Texas I was very excited to explore Chicago but what I did not expect was how much there was to explore. In one day we walked about twenty miles, starting at the John Hancock building and ending at Humboldt Park. Unfortunately I had chosen to wear the wrong shoes that day, making the walk very painful but it was so worth it. I got to experience so many things and see sides of Chicago that I didn’t even know existed. I loved seeing all the different buildings and learning about the history of each area we visited. The long walk also gave me the chance to talk with my classmates and make some amazing new friends. My favorite part of this long walk had to be when we stopped for lunch in Wicker Park. There were so many locally owned restaurants and shops to explore. Since we only had an hour for lunch some friends and I chose to eat at Antique Tacos which had such a unique vibe and really amazing tacos. We also stopped at a clothing store called Ragstock which had some of the cutest clothes I’ve ever seen. I ended up buying a bucket hat to protect my face from the sun and I probably would’ve bought more things if we had more time. Ending the day at Humboldt Park was the perfect last stop. I enjoyed seeing the Puerto Rican culture in the area and several murals that depicted the history of the area as well. As we did our last journal entry there was some music playing and in towards the entrance to the park there was a dancer performing to the music that was playing. On the bus ride home to Lincoln Park I thought about how far we walked and all the things I saw that I wouldn’t have gotten to see if I hadn’t left campus. It really makes me feel small when you see just how many little neighborhoods there are in Chicago.
One of my favorite parts of this immersion week was definitely our service day. We went to a small community garden that’s been in Chicago for over sixty years and helped out with weeding, trimming, and over all just cleaning up. I really felt like I was apart of this little community and it made me feel like I was actually helping the city and the people in it. Residents kept coming up to the garden and asking if we needed any help and they brought tools and snacks for us too. The kindness of the people in the neighborhood was so overwhelming that it felt unreal as if I was a character in a movie. I loved talking to Ms. Smith who started the garden and shared with us her story of how she and her neighbor helped turn an empty lot into the beautiful garden is is today. The whole experience warmed my heart and I would love to come back and help out with this community garden again.
Visiting Uptown was something I was kind of nervous about since we were going to be walking at night in an area that’s not known for safety. However my anxiety vanished as we began the tour learning about the history of this area and how Uptown was at one point the place to be. Our tour guide was very energetic and took us to some very unique buildings with even more unique histories. As we kept walking I began to realize that Uptown was simply rundown old buildings that no one has the money to fix. Sadly many of the buildings that are able to be fixed are being turned into luxury housing which brings up the issue of gentrification. Many of the residents are being pushed out due to buildings expanding and the cost of living increasing from all of the luxury apartments. While Uptown is slowly reverting to the place it once was, it comes at the cost of the people who live there currently.
