My Chicago Hayden Zeller
Going into this first week I had no idea what to expect, what I was going to see, hear, feel, or learn about. Felt very optimistic as the first walk was very warm and made me excited for what was to come and made me want to learn a lot more about every aspect of the city. It was truly incredible to be able to feel immersed in every part of the city and see a whole lot of parts that I might’ve never seen. Walking now seems like something that I look forward to as it seemed like walking twelve miles in a day was more refreshing than it was tiring. Walking every down every type of street, seeing the fantastic tall expensive looking apartments that all have so many stories to tell behind the walls, as well as seeing the more run down areas that truly captures the actual real parts of the entire city.
We started off walking through the more “city” part of Chicago, what you would see in movies and what really shows off the good parts of the city and makes you want to keep coming back. Seeing the nice paved walkways and the nicely put together landscaping with beautiful blossoming trees and as you walk it smells very good, but that doesn’t capture the entire city. You can tell that there are a million more things to see. That part was beautiful and has tons of history behind it but it also isn’t as immersed into the true culture of Chicago which is the diversity of the city which would give me the true feeling of the city. It doesn’t smell as good, look as good, might not make me feel as safe, but the best part is just looking around and actually being able to see the stories behind every building, person, and architecture there is. The “Puerto Rican” district was very real and was super necessary to see if you want to see every part of the city, as well as walking down this certain street, can’t remember, but it was a whole lot of nothingness at least it looked that way. It really made me feel back at home and it was actually very homey and warm. The entire reason to walk that street is to see everything and realize that every single street has its own story to tell whether it’s good or bad. They all are so different and what really makes me excited about coming to this city and feeling a part of a culture and welcomed. It’s great to see the skylines from above and looking at all the tall cool looking skyscrapers but going down and getting immersed by just walking and looking is so much more inspiring and a way better learning experience if you want to feel the true city which is Chicago.
Chicago has changed a lot throughout its history and it’s going to keep changing forever whether it’s good or bad change is natural and everything has a purpose. Being able to decipher by myself was truly an eye opening experience and was a whole lot more of a learning experience than just sitting in a classroom and looking at pictures of this great city. Still a whole lot left to experience and learn about. This city has a million more stories to tell me and this week made me feel very excited for what’s to come in the future.
