Train to Train

During the week my commute consists of going on many trains whether it’s the CTA Green line, Brown line, the Metra, etc. and often times I’ve realized that looking out of the window you have a very short amount of time to process and admire your surroundings. For that very reason I decided to replace a short part of my commute with walking. It was the part that I always was most intrigued but yet I wasn’t able to take it all in until today.

Things I noticed:

• Chicago River under the bridge
• An Aston Martin
• The cars on the bridge
• People running to the station to catch the train
• A group of DePaul Students walking
• A guy walking around with detergent

Experience Collection:

A surprising experience I had while walking was at 6:22 pm while walking past a subway near the station I saw a man in a very professional business suit eating a sub sloppily which was interesting considering getting it cleaned if it gets dirty would cost quite a bit but he didn’t seem to care. It reminded me of a time when I got my suit dirty at a wedding when I was 12 and I got scolded by my mom so it made a personal connection. Another interesting experience I had was at 6:38 pm when a little kid asked me if I was in college after observing my DePaul shirt and I replied saying that I was and she was amazed because she thought it was so cool and said good job. That really made me reflect about how I always thought about what college I would go to and how I would end up and made me realize that I’m in college now. It was a reality check and that moment really stuck out to me. She also gave me a small pink toy as a gift I guess for being in college. That was the highlight of my walk.

Object Collection:

I collected the little pink toy from the kid I talked about earlier but decided to give it to my little sister because I got the feeling she was jealous of it. The other object I collected was a special coin I saw on the ground near the end of my walk but once I got him I couldn’t find it but it was a very shiny coin. It definitely wasn’t a regular change coin but I wasn’t sure what currency it was. I wish I didn’t lose it because I wanted to search it up online to see where it was from.

The reason I believe the city, lists, and walking are related are because they all are used at the same time on a daily basis. Often when people walk in the city they have a list of attractions they want to visit in the city or a list of roads they need to cross to get to their destination. They’re all necessary for people on a daily basis to live, to work, to adventure, or anything to do in the city. Lists often define cities such as a list of the roads, buildings, peoples, events, etc. they are all part of the city and walking is how you can discover that list for yourself.