An Immersive Week In Chicago:
Referencing Dictionary.com for definition of immersion, as a verb immersed, or immersing, is “to plunge into or place under a liquid; dip; sink: involve deeply; absorb: embed; bury.” The story I want to tell is how immersion week has made me more comfortable with the city of Chicago. I am able to express the meaning of immersion week in my story with the following three words: dip, absorb, and embed.
This past week I had the opportunity to dip my toes into the city of Chicago. Or in other words, I have been able to explore a new city that I am very unfamiliar with. Although what I was able to explore was just a small sampling of all Chicago has to offer, the daily outings have provided me with more confidence to go off and experience the city alone. It has also made me more open minded to explore different places within the city that I might have been hesitant to before this week. Thinking back to each individual day we spent exploring the city this week, I found that my confidence also grew with each day. At the beginning of the week I was nervous about navigating around campus, nervous about taking the ‘L’ train, and nervous about the new city in general. That nervousness I felt made it harder for me to enjoy and fully take in the city surrounding me. However, now that that immersion week is over, I realize I am capable of doing those things with ease, which in turn has made exploring the city a far more enjoyable experience.
The more I dipped my toes in, the more I absorbed the city. I found myself becoming deeply engaged, absorbing information about the architecture, history, cultures, and communities present within the city. By further engaging with the city around me, I now feel more at home, and the city no longer seems so big and scary. At the beginning of the week there was so much I did not know about the city of Chicago. The unknown was overwhelming to say the least. Yet, as the week progressed and the more experiences and information I absorbed, the less anxious I felt. So, by engaging myself with all this new information about the city I have become more confident and comfortable in my ability to live here.
Becoming more engaged with Chicago and its rich history, I have since become embedded into the city surrounding me. Much like the Victoria Tourism ad — “It’s Easy To Lose Yourself In Melbourne’’ that we were shown on the first day of class. I can relate to the woman pushing the ball of red string for I can recognize the impact that I have left behind. With each passing day I started to engage more with the city and the people and began to see the lasting impact that I have made. Thinking back to the day we were volunteering at a community garden I could actively see the impact I made on that community and that the work I was putting in made the city better. Giving back or doing service for the city honestly made me feel more connected to the people here. Whether they have just moved recently or have lived on the same street for centuries, we were all working for a common goal which brought us together.
Immersion week has provided me with experiences and tools necessary to confidently navigate the city of Chicago. I look forward to expanding upon these and further dip, absorb and embed myself into the city I now call my home.
