Start Spreading the News

During my break between summer classes and fall classes in August, we were able to go to New York City for a couple days for visit an old friend of mine who’s been doing an internship in the city this summer. I hadn’t seen her in way too long, so it was great to catch up, and we found plenty of adventures to keep us busy for a few days. I did forget to factor in that, traditionally, everyone leaves the city during the month of August, and for good reason, so it was a little toasty but we made it work. Between a picnic in Central Park, bus tours interrupted by sewage leaks, Upright Citizens theater, some (extremely) minor celebrity spotting, cheap rush “9 to 5″ tickets, multiple Pinkberry breaks, thrifting in Bushwick and some Nathan’s Famous.

The last time I was in New York was before I’d moved to Chicago, so after 2 years in Chi, I found myself constantly comparing the two cities while I was away. I tried to keep as many observations in my head as I could, as I know they weren’t nearly as interesting to my host as they were to me Mostly, I noticed that having a mayor like Daley who’s so hyper-vigilant about the city’s appearance does mean that Chicago is crazy clean compared to New York. There was waaay more graffiti (Apparently Bloomberg doesn’t have a “Mayors Graffiti Blasters” truck like we do.) However, New Yorkers are required to recycle and, for all Daley’s boasting that Chicago is such a green city, half of us still don’t have recycling pick-up. Also, I definitely appreciate that the El is above ground and open to the air– even when it’s hot outside, it’s a pretty good bet that it’s even hotter when you’re cramped and underground. I do like that in Manhattan everything is so compact, which means there’s something to do or see on just about every block. Even living in the “City of Neighborhoods,” it becomes pretty clear that the Midwest mentality of streeeetching everything out is alive and well, even in this urban center. At any rate, it was a nice little compare and contrast opportunity, and a good vacation to boot.

Now, where to go next?