[TRAVEL] The Windy City

As this very well may be the last spring break I will ever have in my life considering that next year I will be spending it with my thesis... I decided to conquer a city that neither A & I have been to - the third most populous city in the United States - Chicago, Illinois.

Overall, Chicago is quite a tourist-friendly city. A lot of my American friends say that this is one of their favorite cities in the States. I had a good break there, although I think my original plan of staying there for 7 whole days was a little bit much... but I guess it gives us an opportunity to take our time sightseeing instead of rushing to numerous spots in one day. 

On the first night we arrived Chicago, I met up with a childhood friend whom I haven't see for at least 5+ years. Thanks to her she taught us some of the bus lines in downtown Chicago, thus in the week that we've been here, A & I became master of buses. We rarely take the subway. Obviously, we had to do a touristy pose in front of the Chicago Water Tower, which is the only building to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

We went to eat the infamous Chicago Deep Dish Pizza... and let me tell you, even with 2 guys who can eat in our table, we only managed to eat one slice per person before taking the leftovers to-go... and this is only ONE pizza and we didn't even order the largest size!

Chicago is known for its Theater District as well. Since A & I both have seen a Broadway Show in New York... and none of the current ones playing here attracted us, we went to watch a comedy show instead - Sex, Love, and the Second City - which thankfully was a theme quite pleasant and relatable and there weren't too many jokes that we didn't understand :)

You can't say that you've been to Chicago without visiting the Skydeck at the Wilis Tower right?! This place is quite cool, it's like the glass elevator of Charlie the Chocolate Factory. We should do this for Taipei 101 too! Surprisingly I guess this proves that I'm not afraid of heights because I can go into the glass box and look down at ease. Although after staying at the sky deck for awhile I was getting a little nauseated from the lack of fresh air. By the way, it was so windy downstairs... I thought I was gonna get blown away. Hope you all love my outfit that day :D

The Bean! We pass by this everyday since our hotel is slightly across from the Park :) My only regret is that I didn't get to go ice-skating by the rink because it was closed off one day after I landed in Chicago. I was planning to go 2 days too late :'(

And of course, I had to drop by the famous Northwestern University! I call this my 無緣學校 because although I was accepted to the Medill's Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Program, which I know is like the best in the country, I knew I will die of boredom and frostbite here in Chicago so I had to sadly reject it (against my parents' wishes haha). Since the week that I was in Chicago the weather was just absolutely gorgeous (it was actually hotter than LA which was almost impossible), my heart did flutter a little, the campus IS without doubt amazingly gorgeous. 

Chicago, in my opinion, has the best night view in the States because of how the buildings are located. I think the tallest buildings were on opposite ends of downtown thus when the sun sets you can look down at all the other buildings. It's breath-taking. My photos are all taken on my iPhone thus I can't capture the essence of it, please do visit Chicago personally and you'll know what I mean ;)

I got to visit pretty much ALL of the big museums in Chicago since I was here for a full week. A & I sped through EVERY corner of the Art Institute of Chicago in one afternoon! I think our legs were about to fall off from sooo much walking this entire trip. We were so glad when our mission was accomplished and I was very pleased because our last stop in the miniature room downstairs really made by day! I was so mesmerized in it that I took pictures sand video of literally every piece. Thankfully they made a postcard collection off it so I can look at it anytime I want <3

We got very lucky because it was St. Patrick's Day on the day we were leaving Chicago (yes, I packed a green shirt purpose because if you don't wear green on this day, people will pinch you... it's what I learned when I was little.) The river was dyed green and everyone out on the street was dressed in green. It was quite a sight! I flew back to LA and no one was crazed like that so I was glad I got to get a taste of it before I left!