Enculturation

Chicago is a great city. On Sunday night I went to Green Mill, a jazz club that’s one of the oldest in the country. We got really lost trying to go there and spent about 3 hours wandering around Chicago, but it was okay. I had my first taxi ride in America, in addition to my first jazz club experience. I’m now a big fan of jazz clubs. On Tuesday night I went to see “Rebel without a Cause” in Grant Park. There were lots of people at the park, but I’m still amazed by how comparatively empty the streets in Chicago are. There are big wide sidewalks with nobody on them. So it was fun to watch a movie outside with the Chicago skyline rising up on the right and fireworks going off over Navy Pier on the right. The people in front of us were serious movie watchers who kept turning around and glaring at any noise we made. The people behind us were drinking and smoking and interacting with the movie, making funny comments the whole time. My friend Easten was explaining the cultural and historical significance of all the scenes cause he’s smart and knowledgeable about that sort of thing. So even though James Dean movies are notoriously depressing, it was fun. On Thursday night I went to the Art Institute, which is probably the best art museum I’ve been to yet. It was overwhelmingly good. All these famous paintings that you’ve seen hundreds of times are suddenly two feet away and are real. Plus there were bunches of other less famous but still amazing things. I spent most of the time in Impressionism and Modern Art, but I’m thinking of going back next week to see more. It’s free two evenings a week. And last night I went to see Superman, or Superman Returns, or whatever movie it is that’s out. Friday night at a movie theater – still cultural, but in a less refined way. We sat in the very front row (another first) because it was all that was left and scrunched down in our seats so we could actually see most of the screen at one time.
Oh yeah, and in between all that I’m going to classes. I don’t want you to think I’m squandering this precious learning time or anything like that. I just want to make the best use of the precious social time too. It's not everyday you get to hang out in Chicago. It's not everyday you get to have friends around.