And When I’m Back in Chicago, I Feel It
April 10, 2024
Writer: Caroline Tully
Editor: Chloe Cardello
Growing up just outside city limits, I’ve always romanticized the city of Chicago. On our third-grade field trip to the Shedd Aquarium, I proudly pointed out my dad’s office when we passed it on the busride. My 13th birthday party was spent going to the Bean, eating at a trendy restaurant in Lincoln Park, and shopping at Water Tower Place. (I bought my first pair of heels at Forever 21!) Throughout my high school years, I would spend the first weekend of August running around Millenium Park to catch all my favorite artists performing at Lollapalooza (still not over that 2018 lineup).
To this day, I get butterflies when the Amtrak pulls into Union Station and I’m back in the noise, the crowd, and the busyness of the city. As I started to picture my life beyond my time in Ann Arbor, I couldn’t imagine it anywhere but Chicago. Unlike many other college students who are moving to completely new cities to them after graduation, I’ve had the privilege of getting a trial run in Chicago throughout my summer breaks.
The associations I have from my childhood and adolescence have slowly been replaced with true knowledge and experiences in the city which has helped me picture what post grad life would be like. I’ve gone to trivia nights with my friends at bars in River North instead of the local coffee shop in Park Ridge. Cub’s games with my family’s season tickets and cotton candy have been replaced with the outfield bleachers and a beer bat. I take the blue line instead of the Metra. Old Town is my new playground.
These experiences have made a life that once felt so far out of reach and so far down the line become a reality that is coming upon me quite quickly. I was scared that my fantasies and perceptions of this lifestyle would not hold up when they came to fruition. This couldn’t be further from the truth. What I love most about Chicago has nothing to do with the city itself and everything to do with the people in it. I love being so close to my family and with friends from home and college all in one place. It will be its own little melting pot of those who I adore the most. The midwestern values I’ve learned and loved in Michigan are shared in Chicago. There’s a true love for the city, the culture, and its people. (I mean just rewatch the 2016 World Series win).
To truly live in the city will provide me with a fresh, new perspective that suburbia didn’t give me. I have a lot more to learn from Chicago as I’ll be working full-time, managing life as a real adult, and adjusting to a post-grad lifestyle. All of these are already difficult enough and being able to lean on the comfort of a city I already love makes it all the easier. It’s scary to move on from the comforts of Ann Arbor: a place that I remind myself was so daunting to me just a mere four years ago. But, as “End of Beginning” by Djo goes Enter Caroline: Just trust me, you’ll be fine.
