Chicago, Day 1

Oh my, Chicago.

What I've seen of downtown, Navy Pier, and the Hyde Park area seem very cozy. There's a lake you can't see the other end of, which is almost as good as an ocean, and green stuff to walk on, and it doesn't feel as noisy or dizzying as New York. Unfortunately my camera ran out of charge so I don't have a picture of the big giant metal bean or all the other weirdness at Millennium Park, but I might go back and get some.

International House, my current lodgings, is not so cool. It's older and makes me pine for South Ridge, as South Ridge had actual carpet and didn't make you pay seven dollars a day for access to your electronic security blanket, but as a temporary place to stay it's not bad.

It's a done deal that I'm coming here, of course, I'm just trying to force myself to get used to the idea. It's not that Chicago itself is a bad place, it's just that big open unfamiliar spaces tend to make me...scared. I'm still very twitchy on my own, every time someone makes a noise in the hallway it's "aaagh there are people in this student housing facility make them go away someone give me a hug" and walking down the street's a slight strain even with Mikki there. I think I'm getting better, it's just a huge change from going everywhere in my protective car bubble. It'll be liveable eventually.

The whole moving thing did not seem as big a deal when I was back in Knoxville. Unsurprising, I suppose.

Chicago, Day 2

Firstly, to correct any misconceptions, I am not permanently in Chicago. I'm visiting Chicago to check out the program's open house and give the city a trial run before I start moving all my shit up here. If nothing else my parents need me at home for a few months.

Day 2 in Chicago goes well, despite being cold and wet. I went to a few sessions/speeches/information thingers about the MAPSS program and to be quite honest it looks perfect for me. There's a good PhD-acceptance rate for those getting out of the program alive, it's interdisciplinary (which is where my interest sits), and the university seems to be a pretty comfy place. Not that I had a choice to begin with, but I feel better about the situation than I did last night.

Not that it's just the school that's encouraging me. After I got done listening to the psych chairmen natter on, a pair of women sitting across from me at the table offered to meet me at the bookshop. We got hungry and wandered out to Thai food and had a perfectly marvelous discussion about psychology and Tim Burton and cosplay and our respective hometowns and alma maters. lonescorpion came to find us after some initial misunderstandings and then we went out for hot drinks. It was nice. Cold outside, but cozy anyway.

So basically I'm dealing. ^_^