My Kind of Town, Chicago Is

Frank Sinatra really knew what he was talking about.

Having one of the latest start dates, I just arrived in the Windy City on Wednesday. Since then it's been a mad dash to set up internet and activate electricity (I'm sure I'm not the only one who could now write a dissertation on the ins and outs of sitting on hold with ComEd and AT&T), get a physical with TB test for my employers (at the CVS Minute Clinic, which I had never heard of before this morning), and do the first round of groceries. Currently I am sitting in the Lincoln Park branch of the Chicago Public Library, benefiting from free WiFi after picking up my library card. One of my supervisors at the Carole Robertson Center for Learning just sent me a list of reading I might find beneficial before I start work a week from Monday. I must admit that I feel a little like I'm back in high school, cramming months of summer reading into the last few days of summer, but I'm also excited. I can see myself, this weekend, stretched out in a park somewhere preparing for work.

In the midst of all this, I've managed to enjoy several tranquil moments. On my first evening in town, I joined my fellow fellows and other members of the Project 55 community for a meet and greet picnic at Millennium Park where we were serenaded with John Adams' The Chairman Dances and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10, part of the Grant Park Music Festival. I chatted and listened to music. I ate way too much watermelon.

Yesterday evening I strolled around my new neighborhood, Lincoln Park. The weather was perfect, which just enough breeze in the trees and a lot of young families wandering around and, like me, enjoying the last days of summer.