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My Kind of Town

Although I love being at Holy Cross, being at home has been wonderful. Most people like coming home because it means home cooked meals, sleeping in, and free laundry services. Theses things are nice –and make no mistake, I love being with my family–I also love being closer to Chicago. I always miss this city when I leave for school(You see where I am going with this. 😉 ).

When I tell people I am from around Chicago, they often say,  “Oh hey! I’ve been there! Well, not really, I’ve been in O’Hare airport. What’s Chicago like?” In these situations, I find it difficult to figure out how to describe this amazing city that I live near. However, since this situation come up more times than I can count, I have figured out a way to explain Chicago by listing a bunch of reasons why Chicago is awesome. And whether you wanted to read this or not, today I am going to talk about where I live and why it is phenomenal. I cannot do it full justice, but I am going to convince you to give it a visit sometime!

Chicago Skyline from Willis Tower
Chicago Skyline from Willis Tower

Chicago is a large, international city like New York City with some elbow room as you walk down the streets. It’s historical but modern, bustling yet easily navigated. There are clear neighborhoods like Chinatown or Greektown. There’s a theater district and financial district. Chicago functions just like any other major city. We have trains, planes, and automobiles. As the famous play Twelve Angry Men depicts, Chicago is home to the elevated train or the “L” for locals. The “L” goes around the “Loop” of downtown Chicago. We have Italian beef, deep dish pizza, and Chicago style hot dogs. Not to mention Willis Tower (the world’s tallest building from 1974-1998), the John Hancock building, the Tribune Tower, and Wrigley Field. The Cloud Gate, affectionately referred to as “The Bean” resides in Millennium Park.

The Field Museum in downtown Chicago is home to “Sue” the dinosaur, the most complete skeleton of a T-Rex dinosaur on record. We invented spray paint in 1949, the Ferris Wheel in 1893, the vacuum cleaner in 1868, and the zipper in 1851. You’re welcome for making state fairs more fun, household cleaning easier, and clothes better.

Every year we host Lollapalooza in Grant Park, a large three day music festival in August.  We also hosted and broadcasted the first televised presidential debate in CBS Studios between JFK and Richard Nixon in 1960. Not to mention that Chicago is the home of current president of the United States, Barack Obama.

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Beach on Lake Michigan

And if none of the aforementioned things have convinced you to think Chicago is fantastic, let me leave you with one more.  Batman’s Gotham City? Yeah, that is largely based off of Chicago. The most recent Batman movies? They were mostly filmed in downtown Chicago. BAM! POW! Chicago is great.  Holy St. Patrick’s Day Parades Batman! I love my home. I’ll miss it in a couple weeks. <3
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Home Stretch

As we are deeply entrenched into summer and starting to look forward to our time together on the Hill, you might start getting antsy and a bit homesick for late nights in Crossroads and starry nights on the Hart Lawn. I know I am! However, with a little less than a month left, I am soaking up my time at home and the last few moments of sleeping in before we get back to the books. Before we get back to the steps and coffees at Cool Beans, there are some things that need to be done beforehand, check out these tips for getting ready to come back to Pakachoag.

  1. Start ordering your textbooks. If you haven’t done this already, you will regret it. It’s so important and  much easier buy your textbooks ahead of time. Then, just pick them up when get back to campus.
  2. If you are ordering things for your dorm room, ship it to your Holy Cross mailing address. Holy Cross will hold anything you send to your mailbox and it will be there when you go to your mailbox at school. This way, there will be less things to pack in the car and a few less things to worry about and keep track of during move in.
  3. Start making a list of things that you need for school and then start tackling it week by week. Maybe one week you tackle cleaning supplies and the next week you make up your list of food or school supplies.
  4. Call your roommate! If you haven’t done this already…you REALLY need to get this done. It’s most likely that you need to coordinate who will bring the fridge or the stereo.
  5. Read up on some of Holy Cross’s history. Finished packing and still looking for your Holy Cross fill? Research the history of Holy Cross and how the school got started.
  6. Start thinking now about clubs and activities. Start thinking now, because trust me you will get back to the hill and sign up for more clubs than you have time for! So start narrowing down and realistically think about what you have time for.
  7. Put together an address book. Whether you are a senior or a freshman, it’s never too late to put together a compilation of your friend’s college’s addresses! We all know how great it feels to get something in the mail, so why don’t you prepare now to surprise a friend for their birthday?
  8. Start exercising! There are over 1,000 steps on Holy Cross’s campus and nothing kills reunion conversations more than when everyone is winded walking up all the steps to go to Hogan Center. Get that body back in shape for the stairs!
  9. Do all your laundry. You most likely be packing clothes for the future months and the last thing that you want is to pull out a dirty sweater on the first windy day.
  10. SLEEP IN! Because let’s be honest, you’re going to be so excited that you won’t sleep much once you get back.