ok, i'll try this again. a few days ago i had written about half a post and the stupid computer restarted, and i lost it.

chicago was fabulous. when we arrived on wednesday, we managed to successfully haul all our suitcases and golf clubs across the city to our hostel that was very close to loyola. we wandered around campus a bit then headed on a redline train toward the loop. big cities are wonderful. i know that technically, we live in a big city now, but phoenix just doesn't have that cosmopolitan feel. we walked to millenium park and heard a good bit of a concert. they have this huge outdoor amphitheater set up, and hundred of people were lounging on the lawn with the picnics and families enjoying the music. i really liked it. that night we boarded a free trolley to navy pier to watch some fireworks. the show was the best i had ever seen (kearney county's hard to beat, i know). we did a lot of people-watching there made friends with some Hasidic jews.

we woke up thursday a bit toasty--more like, sticky. our hostel didn't have air-conditioning so we were in for some very warm nights. to cool off, we traveled north to evanston to check out northwestern. not really knowing what stop on the purple line gets us there, we randomly chose davis. we looked at the map in the station and figured we weren't that far--just a short walk a way. hours later, drenched by the rain, we flagged a cta bus down to take us back to a train station where we could start over and take more care in what direction we turned. we finally got to northwestern and spent a lot of time in the bathroom under the hand dryers. our shirts simply would not dry so we made a quick trip to the bookstore and now have some styling northwestern apparel. the rain finally let up while we breaked for a slice of sbarro pizza and got to walk around a gorgeous campus. that night we walked the magnificent mile and enjoyed a delicious ghiradelli's sundae. it was a domingo. yum!

friday involved a long train ride to hyde park where we toured university of chicago. this was definitely a self-guided tour. the place must have something against building signs and readable maps. although we never found a union or the current philosophy department, we had a nice time admiring all the buildings. u of c is pretty much the opposite of asu campus-wise. the buildings there reminded me a lot of the ones at cambridge. after stuffed pizza at edwardo's and a visit to the 59th st bookstore, we headed north to see UIC. public schools just have a different feel to them. everything was well-marked and people were there to give you maps and tell you where to go. thumbs up for uic info desk people. we spent friday night in lincoln park and enjoyed the tastes of la creperie. i had a nutella crepe. it was heaven.

we dreaded saturday because we were having such a good time and did not want to go through dragging around all our stuff again, but it came regardless of our opinion. we spent a good amount of time in the chicago public library. that place is amazing. i would feel so honored if i had a library card there. next, errol really wanted to find a hamburger joint called mister j's. so we walked up state and enjoyed some very scrumptious burgers and shakes. by that time, it was time to go back to the hostel, get our stuff, and ride trains for a long time to get to the airport. crying babies aside, it wasn't that bad, and we made it. at this point, i feel totally confident in saying that i would like to move to chicago, and i think errol feels good about the schools there. we'll see what the future has in store for us.