They aren't kidding when they call it the windy city!

The mystery of Chicago! I have only ever graced the grounds of the Chicago airport, so the anticipation of finally seeing the city of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle,  the Blues Brothers, and Eliza Coupe's show "Happy Endings" was killing me!  On Tuesday November 1st I headed up to Evanston, IL, though I made a quick stop at DePauw to visit my friends Jane Wilbur Lim and Claire Jagla who I befriended in, you guessed it, Vienna!  We also saw another Vienna acquaintance Adam Gardner while we were sitting drinking our afternoon coffee. 

The weirdest, quasi-extraterrestrial thing happened as I neared the city.  This was the first time I found myself driving at night, which I have worked hard to avoid as the lights from oncoming cars bother my eyes after a while, and I get bored because there is nothing to look at.  There were tons of the trucks on the road and the surrounding land was a black abyss when all of a sudden I saw a flash of red that seemed to come from all directions.  I blinked thinking ok, we need to get there soon, and yes I am a we sometimes.  Then it happened again, tiny little red lights floating in the air on both sides of the road all blinking in unison.  I gaped as I stared trying to figure it out.  They extended into the distance for what seemed like miles. It was an endless expanse of hundreds of synchronized red dots. Not only was it kind of creepy, but it looked really cool!  I finally realized what they were windmills.  Giant, white windmills in rows stretching out into the distance.  I also realized that I have only ever seen the great stretches of windmills like that during the daytime, which made me feel a little less foolish about my confusion, but just a little.

As I neared the city, the excitement mounted!  I could see the lights of the skyscrapers in the distance.  I was leaning forward on the steering wheel like a babushka trying to get a better view of everything.  The road took me around the side of the city and along the lake which was a huge contrast next to the glow of the city.  

I met up with (I'm just going to call them VF's from now on) my VF Ian Martin, a talented tenor who attends Notherwestern.  It worked out they he had an extra room in his apartment that I could stay in.  I didn't realize that there is a time change between Indiana and Illinois... so that was a nice surprise.  Tack that on to daylight savings and my sense of light to time-of-day sense got all messed up!

The next day I walked along a part of the Northwestern campus called the "fill" which has a awesome view of Chicago.  Then I met up with my VFs Elisabeth Bussy and Albert Yan.  Just a side note, it has been AMAZING seeing my VFs.  It not only brings back so many memories, but also confirms that my semester abroad actually happened!  Sometimes it seems like it was all just a dream or happened a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.  So seeing my friends with whom I shared the experience has made me incandescently happy!

Albert, Me, and Ian at Peet's Coffee

The following evening, Ian and I went to go see the theater department's production of Rent because Ben Estus, who was an employee with me at RDC, was in it!  Now, I had never seen Ben act or sing or anything because he refused to while at camp, so I was flabbergasted when he opened his mouth and out came a crystal clear voice!   I'd only seen the movie version of Rent, so it was neat to see it on stage and actually hear all the music and not just the edited version.  Afterward, Ian and I went out the "fill" again to look at the city at night.  It was breathtaking! That might have also been the wind.  Itwas blowing so hard the the lake had ocean-like waves that were crashing up on the rocks. It was epic.

The next day, I went to Opera Workshop class with Ian and Elisabeth as well as sat in on their voice lessons.  I ended up singing for Ian's teacher because he is singing Strauss' "Die Nacht" and told his teacher that I was the first person he heard sing it.  So she said, "Well, let's hear it!", which surprised me.  I hadn't sung that song in, oh I don't know, a year!  It went pretty well, and the pianist was awesome to sing with.  He followed me exactly.  It was fun and Ian's teacher liked it.  That night, Ian found me an extra ticket to go see a concert of Matt and Kim and Lupe Fiasco.  It was entertaining going to a college concert, mostly because the majority of the crowd was made up of freshman and sophomores, which was revealed when Lupe did a shout out to each class and it was obvious by the noise who was there.  I actually felt a bit old... which was weird, and I know I'm not that much older, but it seems a little like it.  The concert was great, at least Matt and Kim were awesome.  I had to stick ripped up pieces of ticket in my ears because Lupe was so loud. We met up with Albert at a bar called Bar Louie (when I talked to Albert on the phone I totally thought he said Happy Lilly which was a cause of great confusion for Ian when we tried to figure out where it was) where I met some other Northwestern music students.  A good time was had by all!

On Saturday, I made an excursion downtown after a fantomenal brunch with Albert.  I was able to procure a student ticket for the Chicago Lyric's performance of Lucia di Lammermoor but had to find a place to print it off because Ian's computer was out of ink.  I took the Metra in where a guy gave me his all-day ticket because he said he wasn't using it anymore, so I rode for free.  Also that day, I went to by a coffee at Panera and I got that for free... so it was a good day to say the least.  I convinced the woman working at the UPS store to let me use their computer to print my ticket off because the office store across the street was closed.  

Oh yeah, Renee Flemming is the Artistic Dicrector

I walked along the lake at Millenium Park and enjoyed some great people watching by "the Bean".  This thing is really entertaining.  There were also a surprising number of wedding photos being taken right among the crowds.  I'm definitely in a few.  There was a row of what I think were maple trees under which people were tossing leaves into the air and taking candid photos. It was as though all the joy of fall was condensed under those trees.  

Can you see me?

I meandered over to the Museum Campus which has the natural history museum, the aquarium, and the planetarium.  I almost went into the aquarium because I am slightly obsessed with them, but it was kind of pricey and I would have only had an hour before it closed.  I saw hundreds of geese gathered in a baseball field where there were also two girls doing a photo shoot.  One of them was trying to gracefully approach and chase the geese... I was about to walk under a bridge when all of a sudden something whizzed by me, and then another, and another!  In a neat line with matching helmets were a group of segway ducklings!  They were speeding along the sidewalk as though there was nothing peculiar about thirty segways traveling down a sidewalk.  One guy did a fancy zig-zag as he passed me, totally showing off his advanced technology skills.  Then I found some rather strange statues... Apparently they are by the polish graphic artist Magdalena Abakanowicz.  The statues stand about 9 feet tall and the display is called "Meeting Ground".  I was not expecting to encounter such unique sights, but in retrospect, it revealed a quirky side to the city.  It's OK with being human, and it's not stuck up!

Those two girls on the left, yep, the one in the shawl is totally modeling.

Make way for Segways!

The Aquarium

I feel short.

I also bumped into a march for Occupy Chicago

At 6:00pm I went to the opera house for the pre-show lecture mostly because it was getting dark and I had no warmer place to be, but it was still interesting. The Chicago opera house is beautiful and the acoustics are fantastic! Throughout the show, the sound was wonderful even though I was in the back of the first balcony. The performance was made even better by the fact that I had met the woman singing the role of Lucia just the day before.  Susanna Phillips came to Northwestern to talk to the voice students about the world of opera and her career.  She was very friendly, honest, and down to earth.  She joked about being tall and encouraged everyone to be kind to anyone you meet in the music business, and to always do what's best for you.  Seeing her sing after meeting her was surreal.  She has a killer voice... Her rendition of Lucia's mad seen was very different, but genuine and intimate.  I had heard that the tenor wasn't great, but the night I went he was sick and his understudy, Rene Barbera, was fantastic!  It was the second time I had seen the opera, but this time I enjoyed every moment.

So... go figure ms. f*&%ing word travla here (name that movie!) just barely missed the metra train back to Evanston, and then couldn't find the subway. To my defense, all of the subways, or so I thought, are above ground in Chicago.  So I found them, I just couldn't find any that said red line.  After about a half hour, a dollar menu burger (yes, I caved, but I was REALLY hungry), and calling Ian, I was able to navigate to a red line subway, which was underground. 

I would really like to revisit Chicago.  It was time for me to get on the road though...  I also couldn't really afford another night 's payment in the parking garage.  Luckily, Ian is from Denver and that is my next stop, so I am going to stay with his family.  I'll call them my VFF (Vienna Friend's Family).  It's going to be a long road across Nebraska... but I've got Bossypants on CD.  Yessss.. thank you Tina Fey!