I've now been settled into Chicago for about 10 weeks. I got a job (yay!), and am finally getting into the swing of using public transportation. That's something us Hoosiers aren't used to. My car literally has cobwebs forming on the mirrors, but I love not having to drive anywhere. Speaking of driving, what's with the Chicagoans and their obsession with the car horn?
So now that I'm officially living here, it's time to start getting the most out of living in such an amazing city. I was inspired by a session I attended as part of Social Media Week Chicago, and so now I start my 52 Week Challenge.
The point of the 52 Week Challenge is to try something new every single week. It could be a restaurant, museum, shop, park, zoo, etc. I want to visit all the places that are staples here in Chicago and really soak up everything that makes Chicago, Chicago. I want to visit the places that most Chicagoans take for granted because it's nothing new and exciting to them. I want to get to the heart of what makes this city so amazing (thank God it's amazing because I moved my life here).
Why the blog title "Don't Look Up"? I'm an avid reader of all genres, but memoirs are my favorite. A few years ago my best friend turned me on to Goldie Hawn's memoir, which was fascinating. She talked about being a young girl and moving her life to New York trying to get her "big break". The one bit of advice her father gave her before she left was that whatever she did, don't look up. People will know you aren't really from there, admiring all the tall buildings, trying to figure out where you are going and won't take you seriously. I won't look up, I won't have a map or fanny pack, but I will be that girl pretending to be super busy on my phone when really I'm using my GPS to figure out where the hell I'm going.
So far I can say that I love this city, and know I made the right move in packing up my life and taking a chance. Now it's time to venture out and discover the Windy City. I hope you will join me on my adventures!.
If you have suggestions for places to visit, please let me know! My goal is to breathe new life and a new perspective into Chicago staples. I want people who are visiting here to have insight into where they can go, and I want people who live here to think back to when they first settled into the city and how excited they were to experience it.
Follow me on Twitter @addiecourtney for real-time feedback throughout my adventures.
I'll always be a Hoosier at heart, but thank you for joining me on my journey to becoming a true Chicagoan.
The car horn was invented for a reason, and it's not always negative. There's the, "Heads up, I'm pulling into the alley" or the "Watch out, I'm pulling out of the alley" or the "Go ahead, cut in." But those all take a back seat to my favorite -- the long and extended "Get your ass moving or get out of my way!(or a more em(F)phatic version thereof)" By all means, don't be afraid to communicate in these terms, and if you're on a "quest to become a true Chicagoan," then you really have no choice!
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