Last night I went to the John Hancock Observatory with my Korean roommate. The view was gorgeous of course and afterwards we went to the 96th floor to the Signature Lounge for some cocktails.
I learned a lot about her so I'm happy. She raised her brother (3 years younger) pretty much after her mom passed away when she was still a teenager. She's 23 or 24 now. Her brother had to enlist in the military (every teenage boy has to serve for 2 years) so she's using this opportunity to travel. She's studying architecture which is why she wanted to spend 2 weeks in Chicago. Frank Lloyd Wright, whose house and studio I saw today in Oak Park, is one of her favorite architects.
I tried to get her to go out with me later that night but she was used to going to bed really early so she passed. She was too afraid to go out at night by herself, so last night was the first time she was out past 9pm.
I gave Danny's Tavern another shot but again it was dead. Thank god for Rainbo Club. I met these 2 dudes and then a huge group of French students and we headed to Flat Iron. One of the original dudes was gorgeous with his Brad Pitt hair but he's about to move to Southeast Asia. I asked when he was coming back and he said he may not. He doesn't know. Wow, I wish I could be that dreamy.
He went home early, and the other dude was so drunk that I think he got lost trying to guide us to the next place for dancing. Where is there dancing in this town???
I got home probably sometime between 4 and 5am. I have no clue as the bar closed at 4am but we stood around for a long time talking to each other and to randoms on the street. Maybe it's good I don't live here as I would die trying to stay up this late every night.
Today I didn't get out of the hostel until 2pm. So I just took a couple trains here to Oak Park at the suggestion of my roomie. I roamed around these huge, beautiful brick homes with the crunching sounds of golden leaves underneath my boots. I saw where Hemingway was born. I hope my mom could see what I saw today. She would have loved it too.
I spent a lot of time today thinking about Erick, that guy from Rainbo Club. When I asked him why he wanted to move so far away, he said because he had always wanted to do something like that, and he's still young so he has to do it now. I thought he was 23ish but he was actually 30.
I've had those fantasies of moving off to some far away land to start fresh, and so I've been traveling to see about these places. And as beautiful, unique, and as cool as some of these places are, it just makes me appreciate home more and miss my family and friends. I wish I had 2 lives to live at the same time, because I would do both.
