1/23/2012

Walking along the lake.

1/21/2012

We had a bit of a snow storm. Apparently even Lake Michigan gets cold in the winter.

Lake Mich post-snow post-blizzard

Lake Mich post-snow but pre-blizzard

1/18/2012

Chicago Water Tower

1/17/2012

Hung out on Michigan Ave tonight. It was a chilly but dry night and the crunch beneath my boots was salt, not snow. The sparkling lights of the city made me wish I lived downtown.

1/16/2012

To be honest, this one's a bit disappointing. No refinement in the detail. Sigh.

I was walking on campus the other day and saw what I thought were ice sculptures: a stallion, a phoenix, and some other avian species lightly dusted with snow in the middle of a plaza. It couldn't be, I thought to myself, it's a recession! But, alas, I was not in Berkeley anymore. At private schools, recession begets not larger class sizes or staff furloughs, but lovely little unnecessary ice sculptures.

1/15/2012

Printer's Row, downtown Chicago

1/14/2012

I think the cloud formations are created by airplanes as they take off from Midway Airport.

I haven't seen much outside of my apartment and the library these days. I took both of these shots from inside my apartment.

1/12/2012

Sometimes it's nice going to school at Hogwarts

We got hit with our first snowstorm today! I wore my snowboots! Oh man, if I could take a picture of the crunch of my boots in fresh snow, I would!

1/11/2012

Downtown Chi-town by the lake

1/10/2012

Here are three more...

South African vuvuzela; another Instagram picture.

1/8/2012 was the 100th anniversary of the ANC, South Africa's ruling party.

Another fire escape picture, this time with the L train as it whizzes by my apartment.

1/7/2012

Mural inside a Ronald McDonald House. The McDonald's on the right side is a depiction  of the "Rock and Roll McDonald's" in Chicago.

I spent the morning making breakfast at a Ronald McDonald House.

1/6/2012

Leaving the law school at sunset

1/5/2012

My room overlooks the fire escape. I stepped out on it for the first time today with the intention of taking a picture of the sunset. But the way the escape seemed to lord over the condos below seemed like a more interesting picture. Chicago comprises a strange mix of urban brownstones and suburban residences.

1/4/2012

Walking back from the library. Photo altered with Instagram.

You know that mohawk car from yesterday? Well apparently it is a mohawk on the roof. I walked by it again today and it was covered with ads for hair gel written in Spanish.

1/3/2012

This appears to be either a car with a mohawk, or a car with a giant paintbrush on its roof.

Yup, I officially broke my new year's resolution on January 2nd. Oh well, here are two to make up for yesterday. It's pretty cold here (cold enough for the pond to freeze) but still little snow has fallen. The child in me wanted to poke at the ice or throw a stone in it to see how thick it was, but since people were walking by I refrained.

New Year's Resolution

I haven't written here in a while and I've missed it, so in an attempt to get me writing more, I decided to take up the 365 photo challenge. I'll take and upload a photo each day for the next year, and hopefully that'll give me fodder for a quick blog post each day. This is a picture of my luggage after I returned to Chicago today. As I spent the last two weeks in Northern California, I realized how, each time I go back, I feel more and more like a visitor. It has been over two years since I lived there, and much has changed since then. I no longer know the streets and highways as I once did, a fact that throws me off balance when I drive around, and yet I am far more observant now. The diversity of the area, in the people, the geography, the languages spoken, and the restaurants and shops is practically unmatched by other cities I've been to.

I discovered Korea town in Santa Clara. Among dozens of Korean restaurants, there was a Korean shopping mall, which had shops, cafes, and bakeries that I'd only seen before in Seoul. I ate at a Paris Baguette and perused the products of The Face Shop. I ate at a restaurant where every other person in it was Korean and the walls were covered in signs written entirely in Korean. It felt oddly comforting.