"Concrete jungle where dreams are made of"

It's over! It's all over! The end of spring break as we know it is here! And classes shall be commencing, again. Sigh. Well, not especially, since I like my classes, but still.

During break, I had a good time in Chicago. I had never been, so it was nice to see the city, and I must say- I was impressed. It is much more towering and much more extraordinary than Boston (which by Chicago standards hardly qualifies as a real city). It is just a fantastic city. If you asked me to compare it to New York City, here's what I'd say:

Chicago is New
York, minus the honking, mean
People, and litter.


Seriously. I heard more sirens than I did car horns. Of course, this could mean there are just many more emergencies than angry drivers, but from what I noticed, the only people who ever honked were cab drivers, and usually they had good reason to be doing so. At the same time, everyone there was nice. It's like they're under some sort of spell (let's call it "blissful ignorance") that makes them unable to realize what a mess our society is in. They just go about their days, greeting each other and smiling. Then, there's absolutely no trash. There may be a cigarette butt here and there, or the occasional puddle of dog pee, but from what I saw there was no real litter. I attribute this to the nice people who not only avoid littering but also pick up others' litter.

I guess what I'm trying to say is if you took a bunch of people from Chicago and made them live in New York, they'd end up dead or in a mental institution (and if you took Buddy from Elf and put him in Chicago, he'd fit right in).


The title quote is from Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind."