My Kind of Town, Chicago is

If you were kind enough (I couldn’t find any better word other than this) to take a look at my previous posts, it is quite typical for me to begin a new post with one or few words apologizing for my slacking in my commitment of updating my life through this platform (geez, commitment is such a heavy word!). In fact, I have several unfinished writings, which ended up in my laptop stored in a folder named “blog” and I never even bother to check (let alone finish them) again. I’ve been thinking a lot ever since graduation that I want to somehow spicing up this blog into something, you know, more informative? but to decide the right topic or content was as hard as moving my ass to actually begin to write something. I need to be honest that I don’t know many blogs to read (or is it just me too lazy to find?) and I feel like I should start looking for one. If you happen to know any good blog, literally any blog be it about travel, foods, fashion.. please enlighten me.

Alright folks, let’s jump into the real thing I actually wanted to share. As the title implies, it’s going to be my 4 days and 3 nights “adventure” in the wind city: Chicago, IL. Seriously, though, if you think this is going to be very inaccurate (because the trip happened two years ago!) just so you know that I’m trying my best here. Looking at the pictures taken during the trip is enough for me to reminisce those days (because it is A LOT of them) and, well, my intention here is not to give away any tips and tricks. Nonetheless, I’ll be glad if you’re willing to walk down this memory lane with me.

It started with four exchange students in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, wanted to travel somewhere less-snowy for the spring break. A few options came up, started from the East (such as how about New York? How about Boston?) to far West (don’t you guys want to go to LA? Disney Land? How about San Francisco?). For about two weeks, we roughly made plans with our limited knowledge about other cities in the US. I don’t quite remember how Chicago became our final decision. After some planning, and calculating, and sometimes arguing, we made (actually, a quite good) travel plan.

Here is the thing, Sioux Falls is not that big of a city (even the airport is smaller than the airport in my hometown) so the domestic flight from there to any other cities costs a lot. For that reason, we decided to take a bus to go to Chicago. Based on our little research, we could either take Greyhound, or Megabus. Megabus is cheaper than Greyhound, but Greyhound is the only bus available in Sioux Falls. The plan is we were going to use Greyhound from Sioux Falls to Minneapolis, then go on with Megabus to Chicago. Before you wonder why would we do that, why don’t we take Greyhound straight to Chicago, I’ll give you an insight of how far the price difference is. I bought a round trip ticket, for both Greyhound and Megabus. A round trip ticket from Sioux Falls to Minneapolis was in total $112 with Greyhound. A round trip ticket from Minneapolis to Chicago was only $41! Sioux Falls – Minneapolis was like four hours and Minneapolis – Chicago was almost six hours (and passing a few states). I tried to compare the two but I didn’t find any significant differences. One was as comfortable as the other, the only difference is Megabus is a double decker bus. However, it’s important to note that it was my own experience, I think other people could have different opinion.

The trip began on January 28, 2016 at 10.00AM to Minneapolis. We arrived at Greyhound station in Minneapolis around 5PM and we got a few hours before our next bus to Chicago.  We decided to stroll around the city. We were hungry and randomly picked a bar with a pizza sign in front of it. I forgot the name of the bar and I feel bad about it. They had a quite decent pizza and they served very good chicken wings! They deserve a recommendation. If you could find the place just from the pictures I took there, please go and give it a try.

The bar which I don't remember the name

Just a glimpse of Minneapolis

We were intentionally picked a night trip to Chicago, so we could sleep on it. According to the plan, we will arrive around 5AM and we could go straight to our room in the hotel we had booked a few days prior. Everything went according to plan up until we arrived at Holiday Jones, the hotel we booked for three nights. We took a taxi from the Megabus stop to the hotel, and we arrived around 5.30AM. The hotel looked dark from the outside, and the taxi driver told us to negotiate with the receptionist so we could get in before the check-in hours. I guess he did that because he saw our tired faces (I did look super messed up, my sweater, my coat, and my scarf were in mismatching colors).  Turned out we couldn’t do that because the guests before us hadn’t checked out yet, and the only thing the receptionist could do is to allow us to leave our bags at the hotel. Thank God for 24 hours Starbucks right next to the hotel, we waited until 7AM there with a cup of hot chocolate. It wasn’t long after I put my butt down on a wooden chair in Starbucks that I noticed something was wrong with my phone. The screen was shattered, there were a lot of shards of glass in my coat pocket. I dropped my phone from my lap as I got off from the taxi. Too much for a first few hours in Chicago, eh?

Let me tell you about Holiday Jones. It is a two-star boutique hotel located in 1659 W Division Street. My friend, Tinker, found this hotel while randomly searching for a cheap stay in Chicago (before you ask why we didn’t use Airbnb, to be honest with you we didn’t know about it when we were on this trip). I forgot how much exactly the room costs for three nights, but I remember we had to pay around $34 each. The room we got has two bunk beds, and shared bathroom. The breakfast was also pretty decent and got a lot of variations each day (I remember having bagels with cream cheese every morning during my stay, and it felt so… American). The interiors were pretty and unique, and the view from my room wasn’t bad at all. However, you need to lower your voice during your stay, because even if you speak in the considerable tone (well, at least, that’s what you thought) you can be heard to three rooms away. It is a great location too because you got Wendy’s, Starbucks, CVS, Burger King, even a gym nearby. Most importantly, the nearest subway station is only 5 minutes away by walk. (Head over to their website to see the rooms, I didn't take many pictures there).

We planned to use a CityPASS for this trip. I don’t remember how much the price was, but I look it up and it says it is $106 for adult so I guess it was just around this amount. A CityPASS gives you tickets to Chicago’s most visited tourist destination, and in some cases, you’ll get a special admission and you don’t have to wait in line with other tourists. There five tickets including Shedd Aquarium, Skydeck Chicago, The Field Museum, and the other two you have to pick one between Museum of Science and Industry or 360 Chicago, and between Adler Planetarium or Art Institute of Chicago. You can purchase it online prior to your trip on its website. My friends and I decided to pick 360 Chicago and Adler Planetarium (after having some little bit arguments lol). We tried our best to go to places other than the ones included in CityPASS. We went to Chinatown on our first night in Chicago (because we decided to take a rest in the day, I mean, it was almost 10 hours of a road trip all the way from Sioux Falls, in January).

The reason why we decided to use CityPASS is because after we calculated the price of admission tickets from each place we wanted to visit, the price CityPASS offered is cheaper. But I know that it makes this trip very tourist-y (with aquarium, museum, and all), so you don’t have to purchase one if maybe you wanted to plan the trip on your own. It was our first trip together in the US, we weren’t brave enough to go to less tourist-y places in the middle of winter. Chicago might be less snow-y than Sioux Falls, but the wind was crazy.

We hop on and off to places mostly with the subway (well, it’s not exactly a subway.. more like a train called CTA). I got a 3-day pass (72 hours) for $20, and it was super easy to get one. In the train station there will be a thing called Ventra Vending Machine and you will get a Ventra Card. You can also use the card for bus. Chicago train route is not as complicated as the New York subway route, after a few rides I could get used to it. It didn’t save me from embarrassment though. One day I got a little confused on which line should I take to go to Cottage Grove station and decided to ask the information lady (is this correct?). Instead of saying “grove” I said “groove”. Please note that it was my first month in the US, so can we let this one go?

Before I went to this trip, my roommate, Katie, told me to try Chicago deep dish pizza because it is a must. I almost forgot about it during the trip and decided to randomly picked a place to have the pizza in the last night we were in Chicago. We just came back from Skydeck Chicago and just searched “deep dish pizza near me” on Google. We went to Giordano’s Pizza at 223 W. Jackson Blvd., the one that just a block away from Skydeck. Turned out, it was one of the best place to have deep dish pizza. Lucky us! I didn’t try the pizza from other places, though. I can’t really make a comparison, but I definitely recommend you Giordano’s. If I ever get a chance to go to Chicago again, I’ll come back to Giordano’s. They serve a great deal of variety of deep dish pizza, but we obviously opted for the cheesiest one. My friends also ordered the bacon BBQ chicken deep dish. And I picked their BBQ chicken wings for starter (what’s with me and my chicken wings obsession?!).

I think there are a lot more to discover in the city, which four days are not going to be enough. I actually looked up some interesting events through Facebook events (you know that one feature Facebook has that shows you events in a certain location, right?) during my trip, but never made it to any single one, and kind of regretting that. Maybe I should come back in the summer, or spring (and make sure I didn’t drop my phone again because traveling with cracked screen was irritating). The trip was supposed to be a spring break, but a blizzard in Minneapolis welcomed us when we wanted to go back to Sioux Falls (we had to postpone our trip back to Sioux Falls for two nights because of the blizzard).

Despite the crazy, freezing wind, Chicago was great. I’m glad we decided to go there for the break above all the options. The people were nice (especially the receptionist at Holiday Jones, she was really kind!), and I made plenty of unforgettable memories with my friends. I still listen to Frank Sinatra – My Kind of Town until today, and it reminds me of the excitement, feeling nervous in Megabus, having arguments with travel mates, everything.

My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of people too
People who smile at you

My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of razzmatazz
And it has all that jazz! 

this is a story of a friend

One night, 9.47pm
20 days away of her birthday
She is washing dishes alone. A pile of dishes.
Dishes that been abandoned for days.

It's a long tiring day. She sighs.
Long tiring day, indeed.
And the strangest one, ever.

That an old woman said she is diagnosed with depression.
That she needs a therapist.
That they can't proceed her document today.
She sighs.
What now? 

One plate slips out of her hand.
I'm fine. She takes it and continue to rub it with sponge full of foam.
It stinks, the foam. It smells like a mixture of cucumber and grapes.
I'm fine it's just tiring. 

10.23pm, then it's still a huge pile of dishes.
A younger woman said she has an old soul.
Her soul is far older than her age. She cringed.
Is it good, or bad? now a fork accidentally hurt her left thumb.
It stings, thank God it's not bleeding.

"but she knew that she would be okay,
so she didn't let it get in her way"

She laughed at herself.
It's just a pile of dishes that she could finish in two hours.
There are more things in life that could be worse than this.
More things in life that could be more tiring than this.
Like what?
 
Maybe the feeling you'll get when a person is able to discover something you hid deep inside you,
she raised her left brow. Ya that could be the worst, it'll make you feel so weak.
"My cats can speak!"
She laughed again. She wishes that joke she always throw to her friends is real.
Then I get a friend to talk to. She laughed, her shoulders are shaking and another plate slips out of her hand.

11.00pm
Now that she knows what's going on,
she can't get it out. It's stuck on her mind all day.
Old woman, don't you have a nicer way?
She dries her hands with paper towel, and sit in the living room to breathe.
It's one hot summer night.

She feels a little sad, but that fish and chips she had for dinner was great.
Thinking about it makes her a little less sad than a minute ago.

"what they didn't know is that she could barely carry on"

A Letter To My 10yo Self

When I was wandering around Thought Catalog during Operation Research class (I did it to keep myself from being sleepy during the class!), I found a really interesting post from Nicole Dolores. Her post titled "A letter to my 11-years-old self", you can read it here  -> x.

Then, I started to think to make one too. I tried so hard to remember in what age I still felt like the world is completely fine—the only thing that can hurt my feelings is when mom didn't let me play outside with kids my age, and forced me to take some nap when I don't even feel to do so.  I think when I was in fourth grade, something that really matter to me was having a group of people that I can call as BFF. It was when I was 10. I watched too much soap operas, and I acted like Anna from Amigos at school. And, I think fourth grade is the time when I started to look for who I truly am, which people I could call as BFF, first crush, all those super silly stuff. So, I want to write a letter to my 10 years old self.

Hello, you.
Me.
Yeah, fourth grader me.

This is December already and just to let you know that you're gonna turn 20 in less than 11 months. Do not freak out, okay? Because, well, it will happen anyway. I know you always imagine how will you look like when you're 20 something because I know you watched those awful soap operas everyday on tv. Ah, first thing I want you to do is please stop watching them because what they show you, none of them is true. Real life is more cruel than a pack of mean girls locking you inside the school toilet. Or high school skirt is not that short. Or the head of school council is always the "it" guy. Oops.

I think you just started to be sure that later you want to be an architect, aren't you? But not like a hundred percent sure because mom said you have to be really good at math and the fact is you are really suck at it. The only thing you know you are really good at is drawing. Then, let me guess, you had this kind of thought like "I can work it out, I still have.. how many? years! to learn math!" yep, that's true. Still long years ahead before college, right? But I'm gonna tell you this: things are not always work out the way you wanted them to. Failure is a common thing. Every single person alive on earth experienced it. Don't ever lose your strength once you face it. God always have a plan for you, and sometimes God's plan is better than yours. You just have to believe. I'm not intending to make you down and stop dreaming to be an architect, don't you even dare to stop dreaming about that. You still have your drawings hanging on the wall, don't you? And that one drawing that hung by dad? Keep them. Draw as many drawings as you can because, I'm telling you, you'll find it so hard to have such a spare time to do it. And math? pffft. Hang on for the next few years and it's gonna be your piece of cake.

One thing that excites you to go to school everyday is meeting your friends, am I right? You feel like they are your BFF, you're gonna be with them like forever, you're gonna make it to junior high, senior high, college, together. I think this will make you a little cringy, but people don't always stay. Most people are like the weather, they changed constantly. Don't be too attach to a person, because in the end they are just strangers that happened to be your friends. It's natural, you know. You'll change too, it will take some time. The way you think, the way you see people, the way you interact with new people, it will never be the same as you are now. Do you get it so far? Just don't be too attach to other people or you'll face such a hard time once you find they're not there anymore. Some tips for you: don't lose yourself too far when you hit junior high. Life is not a one fine sunny day in the park surrounded by tulips and roses, stop thinking like you're the coolest person hanging with cool people talking about cool stuff—Bieber will be such a sloppy douché in a few years, sorry for being such a spoiler. Remember: weather never stay the same for a long period of time. When you go to senior high, don't waste your time recovering yourself. Don't put yourself inside a giant bubble hating everyone then sign up for that student exchange program you missed on 10th grade—take a note for this, please. The year when high school is finally over, I want you to know it's okay to feel pressured. Do you ever wonder how does it feel like to wake up in the morning feeling numb, empty, lost, and faraway from home? But then again, failure is a common thing. And some even say that failure is just the beginning for something good. But it's okay to feel like your world is completely shattered for once, because it will make you even stronger.
In the end you'll be totally fine. You've worked really hard. You should be proud of yourself.

Let's talk about something "girly" here. I think I won't spoil it to you how many guys you'll date until you turn 19. And if you knew who will be your first boyfriend, you'll be like "seriously???!!!". I bet. And, no. I won't tell.
But the record is not pretty impressive, tho. Don't take the lovey dovey stuff too serious, little me. Because there are many greater things to worry about. Don't say you love someone easily, and don't believe it when a boy says he loves you easily either. Or you'll end up throwing a cute stuff animal into a trash can and crying on the phone with your friend. And removing him from your Facebook friends list. And facing a plenty of awkward moments at school. Think about that.
Oh, and, please watch your eating habit. You don't feel anything for now when you eat a bucket of chicken wings but you'll regret them later. I'm typing this while eating raw carrots and steamed tofu right now. For lunch. The price for a wings bucket from KFC is not really IDR70, I'm telling you. The real price for it is peach yogurt in the morning, steamed tofu for lunch, sugar free green tea for dinner, and zumba class on weekend.

You have to know that it is so lucky to be you. Love yourself, laugh as much as possible, learn as many things as you possibly can. You'll get so many opportunities, you'll have so many chances. Don't stop chasing your dreams—create as many dreams as you can. Mom might becoming a little bit annoying to you as you grow up because you'll think you and her have the opposite personalities, but the real thing is, she is trying to guard you. She knows once you fell off, it's hard for you to get up. So she is keeping you from things that might knock you down to the ground. And surprisingly, she is right about that. Stop creating stupid runaway plans inside your head from now on.


Hey, you know what? You have dad's eyes and mom's lips. At least they are still together in there. :)