The Latest Great City

I believe every great city has a pulse emanating from its center to its very edges, creating in its wake a kind of illusion to which everyone feels drawn. Cities that pulse are cities that inspire, cities that move and change and grow, drawing people in and never letting go.

New York, Rome, Kuala Lumpur. These are just a few of my favorite cities with that inimitable beating heart. They have diverse, compact neighborhoods, gorgeous skylines, flavorful food, summer festivals, great shopping, and above all, incredibly interesting people. And after visiting these cities, I could barely imagine living without that kind of identity.

For a while, I didn’t believe Chicago had it. I didn’t feel physically drawn to one central place, nowhere with the lights and life, nowhere to feel revitalized. I had been to Chicago hundreds of times, to Wrigleyville, Navy Pier, John Hancock, and even Wicker Park. So when I moved here, I was simply not curious about the city.

Granted, there were other factors to consider. Out of college for a year, I thought I had transitioned into the real world, that I had grown up and grown a thicker skin. Little did I know, the transition was just beginning. It took forever to find a job, and even longer to realize how long it would take to do what I really wanted. It took forever to find a café to really spend some time at. It took forever to make new friends, find a nightlife, and find that groove to remind me that indeed, life had changed since college. I felt unhappy and figured Chicago was to blame. Without energy and identity from my immediate surroundings, I felt especially lost.

Now, more than a year later, I can see that it wasn’t the physical landscape of the city getting me down. It was a whole bunch of factors I couldn’t control, but that I had to live and work through anyway. In the process I transitioned and changed and perhaps found that beat – if slightly faint – that I so longed for.

If I were to pinpoint one moment when everything changed, it would be a Sunday in April when I went south for the first time. Initiated by the always-curious Christine, I met up with her, Jenn, and Marcy in Chinatown, spending an afternoon with three beautiful, intelligent, fun, new friends, seeing a side of Chicago I had never seen before. It was seeing new angles on the buildings, discovering new tastes and smells on the little cliché streets of Chinatown that I realized how little I really did know or appreciate about the city. I was bored and turned off until I saw this new side – and not an especially glamorous side, but one with an interesting story and its own little beat.

And then I realized that maybe Chicago didn’t run on one huge generator in the middle of the city. Instead, Chicago’s energy pulsed from many, many little points around the city. I also realized how it is the people who not only make you love where you are, but who also make a city’s pulse. Since that day in April, I’ve made new friends, discovered old ones, and am happiest when they are all together. After all, Chicago, just like anything worth the effort, is most enjoyed when it is shared.