Day 31: University of Chicago.............Northwestern University .............................................Ba'hai Temple
June 29, 2009
So first off, very quick note. I'm sorry I couldn't write a entry in so long, but it's because I've been so busy this past week! And to be completely honest, I missed this site soooo much! I wanted to post all the exciting things that have been happening these past weeks, but I couldn't cause I either got home too late to type anything, I was out of the house way too much, or Buo-re, my younger cousin was on my computer listening to his music. It drove me insane to see that little kid spend so much time on my computer do the most ludicrous stuff, but I never had the heart to kick him off. Once again, sorry for the delay, but hopefully, I can write down all the things that have happened to me this past week.
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So on June 29, our family originally planned to go visit the Museum of Science and Industry, but my final cousin to visit, Yen-She, hadn't come yet. So we decided to save that for another day and just visit UC and NW. 
On the way there, I took a bunch of pictures of the city because it was a pretty good day. Actually, pretty good wouldn't be the correct description. It was amazing. You can see for yourself.
Side Note: So here's my little story on my home-city, Chicago. Now, when I was little, my parents and I travelled a bunch of places. Since my dad worked for United Airlines, we had some crazy benefit like 90% off of our plane tickets. So we went everywhere during my school breaks. I've been to Ohio, Michigan, Indiana...........St. Louis, Missouri to see the Arch, San Francisco and Los Angeles numerous times to visit my aunt, Rochester and NYU, New York, Greensboro, North Carolina, Bay Harbor, Maine to visit the national parks.............I've been to Beijing, China for a city tour.....Taipei, Taiwan numerous times.........Tokyo, Japan...................I've been to Ottawa, Canada! There's probably a lot of places I haven't named (I just remembered Atlanta, Georgia), but you get the point.
Thus, I guess the charm of being in such a huge city as Chicago kind of never entranced me; I was always in some new, exciting place. It was to the point where I actually disliked travelling sometimes because I just went to far too many places! ( Oh yeah, I went to Australia; see how spoiled I am?? Can't even remember a trip to Australia)
Well, those "benefits" didn't last long, and soon enough we stopped travelling frequently. Over time, I came to gradually see the beauty in the city's architecture, culture, people. Everything just bubbled out at me, until one day while I was on the shoreline by the Planetarium, I realized just how beautiful the city was. It really is a beautiful city, skyscrapers shooting upwards to the skies above, truly beautiful.
Ever since that defining moment, I came to love Chicago. My appreciation for it has grown over the years, and now, with senior year approaching, I've given much thought about living in this city where there are sooooooo many opportunities. I've come to enjoy this city very much.
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Okay, sorry for that extremely long rant. Anyways............. I went to visit the University of Chicago. Also known as the place "where fun goes to die." Don't believe me? Google it, and you'll see it's true. That's pretty scary, cause I don't want to go to a place all study-oriented. I've already worked my ass off in high school, so I don't want to work like crazy in college as well. I mean, I don't mind working hard. But, there comes a point where you kind of have to live your life, and not have a school live it for you. I just don't think I can handle going to a college where you have to write a 1000-page essay everyday on molecular algae and read 10 chapters of Thoreau's "Walden" without completly cracking. 
So although UC is a very very prestigious school, I probably wouldn't want to go assuming it may be too academic for me. And the fact that it's surrounded by an unsafe district, so there's probably not a lot of social places nearby.
Side Note: There's this "myth" that this small garden in UC is supposedly a very romantic place where students fall in love. I saw the garden, and it was pretty nice all right, but it was surrounded by construction sites all around. Not to mention the fact that there are windows all around the garden so there's no privacy. I mean, who could honestly fall in love in a place where there's the clanging of a jackhammer going off and a bunch of students could be peaking at you on your date? WTF? I honestly expected something a little more private, cause it wasn't really romantic.
Later, I went to Northwestern University. I had heard it was a really nice campus, so when I went there I had high hopes.
It actually was pretty nice, but I just didn't feel at place. It was like something was pulling me away, telling me I wouldn't be happy here. Although it was nice walking around, enjoying all the sites, I just didn't feel like I could study there.
We later went to a small cafe on the school's site, and coincidentally, they were serving gestapo ice cream from 4-5 PM for $0.99. How lucky were we? My sister bought a raspberry gestapo, which was delicious. We eventually bought two more, which ended up being eaten mostly by me. I guess I can now remember NW for their delicious ice cream, huh?
NW also had beautiful flower arrangements everywhere, though. I even took pictures of them, which my cousins and sister found ridiculous cause to them they were only "flowers." But, like I said, I'm a huge nature freak and I really liked them.
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The last visit was to the Ba'hai Temple in Winnetka. My dad wanted to show us, but I don't know if he was just curious or he wanted to mock it. After we left the temple, my dad called the place "ridiculous" which I found offensive, even though I'm Christian. It's not that I accept everything the Ba'ahi faith believes in, but I do believe in something called tolerance. Just cause something doesn't agree with yours doesn't mean we shouldn't respect it; I'm only glad my dad said it in private to me. 
It was a very beautiful temple, however, despite my differing beliefs. Inside, it was much like a Christian church, with many chairs encircling the middle. However, I did notice that on the top of the building, there was a symbol of something, probably of God (although I'm not sure...don't take my word for it!) There were also many verses on the sides of the building, which I found very cool cause I think my Christian church would look ten times better if it had verses of "love thy neighbor" or "do good to those who hate you" across our walls. (actual picture I took on the right!)
After that, we went home, exhausted. My cousin, Buo-re, who thinks of nothing else but video games, computer, and fun, went straight to my computer to listen to HM3 music. Ugh.
I did enjoy today, though. From going within the city to see UC's gothic strutures to breathing in NW's entrancing nature to gasping at the Bahai Temple's intricacy, I feel happy experiencing all that Chicago's metropolitan area has to offer. Now, everytime I go to Chicago, I fall in love with it more and more. It is just such a beautiful place.
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