Chicago anyone?

[Shai]

Originally Posted by Bigpoodleperson

Should I keep my mouth shut about the fact that we have a Giordanos in my town?

Depends. Are you offering to host a Chaz meet? :P

[release the hounds]

We used to meet up in Chicago for a lot of seminars and we'd always hit Giordano's and gino's east on Fri and sat night. Haven't been to either in a few years now, and i'm getting an intense urge to make a trip and eat Thanks a lot

[Beanie]

Originally Posted by Southpaw

We actually had a frozen one shipped up here a while back and while it obviously was not as amazing as eating it fresh... it was still REALLY FREAKING DELICIOUS.
Ugh now I have the biggest craving ever. Must. Go. To. Chicago.

let's meet for dinner! XD


I know some people land on the Gino's side of the argument but I really think Giordano's is just the best frickin' pizza ever. We have a Rosati's locally which does deep dish pizza, and it's really good, but the crust just doesn't compare. Nothing compares. Mmmmmmmmmm.

[release the hounds]

I could never choose, left fat and happy from both places

[Emily]

Originally Posted by Fran101

Well, I am supposed to be starting school in Boston in the fall. I applied to a bunch of places and really thought I had made my decision

Loyola Chicago accepted me.. but keeps coming back with offers and frankly, it is becoming harder and harder to not consider it lol I like the school, the program, class sizes etc.. (overlooking the fact that it is a religious institution. grumble)
but the reason I dismissed the school at first was because of Chicago itself.. I've never been and don't know much about it other than horror stories about the weather

I am trying to measure pros/cons here. Frankly, I love Boston, love the school but living there is expensive.
I like the school in Chicago, and with their offer my education/living and apartment expenses would basically be free.

So.. anybody ever been to Chi town? Likes? Dislikes?

OK, here I am, lol.

Chicago is a GREAT city, Fran. And I really hope New Englanders aren't talking sh!t about our weather, because that would just be ironic. LOL.

So, what's it like in Chicago... hmmm, ok well, for starters, we have pretty **** good public transit. It's safe and reliable, busses/the L come frequently, Metra is almost always a safe bet. Chicago bus drivers are aggressive on the road but actually really friendly if you need help. Once, when I was in high school, some friends and I got kind of lost. We asked the bus driver, who told us what stop to wait at and then radioed the driver of the bus we were waiting for to tell him to look out for a group of 4 kids who needed to get to the train station. The only other city I've used public transit in is LA and their bus system SUCKS compared to ours.

It's generally a pretty friendly city, although that can vary by neighborhood. I had a lady from Detroit tell me how nice everybody is in Chicago. My friend's mom says Chicago is a big city with midwestern sensibilities.

We're also an awesome food city - in fact, some would say THE food city in the US right now. I have several hole-in-the-wall, BYOB favorites, but there are also prominent restaurants if you're looking for something different. Lots of bars that range from super hip, to super classy, to down-n-dirty.

Definitely dog friendly here. Renting with a large dog is a challenge, as always, but smaller dogs are much easier. Licensing is $5 for an altered dog and $50 for an intact one, but they're not enforced. We have an awesome off leash dog beach (technically you need a license AND a Dog Friendly Area pass, but nobody has either). Lots of restaurants allow dogs on their outdoor patios, and many put out bowls of water for them. Lots of training facilities and access to dog sports if you travel to the near-by suburbs. We have AKC, UKC, APDT, bitework, Dock Dogs, therapy dog clubs, etc.

Loyola is in Roger's Park, which is a neighborhood I don't know too much about although I do hear it's a nice place to live.

Let me know what other questions I can answer.

[Dekka]

Originally Posted by Fran101

The schools tend to be smaller/more selective in general.
To find a school with gen-eds with less than 50 people I'd say is pretty rare.. I go to a LARGE university now and one of my gen-ed classes has over 200 students lol

I said I was an atheist on my application lol so I assume they are ready to deal with me
but for real I think if I can survive 4 years of catholic (as in, nuns teaching you about abstinence and walking around being scary) high school.. I can deal with this lol

I have been checking the interwebs and it seems that the school is very liberal. There are gay pride/pro-choice groups on campus, and it seems that the school has even had issues with the catholic church
which only makes me want to go there even more! LOL

Thats funny that they are recruiting atheists. Thats good its liberal.

My uni has loads of people in the first year classes and more gen ed ish type stuff. I think around 250 or so in first year bio classes. But as soon as you leave those type of classes its much smaller.

[Shai]

Originally Posted by Dekka

Thats funny that they are recruiting atheists.

It's normal. At least every Catholic/Christian Uni I know of recruits entirely on merit and really couldn't care less whether you are of the school's religion.

I think with most religion-affiliated Unis the only difference is there are churches on campus and a lot of extracurriculars that are religion-based. Other than a religion course or two added to GenEd requirements, it doesn't affect daily life if you don't want it to. I went to such a school, chose not to participate

[Skivvies]

I loooove Giordano's but I need to throw in a word for Lou Malnati's as well. Their "The Lou" pizza is amazing...mushrooms, spinach, sliced tomatoes, garlic, and a blend of cheeses.

[Saeleofu]

It's normal. At least every Catholic/Christian Uni I know of recruits entirely on merit and really couldn't care less whether you are of the school's religion.

This. When I was initially looking at the school I'm going to now, the only thing holding me back was that I needed religious references for most (not all) scholarships. Now that I'm not eligible for most scholarships (since I already have a BA) it's not an issue - and I even get some scholarships that I was NOT expecting (or I would if I could afford to go full time). It's VERY VERY unusual for a school to give scholarships to people that are on a second BA, so I think that's awesome.

[Snark]

Sis and I visit Chicago at least once a year (fencing tournament at Northwestern Univ.) and a friend lives in the Lake Forest area so we visit with her, too. It's a fun town and most of the people we've run into have been very friendly, but then, the folks in St. Louis are the same so I guess it's a Midwestern thing.

Don't think I could live in the city itself, but the outskirts wouldn't be bad. My dad used to live in Wheaton, I really like that town.