Chicago: the city of wind, luxurious buildings, and art.
Other international students and I went to Chicago during the last days of October, when the weather was chilly, which was so great for a vacation. We did not want to waste money for a flight, so we chose to bus to Chicago. It took us about 9 hours to get there.
After a long sleep on the bus, we had breakfast in downtown Chicago. I ordered French toast with banana, bacon and syrup, as well as one caramel latte. They were extremely delicious, especially in the cool weather.
We all wanted to save our money; therefore, walking was the best choice to explore Chicago. After having breakfast, we took our luggage and walked to every corner on every street we could. The first place we visited was the River and Lake Cruises, which looked like a modern picture with awe-inspiring skyscrapers along the river side, the blue sky and jade green river. The wind whiffed. I felt like I was acting for a Hollywood film when I stood on the bridge, looked at the river and thought about…love. The modern architecture could not fake the romantic feeling created by this river.
We continued visiting other places in this city. We walked through Grant Park and Millennium Park, which owned a very public sculpture: “The Bean” or “Cloud Gate.” Lincoln Park Zoo was also a great place. It was amazing to enjoy both the beautiful architecture of the buildings and the poetic nature. Chicago made me feel relaxed as I immersed myself in nature and the red leaves laying down on the street.
This city was a perfect combination of the modern world and the natural world.
The second day in Chicago welcomed us by a heavy rain. All the streets were covered by the rain. The rain fated the city, so we had to find a coffee shop to avoid it. Luckily, it was an amazing donut shop called “Stan’s Donut” that saved our life with pumpkin donuts and hot chocolate.
The weather on our last day in Chicago was very nice for walking under the sun. After discussing for a long time, we decided to go to Lakefront Trail, which was very close to the Lincoln Park Zoo. What another jade green lake! The sun made it more beautiful and fresh. We sat down and put our hand into the water. The cold did not stop us from being excited because we had not seen a lake for a long time. There were some small boats in the middle of the lake, which created a pretty picture with sunlight, green water and some red boats.
At the end of the day, before coming back to Saint Paul, we spent about two hours sitting at Lake Michigan. At that time, the sun was going down. The sunset made the sky become a mix of yellow, pink and orange colors. We all kept silent. I don’t know why we did that. But the silence was perfect for a beautiful sunset on the lake.
This lake reminded me of a different beach with sand and a sunset. I was about to cry. Yeah, I was homesick. I missed my hometown. This scenery looked like the beach in Vietnam. I could not stop myself from crying. But I kept my tears in silence. It would have been so embarrassing if I let others know I was crying.
The darkness came slowly. It was time to say goodbye. It was so hard to leave Chicago, as I had fallen in love with this city at first sight. But it was like a love affair, we had to leave even though we honestly did not want to.
However, I dream about one day going back and loving Chicago again.