Day 81

So this time next week I’ll back in England, and that feels so weird it’s unreal. It feels like forever ago that I was sleeping in my room, living in my house, living with my family, driving my car and all that malarkey. On the one hand it feels kind of cruel that in four weeks I’ll be moving away again; like I’ll only have a brief period at home getting back into my routine and then there’s another change of scenery. That thought makes me want to scrap the uni thing and repeat the last twelve months again. But on the other hand now is the time, I’m kinda ready to engage my brain again and launch back into the education system!

SO. Last time I wrote we were in Chicago, and I have to say that Chicago did kind of fall short of my expectations. Aaron has apparently called it the poor man’s New York and I reluctantly agree. I can’t put a finger on why – maybe it’s because it doesn’t feel like a safe place. The amount of times we got approached for money was unbelievable, and we saw shoplifters in convenience stores slipping out without paying at least three times in one ten-minute visit.

On Sunday we all went to the Aquarium. I don’t know why we were all mega-excited about going to the aquarium but we were! It was quite cool I guess, exactly as you’d expect an aquarium to be (you know, fish and that…) and we saw a little dolphin display thing which was quite cool. After that, Brigitte and Luke went off to do their own thing and me, Amy and Jacob went on a bit of a wander. Via losing my snow-cone virginity, we ended up walking around in The Loop for a bit, having a bit of an explore, and it just seemed really blank, like lots of space and nothing much to see. In the evening we went to meet up with Amy’s friends from Uni in this little Chicago suburb area which was very nice (low tables and you sat on the floor! RADICAL!), and then we hopped back on the subway… ELEVATED subway, no less… to our hotel.

Monday I felt I liked Chicago a little better. Brigitte and Luke went on a shopping spree, Amy went to meet up with her uni friends again (by the way, they actually live here) and Jacob went to meet up with some friend or other, so instead of tagging along with any of the aforementioned I had a look in my little guide-map and thought I’d check some stuff out. I wandered down to Lincoln Park, spending a large portion of the wander in talks with Leanne in NYC and my international research team in the UK (aka Dad) about the worry of Tropical Storm (soon to be hurricane) Fay which was sweeping over Cuba and the Florida Keys, poised to zoom up Florida and possibly over Miami; timed to perfection with our arrival. All seemed to be clear in the end so we deemed the radical steps of cancelling or postponing the trip to be unnecessary. So I walked over to Lincoln Park and found it quite nice, quite peaceful. There’s something about parks in cities that I really like, I don’t know why. The trees and greenery with the skyline in the background is really cool, I think. I was walking for about an hour when Jacob got in touch having finished lunch with his friend, and he began to walk over to join me but I ended up accidentally wandering in to the Lincoln Park Zoo and then struggling to find a way back out of it! By the time Jacob had caught up with me he was absoloutley knackered from the walk and headed back to the hotel after about twenty minutes!! I carried on wandering around the park, then I walked back towards the city centre and walked up North Michigan Avenue, aka the Magnificent Mile, which was really cool because that felt a lot more like I imagined Chicago to be, as opposed to the dull, quiet streets of The Loop. I paused for a moment in Borders and took advantage of their café because I had, after all, been walking almost non-stop for quite a few hours. Down North Michigan Avenue you reach this bridge over a river/canal/whatever which is so cool (photo op!) and you walk past a major radio studio which you can see right into. Fun times!

I walked right the way back to the hotel and Jacob was watching some crap on the TV (no offense haha) so I finally finished the book I started about 9 weeks ago but never found enough time to finish. Brigitte and Luke returned, and then Amy, and that night the four of us (minus Amy) went to this well posh Sushi place which was so much fun, laughed so hard. Didn’t actually have any Sushi myself (I figured if I don’t really like cooked seafood then the chances of me taking a shine to the raw stuff were pretty slim) so I thought I’d see what their Chicken Masala from their Indian section was all about… I took two bites before my mouth caught fire more than it ever has in my life and I couldn’t actually stand to eat more than one tiny piece of chicken. It was the spiciest thing I have ever had in my life!!

The next morning we got up early because I’d booked us transportation to the airport, and we sadly had to say goodbye to Brigitte and Jacob. Amy, Luke and I then went to Chicago Midway Airport and successfully boarded. It felt good making it through all of the checkpoints – like yeaaaah we’re proper grown-ups now!!

The flight was quite pleasant, despite my usual “F***ING HELL THIS IS THE MOST PAINFUL THING EVER INVENTED” stabbing toothache which I usually get about 30 minutes after take-off (nightmare Barton dentist leaving his mark with a botch-job filling!), and we landed in Fort Lauderdale at about 3pm.

Leanne’s friend Mark joined us for the Miami stint but because Leanne didn’t arrive until Wednesday we had Tuesday to introduce ourselves and get to know him without our mutual friend. Our hotel room is much bigger than the one we had in Chi-Town, and much better as a place. Pool, free coffee and everything!!

Leanne arrived on Wednesday. We have to say goodbye to her tomorrow morning and I really don’t want to, she’s been absoloutley HILARIOUS, I’ll miss her loads! Wednesday we mostly lounged around the beach (it started to rain in the late afternoon) and then Leanne had the night in because she was exhausted whilst me, Amy and Luke walked into downtown Miami Beach which was cool.

On Thursday we went into Downtown Miami which is so different from Miami Beach! Downtown Miami is so dodgy, full of nutters! But anyway we took this cool boat tour which took us round this exclusive island of mansions where loads of stars live – Shakira, Enrique Iglasias, Julio Iglasias, the houses from Addams Family and Scarface, Sylvester Stallone, where Sinatra lived, Gloria Estefan (she has two houses, you know), Madonna, Jennifer Lopez… basically the tour of Mark Gee-Finch’s dreams haha. Interestingly the biggest and most expensive mansion on the island belonged to the dude who invented Viagra. Evidently done quite well for himself.

We ate at Hooters (when in Rome…) and then this mahooooosive thunderstorm came on and we ended up lingering around inside this huge shopping/leisure outdoor place called Bayside Park, which is really cool. We caught the bus home, which was jokes, and then that night when Leanne’s mate Mark went to the bar and Luke conked out fairly early we were just up ages talking and laughing – I’m gonna miss us a lot!

On Friday we lounged around the beach again and in the evening we went to see Tropic Thunder (Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr… quite funny) and ate at this cool restaurant in downtown Miami Beach. Then yesterday was pretty much a repeat except minus the film.

Today [Sunday] has been another lazy day around the pool and we’ve also been re-packing our bags. Tomorrow morning we’re getting picked up by a car at 7am to take us (Amy, Luke, me) to Fort Lauderdale airport where we will hitch a flight to Newark. Leanne and Mark will be leaving for Atlanta at about 6ish.

This Miami phase has been well cool… the place itself is OK, it’s got cool beaches and downtown Miami Beach is cool… but it’s not a sightseeing city. It’s mainly been cool because of the company… I’m glad Leanne chose to join us three for Miami because she’s so funny, just round-the-clock hysterical.

So I’m well looking forward to New York – it’s one of my favourite places in the world, and we plan to meet up a fair amount with Fiona, Sarah and Mark H, plus Oli is staying with us from Friday onwards… it’s gonna be fun! Hoping to take a night bus tour as recommended by Leanne tomorrow night!