Monday, February 29, 2016
Real Experiences
Describe any experiences you have had in a rural setting (if you are from EPIC) or an urban setting (if you are from CHS). Where did you go and for how long? What do you remember (Try to describe in detail what you saw, heard, smelled, tasted, touched.) What were your thoughts/reactions at the time? If that experience was more than a year ago, what are your thoughts or reactions now?
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My experiences in an urban setting are as a tourist only. Except for college, I have never lived in a city larger than 5,000 people. Every summer for the last 10 years I spend a weekend in Chicago in friends from high school. We take various tours, eat good food, and do some shopping. One summer my husband, son, and I went to the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Museum of Science and Industry, and the Willis Tower, so we enjoy the city from an outsider's perspective. I love to people watch and see variety. I also love the smells of the restaurants and all the choices of ethnic cuisine. However, I am always bothered by the homeless people on the streets. There are always warnings not to talk to people who are begging and that it is better not to give money, etc. I avoid eye contact because I feel guilty walking by. If I lived in a city a saw this every day, would I approach the person in need or become blind to them?
ReplyDeleteI've never lived in an urban setting area but I go to California every year to visit my family over there so I have a lot of experience with big cities. Every time I go there I get very nervous while on the HUGE highways. The highways near us only get to be about 4 lanes but in California there is like 8 and it is very scary at times. Specifically we were driving to go visit my cousin at the University of California and a jeep spun out and flipped right in the middle of the interstate and everyone just went around, completley calm about it, while I (someone who worries and freaks out a lot) was crying and saying we had to stop and make sure he was okay! I turned around to see the jeep and there were already cops arriving on the scene. It was insane. There are a lot of homeless people as well, and I always feel horrible thinking that I need to help them any way I can, but you don't always know if they are telling the truth or not.
ReplyDeleteHi Kaylie. Do you imagine yourself being in an urban setting? why or why not?
DeleteKylie, when someone gets into a car accident here in Chicago I feel like it's the exact opposite reaction. Everyone would probably stop, record or take a picture of the accident. I'd probably react like you though because I'm a new driver.
DeleteI've only ever experienced an urban setting as a tourist. When I was a young kid, I lived in a town of 500, and now in Clintonville around 4,500 people. I've been visiting Florida since I was young kid to see my Grandma. We would go into bigger towns like Tampa and Orlando, but mostly just to theme parks that were full of people. I've been to New York City twice while in high school, once in the winter and once in the summer. The city is packed, and there are always car noises and horns. Wherever you are, there is always some sort of sound. The big buildings were awesome to see, and there was always something new to try, whether it was a musical or a new restaurant. I really liked that. I've felt the same way whenever I've visited Chicago or Madison. All my experiences have been really fun, but I'm not sure if I would be cut out for a big city.
ReplyDeleteMy experiences in an urban setting vary. I first lived in a small area of Racine called Crestview. It was just a little neighborhood right by Lake Michigan. I could see the lake from my house, but it was a fifteen minute drive to my school from there. My grade school was a few blocks from the lake as well, but it was more in downtown Racine. Downtown Racine was my favorite because there were always so many people out on Friday and Saturday nights to see the live music, or just to go out for dinner in the many little shops and restaurants there. The marina was always a fun place to go and walk past all the big boats. There were rougher parts of Racine too, however, like where my school actually was. I witnessed a gang fight in 5th grade while running track - we saw a brick get thrown through a car window. It wasn't unusual to see drug deals go down, but as a little kid in a parochial school, it didn't concern me. We were always kept safe, whether it be from all the traffic, or the people, or whatever. I will say I like the smaller town atmosphere better because there is more of a sense of community, but I think they is a lot more drama among the people in a small town concerning names and politics, etc.
ReplyDeleteExcluding the airport, I have only been to Chicago twice in my life. Once was for one day for a field trip my freshman year. We went to the Christkindlmarkt and Water Tower Place. I remember everything being expensive. For a burger and fries, I paid almost $10. My second experience was also for another field trip. (My parents hate the idea of big cities) I was there for about 4 days/3nights. We had to drive at least an hour to get into the city and back out. The smell of the city was not necessarily fresh. I did enjoy the thrill of everybody coming into the city and drinkign their coffee. I remember us taking a picture in front of Cloud Gate and some random guys coming up to our group to talk. They eventually wanted money. I did have the famous deep dish pizza, but it was okay. I still prefer a brat. There was always the sounds of cars and sirens. In a small town, you are safe with not using a crosswalk, but in the city, I had to use it all the time. If I did not make it across the crosswalk in time, cars started to move and beep. I have also been in downtown Houston and Tampa Bay, but neither of those cities seemed to be as noisy. When I was in Europe, I went to many major cities and they were all noisy as well. Vienna also smelled like cigarette smoke no matter where you were.
ReplyDeletewhat specific city did you visit that had the disturbing smell?
DeleteI was in Chicago, but in the tourist trap area.
DeleteHi, yes when you're downtown everything is expensive, one pencil will probably cost $5.00 alone.
DeleteKaitlyn, I, living in Chicago all my life, still haven't gotten used to the noise and smell so I understand what you're saying.
DeleteI have only ever experienced an urban setting from being a tourist. I went to Chicago about a year and a half ago with a program I am in through school. It was the middle of summer, one of the hottest days of the year and we were walking around for most of the day. It was really hot and there were a lot more people around than what I am normally used to. My favorite place that we went in Chicago was Navy Pier. I had so much fun at Navy Pier, and the food we had at Bubba Gump's was really good.
ReplyDeleteI've never lived in an urban setting but I did go to Chicago my sophomore year for band. I remember going there and walking around with a small group of friends and our band teacher, we were supposed to be looking at the sculptures but just walked around and got coffee. As we walked around it was really cool because there were many people walking around and going about their own day, because in a small city not many people walk anywhere, surprisingly. It also made me really nervous because I don't like being in large groups of people, especially people I don't know and a place that I don't know how navigate. I was able to keep my mind off of that though because when we walked around I got to see a lot of beautiful architecture and smell a lot of great food and hear people from all over talk. I thought this was really cool to see because in a small city we aren't exposed to things as much, so being in a larger city and being able to see more things was really exciting and it made me happy to be somewhere other than this small city.
ReplyDeleteI have only ever experienced an urban setting from being a tourist. I went to Chicago about a year and a half ago with a program I am in through school. It was the middle of summer, one of the hottest days of the year and we were walking around for most of the day. It was really hot and there were a lot more people around than what I am normally used to. My favorite place that we went in Chicago was Navy Pier. I had so much fun at Navy Pier, and the food we had at Bubba Gump's was really good.
ReplyDeleteMegan, I really enjoy Navy Pier too! What did you order at Bubba Gumps ? I never went in there before to eat honestly.
DeleteI have only experienced an urban area as a tourist. That saying, I love to travel and my family makes an effort every year to go somewhere. Some of the places that I have been/visited where; St. Louis, Philadelphia, Washington D.C, Charleston, Cincinnati, Chicago, Madison, New Orleans, Denver, and St. Paul/Minneapolis. What I explicitly remember from these trips is looking up and around at the shear size of the city. I really like cities because of the size and opportunity that they have that small towns don't. I loved to see the busyness that everyone apparently had when walking the streets and living their lives. By going to all these cities and spending some time there, I realized that I wanted to be a part of it.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily, what type of opportunities do you believe a city provides that rural areas don't?
DeleteI have never been to a rural area. I will like to know what is done to have fun
ReplyDeleteI have been almost everywhere, I've only been out of the country once where I went to the Bahamas, and I will be going to Jamaica this year because I half Jamaican(awesome). I've been to places like Atlanta, New York, los Angeles California, st. Louis, New Orlands, Mississippi, and so many more places all for different reasons. Next year I plan on going to Texas for my family reunion. Visiting all these places were so fun. The place that made me feel like I was home was ATL and California. It was just so live like Chicago, and what I been by live is busy and there was always something going on.
ReplyDeleteA place I been was in New Orleans. Yes I know that still like a city but the part of New Orleans is really different. The closes mall was 3 hours away, and the only thing you could really do if you lived on a farm ( Which is where I was staying at because I was visiting my uncle ) was ride the horses and feed the other animals. I actually had fun because I felt like I was back home when I was a little girl. On my way to New Orleans I drove for 13 hours which was not fun because it was so hot and I became grumpy and I wasn't able to sleep long because of all the stops we had to make. Once I got to my uncle farm the first thing I did was go to the book store. New Orleans have great books. I went to see some old friends, and then I went to see my family. I had a great time being back at a place the I was force to leave.
ReplyDeleteI have experience an rural area when I went to Dallas, Texas this past summer. There were so many houses that were like 5 miles apart and they had large farms with cattle and horses. The food was amazing. I had fried pickles and they were surprisingly delicious. I also had a slab of ribs and other side dishes that were great. It was so quiet and peaceful. Everyone knew each other that lived with in the neighborhood, so many people kept their doors unlocked. I couldn't believe how laid back it was there , I didn't have to worry about anything and that was the best part about it.
ReplyDeleteRegine, I have a similar life to this. I know almost everybody that lives in my neighborhood. If we are gone for teh weekend, I know that my neighbors have our back and will watch our house. My dad often leaves the house unlocked and I barely ever lock my car in town. I feel really safe.
DeleteI've experienced being in a rural area when I went to Freeport, Illinois to visit my big sister. Freeport is a very small old town that doesn't have much that you can do. My sister lives across the street from a bunch of trees, grass, and animals. You could go through their entire downtown in literally five minutes. Also, everybody knows everybody. There's only one movie theater and the mall that everybody goes to is in Rockford, Illinois. There isn't much to do there besides go to a friend's house, hang outside, or go to one of the town's events. It was really hard for me to adapt to that for 2 weeks. Being surrounded by nothing but land and quiet. Eventually Freeport grew on me and now I miss being there.
ReplyDeleteI have never been to a small rural place in the world.
ReplyDeleteI've experienced been in a rural area when I came to Chicago for the first time. and then I went to visit Wichita Kansas, Indianapolis, Omaha Nebraska, Arkansas, on the summer I am going to Austin Texas and next year I will go back to visit my hometown Mexico.
ReplyDeleteI've been to and Urban area once but I was very overwhelmed. Although the experience itself was nice I don't think that I could live there. I would need to transition.
ReplyDeleteWhy wouldn't you live in an urban area? What was so overwhelming?
DeleteI've been to and Urban area once but I was very overwhelmed. Although the experience itself was nice I don't think that I could live there. I would need to transition.
ReplyDeleteSome time in the Fall, I went to go visit Bradley University with my boyfriend. I can’t remember the events, but I do remember the three hour drive. On Friday I remember going to my local Walgreen's to pick up snacks for this three hour drive through the country. I bought healthy snacks like granola bars, veggie chips and Arizona's. Once we got on the expressway I would see a lot of shopping centers like Walmart, Kmart, Target, Save a lot, etc etc. After a few hours passed though, I noticed that the number of cars decreased, number of trees increased and there was still a lot more road ahead of us. The sun was shining in our faces and all of the sudden our favorite station was blasting a Christian church lecture. It was really funny. We also passed a ton of farms while approaching Bradley, every time I saw a cow I would moo and when I saw horses I would get really excited because I just love animals (haha). Once we finally arrived I automatically noticed how small and empty the streets were, also, there were a lot of company restaurants like Wendy's, Starbucks, etc. I stood there and heard nothing but the wind and cars passing by. The rural area was exactly what I expected it to be: peaceful and I remember thinking “I could used to this”.
ReplyDelete