trip to chicago!

Well, well, well.

I am one trip to Chicago poorer (or my Mom is) and one apartment richer. Or perhaps it should be the other way around.... Tonight I mailed in my application and security deposit for an apartment in Lincoln Park.

On Thursday and Friday we saw so many apartments. I wanted to claw my eyes out. No, not really. They were all running together. None of them were really bad, but some of them didn't suit me. There was this great little 2 bedroom, which was just outside of Ukrainian (?) Village and Wicker Park (two very trendy, hip, and pretty places to live). It was only $675 a month, with heat. So if you had a roommate it would be sooooo cheap. It was not in so great a neighborhood however. All the signs on the business street nearby were in Spanish, which was surprising cause I never realized there was such a big Hispanic population in Chicago, or that there was such a little one in Pittsburgh. The signs I used to look for not so great neighborhoods were:

1. check cashing stores :)
2. scary looking dollar stores (I love them don't get me wrong)
3. generic convenience stores with homemade cigarette ads in the window
4. people standin around with nothing better to do
5. no trees or plants or anything

So I found some nice places in spots called Ravenswood, Wrigleyville (by Wrigley Field), and Lincoln Park / Old Town. There were these awesome apartments in Uptown, where you could pick one of four colors and they would paint it for you, and they had stainless steel appliances and views of the lake and hardwood floors--God they were awesome--but Uptown was obviously dangerous, with little parking, so it sucked.

SO! In the end it was down to one in Ravenswood and one in Lincoln Park, and then I realized that you would have to walk .4 miles (about 4 blocks) to get the the subway from the Ravenswood place, and in the winter, that's going to be a long long long way, so I decided to go with the one in Lincoln Park.

That apartment is smaller, and has the tiniest kitchen, but it's a 1BR, a block from 2 great buslines and a cute little English restaurant. It's a little further to Lincoln Ave - with a lot of nice stores and interesting-looking bars. It is also 2 blocks from Oz Park, which has statues from the Wizard of Oz and lots of people walking dogs AND another two or three blocks from Lake Michigan itself, and all of its parks and pathways. So I chose it mostly for the location, but the location's pretty nice. :D Linoln Park is similar to Shadyside, but bigger, and it is where many of the young people live.

I still technically don't have it yet, having just mailed the application overnight a few hours ago, but if all goes well.... *crosses fingers* I really enjoyed my little excursion to Chicago. It is making me feel better about the job, at least.

But it's going to be so hard being away....

I will try to put some pictures up soon--there are some awesome ones.