different way of life.
1-Life revolves around having a car. You really HAVE to drive everywhere!
Drive thru restaurants, drive thru banks, there are some sidewalks but no-one on them and everything is so far apart you really have to drive there. On the positive side there is lots of parking.
I'm staying in Schaumburg which is the shopping mall capital of Chicagoland. (In downtown more people walk around but not out here).
The roads are terrible too- so many potholes proving that the winter snow and ice does really take its toll on the area.
2- Chicagoland is extremely flat.
While out mountain biking you occasionally come across a 50 foot man made hill, hardly lung busting. But then with no downhills either and riding my 40lb bike there is no
freewheeling to rest either. So a good workout is always in order.
3- People start their day early here. Rising at 5, commuting, exercising, Working and finishing by 5 so they can commute home and still have part of the day to play. I kinda like that.
4-Socialising and family events are big here.
Maybe its just where I work but there are quite a few traditional family units. Husband works, woman stays home brings up kids, family gets together at weekend. Actually it seems that is suburban Chicago. In downtown there are the pre-kids singles/couples, the gay scene and the post-kids couples. Downtown is the place to play when you don't have kids.
5- English is not the only language
Seems like pretty much every language is represented here and English is spoken with many accents. Honestly most of them struggle to understand my English accent. Mainly I say tomato wrong and talk about spanners not wrenches!
6- Summer is hot!
Yep I can't believe it but every day is hot ranging from 75-90 degrees. Even when the storms hit its warm and dries so quickly. Of course the winter was horrible apparently but I missed that.
7- Downtown weekends are for playing
The Lakeshore absolutely thrives with activity, inline skating, beach volleyball, softball, basketball, boat parties on the lake, jet ski and plain old sunbathing on the beach.
It's kinda fun here but a bit lonely when you don't know anyone. If I was living here there are loads of groups and communities to join in though.
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