Well, after spending the entire weekend in Chicago, it's hard to blog about just one thing. So I'll blog about a bunch of things.
Trinity: One of the reasons my roommates and I went to Chicago this weekend was to see friends from Trinity Christian College. This was my first time visiting Trinity's campus, and I was very impressed with the aesthetics of the campus. It has some beautiful landscape and architecture, and the new chapel and science center are impressive. But there was just one problem: I didn't see any
people. We were on campus three or four different times throughout the weekend and I probably saw six people total. I know Trinity's a little smaller, but I was shocked. I felt a definite lack of community, at least compared to Dordt anyways. A few friends from Trinity shared this concern, saying that most people go home for the weekends. Bummer. Anyways, we had a great time meeting up with old Calvin grads and others, most notably our blissful reunion with Eric. We topped off the weekend with some much needed carne asada burritos at two o' clock in the morning. Thanks, Eric. You are forever my first love.
Downtown: We spent all day Friday exploring downtown. I had never been to Chicago before, so everything was new to me. I can't say that anything particularly surprised me, besides the slew of white ear buds that emerged from the trench coat pockets of every other person walking downtown. That's right: iPods. Half the people had them, and that number is destined to increase. Being a shareholder in Apple stock, I was encouraged. Saturday night we visited two Dordt friends who are on a Chicago internship program downtown this semester. We stayed in their apartment and they showed us the city. We had tickets to go to an improv comedy club downtown that night, so we went with high expectations. It was an experience, to say the least. It was a BYOB type thing, which made for an interesting show. It reminded me of what plays used to be like back in Shakespeare's time. Peasants would sit/stand in the front area and obnoxiously "watch" the performance. They'd toss around mead and peanuts, yell obscenities "bloody" and "crotch," and casually walk around the theater. Substitute these for beer, jello shots, and a few four-letter words, and you get "The Hot Karl." The ad said it was rated "R", but we figured we could handle it. Not really. The eight actors casually drank beer on stage in between skits, using foul language as a crutch. For me, the higlight was when the "big boned" actress grabbed some audience member's cell phone, shoved it down her pants, and rubbed it all over her area. It's generally not a good idea to try and get your audience to throw up. But who knows. Generally, the problem with the actors was that they had no class. They weren't even very funny, they were just really dirty. In my opinion, it takes a real comedian to be clean and still funny. So, if you're in downtown Chicago sometime soon, pass on the Hot Karl.
