Feeling Nostalgic

I don't often feel nostalgic about my grad school days at the University of Chicago, mainly because the deep psychological wounds are still healing. However, every now and then I remember why I went there and occasionally a fond memory pops up. This week has been filled with Chicago reminders. On Monday I lectured about the use of maps in Chicago School sociology. My students were not as excited about social ecology as I was, but I tried very hard to impress upon them the novelty of the approach and the impact of this tradition on sociological thinking.

Then today I was checking out web sites that provide interactive crime maps for use in class tomorrow and there's a really cool one for Chicago. I looked up the address of the apartment building where I lived for nearly two years. While the crime incidents were a bit disturbing, just looking at the street names brought back lots of memories of living in Chicago, including fall in Hyde Park, attempting to play tennis in the park with Piper, walking to Erin's scary studio apartment with the creepy Murphy bed, great Thai food, etc.

And tomorrow I'll be getting together with Bridget, my roommate from the Chicago days who saved me from the hell that was International House. Bridget was one of the few "normal" people who I was fortunate enough to befriend. In fact, despite the horrors of grad school (or because of them) I realize that some of my closest friends today came out of that dark and depressing time.

I haven't been back to Chicago since graduation over two years ago. I miss the city a lot. I haven't yet grown to love NYC the way that I love the city of Chicago, but maybe it'll just take some more time.