On the Road Again, Part Deux

Got back from Chicago last night and in the words of Laverne Roberts, all I have have to say is mmhmm. The combination of UIC's second look and having easy access to the city was just amazing. Second look did its job. The program had faculty and a student panel talk to us and they seemed genuinely happy to be at UIC. I like the way the curriculum is set up, they have an insane number of clinical rotation sites throughout Chicagoland, and I like how much M1/M2 clinical exposure their kids get. Also, the atmosphere and camaraderie they demonstrated were clinchers for me. On my interview day, these were things that I found lacking. Rush was a place where the atmosphere and general vibe were just there; it made me want to be a part of that. UIC's second look showed me that they too have that, and completely changed my opinion about the school. This, in combination with being in Chicago and UIC being one of my cheaper options, (around $40000 cheaper vs Rush) makes me pretty sure that I'll be at UIC next year.

I mentioned having easy access to the city as something that I liked. The Eisenhower runs right by the Medical District area, as does the CTA's blue line. With these two, you can go a lot of places. The picture below shows the Eisenhower meeting the Dan Ryan and Kennedy, while going off into the Loop. Also, to the left is a Blue Line station. On a side note, I think the Camry in front of me was trying to get into a wreck.

Why does all this matter? Because Chicago is a pretty big city with lots of unique neighborhoods. It took me a day and a half to explore most of the UIC area on foot, and I found some interesting places with the area definitely having its own feel. I can only imagine that there are a lot of other neighborhoods that I'm unaware of that I'd also like. UIC gives med students a card that allows free, unlimited access to the CTA system. That card and being so close to a few major highways would make it pretty easy to get around the city.

A few more random things. I ate at White Castle for the first time in ten years or so, and it's good stuff. I can see why Harold and Kumar would want some of that so badly. Also, since their burgers are so small, you can have quite a few before getting filled up. Still, it's still weird to hear phrases like "I need 20 white castles" being thrown around.


I mentioned the Eisenhower as one of a couple major highways in Chicago. Out in the near west suburbs, it's pretty much a guaranteed traffic jam. This is thanks to the design of this area of the highway: way too much merging from too many major roads in a distance that's too short to accommodate this. This guy below is a picture from a Saturday afternoon around thirteen miles outside of downtown. Rush hour's gotta be pretty shitty.


During my downtime in Chicago, I figured out how to use Photoshop to combine pics together.This one's kinda blurry, but there's only so much I do with a night shot and no tripod.


And a twilight view of downtown.