Goodbye, corn. Hello, concrete

This is my first blog post from my new apartment! Yesterday was my official moving day, so I am now officially a Chicago resident once again. My goal when I left Minnesota was to live back in Chicago and teach in one of the excellent suburban districts, so now I guess I am living the dream.

I have new teacher orientation tomorrow and Wednesday, so I will blog all about that in the next few days, but I feel like I should say some words about my time in DeKalb.

One of the reasons that I left Brainerd was because I have always thought of myself as more of a big city type of guy. Moving to DeKalb, however, was not really the big city move. Yes, it is much closer to Chicago, but it is still a smallish midwestern town. Of course it is a university town, so the town is affected by that, generally for the better. Anyway, I knew that DeKalb (and NIU) was going to be a two-year stepping stone, and if I were going to hate living in DeKalb, at least I knew it was going to be temporary.

But, as it turns out, I did not hate DeKalb. As I have mentioned before, I loved being a student again, and that was just what I needed to recharge myself. But another thing I found in DeKalb was an amazing group of friends--a group of fun, intelligent, funny, open-minded, well-read friends with whom I had a lot in common. I had an absolutely great time these past two years, and this is due entirely to the wonderful friends I made at NIU.

My friends all got together for a going-away party for me on Saturday night, and we had a fantastic time. And I was very touched that so many friends came out to wish me well. Saturday night was a perfect end to my two-year academic adventure.

As I was saying goodbye to my good friends on Sunday afternoon and as I was pulling away from DeKalb, I felt much sadder than I expected to. I am leaving some people who have been an indispensable part of my life, and even though I am only an hour away, I will miss these people immensely.

Fortunately, I have the cool urban digs, so my friends will be coming to visit my and whoop it up city style.