<p>On the websites and everything, it says location from Northwestern to Downtown Chicago is 12 miles, but everyone says the monorail ( E train?) tkaes 45 minutes to get into chicago? Is downtown chicago different from the actual city?</p>
<p>Also, how big is Evanston. Like what is a comparable city, size-wise. and what is there to do there?</p>
<p>Evanston boarders Chicago's city line. It takes 45 mins because you have to switch from the purple line (runs in Evanston) to the red line (runs north-south in Chicago) and the red line has many stops. "Evanston Express" (though I think it probably runs only during certain hours during the week) can take you to downtown much faster. Downtown Chicago has lots to do/see. The shopping center and museum park (circle, or whatever it's called) are there. But some of the neighborhoods (Lincoln Park/Lakeview) north of it (that is, closer to Evanston) have great restaurants and nightlife and are pretty safe. There are actually more to do in those places than downtown at night. Friends and I like going to Lakeview for dinners during weekends.</p>
<p>Sam Lee,</p>
<p>There's a neighborhood close to Northwestern called Lakeview? Oh my. The weird similiarities and coincediences just keep getting more numerous. It's actually really beginning to bother me but in a good way. Thast fact actually kind a made my day a little better.</p>
<p>Lakeview is not really close. Now let's learn a bit more about Chicago:</p>
<p>Chicago was built on a grid system with a "major" street every half mile - equal to four blocks. The starting point is somewhere in the middle of the Loop (downtown). From there heading north, the north/south streets are numbered with the addresses increasing by 100 for each block. There are 8 blocks to a mile. That's why Chicago is so easy to navigate despite of its size.</p>
<p>So we have downtown as the starting point (zero) and Lakeview is about 3400 N while Evanston/Chicago boarder is around 8000 N (I don't remember the exact number). Now we can do the math to get the approxiate distance from Evanston to Lakeview. 8000 - 3400 = 5600 which is about 56 blocks. Since there are 8 blocks to a mile, the distance is about 56 blocks / 8 blocks per mile = 7 miles. Similarly, distance between downtown to Evanston/Chicago line is about 10 miles. Northwestern is about 2 miles north of the boarder so that's where you get 12 miles.</p>
<p>hmmm.... I never knew about Chicago's setup being based off of a grid system. That's kind of cool. I guess I'm more used to how things are set up in Michigan and how things run here even though I do have the chance to go to Chicago every so often. It'd be nice if every place were set up like that since it kind of makes everything more conveient. </p>
<p>However, 7 miles isn't too far of a distance (if you have a car at your disposal - which I personally don't but I know people that do which is a good thing since I both of my schools are around or in my Lakeview - what's even funnier is that my home school's colors are purple and white). My Lakeview (LOL, yeah, it's all mine) is about 5 - 10 miles away from my house and it takes between five to ten minutes to get over there. The Lakeview in Chicago might take a little longer to get to from Northwestern, however, due to the factors of more traffic, slower speed limits, streets to turn down, etc. to take into consideration. We're lucky. We only have to follow one road to get over there, and we get to travel between 40 and 50 mph most of the way.</p>
<p>Do you have any more interesting facts, etc. about the Chicago area (because that last one was kind of cool)?</p>
<p>Well, maybe I heard of the grid system being mentioned briefly once or twice now that I think about it. However, it was no where near as informative as what you said.</p>
<p>Hmm...I don't know many more facts about Chicago. It's Sears Tower isn't the tallest in the world anymore. :) Hmmm...there's this whole debate about the origin of its nickname "the windy city" and you can find something about that over the internet.</p>
<p>You learn more about the grid system in Chicago if you take an urban history course (like I am right now) in college. The grid system goes back to the Northwest Ordinance and surveying of land west of Appalachia. Pretty nifty information.</p>
<p>And believe me, 8-12 miles is a long trip with no car at your disposal.</p>
<p>tenisghs: what class is this? Souns like something I'd like to take :)</p>
<p>tenisghs: I don't doubt that 8 - 12 miles is a long way to go without a car. There's no way that I'd recommend doing that because, technically, the trip is twice that since you have to somehow get back home (even one was is a pretty long way to go without a car). </p>
<p>Sam Lee: I really don't doubt the Windy City thing either (though I might check that out to get some info on its origin). That's certainly one of the few things that I do know about Chicago (its nickname). When we were in Chicago last March (we were there a few times this summer, too, but didn't spend the night or anything) and staying at the Hyatt downtown (I think), we went outside at night and got to about the main road. We were then hit by a big burst of wind. Needless to say, we then went back to the safety of inside of the hotel.
Personal note: It's a lot more fun staying at a Hyatt when you get to stay there for free. I got to do that for two night in late October in Dearborn by U of M - Dearborn since I was representing one of my schools (with a few of my classmates) at the NCSSSMST (or the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools in Mathematics, Science, and Technology for those who don't know what it is) Student Conference that was being held there. That was pretty cool (though I had no idea how much I would start getting sick of power points after it).</p>
<p>Freakish: I'm sorry for hijacking your thread.</p>
<p>Okay. I've offically met the next demon in my life for the next few months. This demon is an annotation. I never knew that something could be so painful and annoying! I wish that they'd just disappear.</p>
<p>Yeah...Evanston is 20-25 minutes max from Chicago with a car...the El train (not a "monorail..." is cheap, fast, and easy too...I lived 10 minutes away from Evanston for 8 years and I pretty much consider it to be part of Chicago. It is technically a suburb, but it is all but part of the city. If you want to be near/in Chicago, Northwestern would be great.</p>
<p>Chicago is a city of neighborhoods. There are many that you can explore near Evanston, using the CTA. (Chicago Transit Association.)</p>
<p>The area directly south of Evanston is Rogers Park. The downtown area is called the loop. The main shopping area is referred to as Michigan Avenue. If you take the El from Evanston, you will go thru Rogers Park, Edgewater, North Lakeview, Lakeview, Wrigleyville, Lincoln Park, Old town/near north, Michigan Avenue then the loop. (I am sure that I missed a few.)</p>
<p>I live 16 miles from the loop. Once I hit the expressway, I can make it in 3o minutes on a good day, it has taken me 1 1/2 hours on a bad day. </p>
<p>If you were to drive from Evanston to the loop, you would take surface streets--a lot of traffic and stop signs. </p>
<p>On the Windy City topic. I learned many years ago, that it was called that because people in New York thought that the politicans in chicago were full of hot air, and bragged about the city. But, yes it is windy. But not as windy as Kansas, where I grew up.</p>
<p>CTA - Chicago Transit Authority
Take the Red Line from Howard Stop to the Loop in Downtown Chicago</p>