What Foreigners Think About Chicago
Having lived in Chicago for 3 years, it is hard for me to remember what I thought about Chicago before coming. I recall that most of my impressions were of childhood visits to Shedd Aquarium or the Nike store on Michigan Avenue.
Since settling in here, I have been able to experience the never-ending variety that comes with a city of 3 million people, and still haven’t decided what Chicago means to me. However, when I traveled to Europe a few months ago I found out what Chicago means to the rest of the world.
When I sat down in a cafe in Vienna, the waiter asked where I was from. I said “Chicago” and he immediately made a half smile/half sneer, and started doing the universal movements for “I’m shooting you with a huge tommy gun,” complete with moving his torso slowly from side to side and violently shaking his entire upper body. I thought it was hilarious, but slightly offensive. What a terrible thing for your city to be known for. It’s odd to me that people would pick out something that happened in the 1920’s and 30’s. A lot of stuff has happened since then. What about Michael Jordan? Oprah? We’re also the global center for futures trading, and had a pretty famous fire and World’s Fair. Whatever.