can you be where you want to be

so having been back in chicago for 5 days, i am glad to report that while some things change for the better, the good things do stay the same. coming up lake shore drive on the omega shuttle, and hearing two first-timers in chicago mentioning how much the lake looks like an ocean reminds me exactly of my own sentiments the first time i came down that now familiar road. and gladly, the lake is every bit as large and majestic as i remember it.

which is great considering my new apartment has a lake view that has to be described as breathtaking. i saw the sunrise on thursday morning (having woken up at about 5 am thanks to jetlag) and for the first time in a long while, i actually saw the sun rise up as a ball of yellow above the horizon and slowly light up the sky. beautiful.

and now that the apartment is firmly on its way to being done, i am beginning to appreciate the situation more and more. coming into an empty apartment on wednesday, as big as it is, felt like a challenge to make it my own. and unlike dorm rooms with it's furnishings already in place, we really could make it entirely ours. and i would like to believe that i did. and now that most of the back-breaking labour is complete, i sit amidst the birch veneer (ikea's words) of my purchases and i feel happy. hanging up the photographs this afternoon really impressed upon me the idea that i am making this place my home for the next two years at least, and how determined i am to make it a place that i'm proud of.

i went back to shoreland last night, and as weird as it felt to not live there anymore, it was nice to see everyone. you don't really know how much you had been missing something till you get to have it again, and sitting around talking with the people from compton felt so right. and while my current living situation does a lot to mitigate it, the feeling that i wished i still lived on the 8th floor of the shoreland will probably never go away.

classes start in 10 hours. i'm already looking forward to it already.