Is chicago a depressing city or what? (Palatine, Lincoln: home, transfer)

[jess2005]

I might be moving to chicago in may..i really would like to know what the weather is really like there.some have told me that it gets so bad there that they became depressed because they don't see any sunlight for days. im from the south and im not use to that..however im ready for a big change but not for the worst.Is there alot to do as far as nightlife goes? what are some good community colleges to attend close to the city..im a party person i love to have fun and would like to know if chicago is a place for me

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by jess2005

I might be moving to chicago in may..i really would like to know what the weather is really like there.some have told me that it gets so bad there that they became depressed because they don't see any sunlight for days. im from the south and im not use to that..however im ready for a big change but not for the worst.Is there alot to do as far as nightlife goes? what are some good community colleges to attend close to the city..im a party person i love to have fun and would like to know if chicago is a place for me

Well, and I hope Im right here, I believe we get less sunshine and less rain. We have more cloudy days on average but lower temps and its not so humid all the time. Winters can be cold and dark for several days at a time, followed by several sunny days. But trust me, in the winter you want clouds, it helps trap the warmer air. Youll soon see that cloudless nights in the winter are bone-chilling, but beautiful. Also, sun reflecting off the bright snow makes for some awful driving conditions, talk about being blinded! As for Chicago, Im almost 100% sure youll love it. 8 million people call the area home for a reason. As for the city itself, if youre from the south, be prepared for a massive cultural shock. ATL is the only city that remotely comes close to Chicago (southern wise), and its still a world apart. Nightlife is abundant, you should have no problems finding TONS of places to party. Some who live in Chicago proper can probably direct you to certain neighborhoods if youd like. Shopping is world class as is the dining. Downtown Chicago is in my top 5 places to be in this country, put it that way. And this is coming from an extensive traveler who has been alllllllll over the country and then some. Im sure youll like it.

Oh yeah, schools? Cant help ya there buddy, someone else can Im sure. If you want to know about suburban CCs, let me know.

[nanannie]

Harper college is a great community college,very impressive with an excellent reputaion..My daughter attented before going off to a University and sings its praises..It is not in the city but Palatine.There is a Metra train ,but the college is on the other side of town from the stations.It is an easy on and off the free way and about 1/2 hr to the city if you time it to avoid rush hours. I am not familiar with community colleges downtown,but I'm sure there are some.I agree with Steve-O,there is so much to do in the city,who has time to worry about the weather?(which is only temporary),and Florida is a quick 2 hr flight

[j33]

In the city proper there aren't 'community colleges' per say, but there is the 'city college system'. Do a search for 'city colleges of chicago' and you'll get an idea. I attended two of them before I transferred down south to finish school. I didn't have that great of an experience at one of them and I had a good experience at the other (however, at the time the neighborhood left much to be desired, so that was a drawback to the experience).

That being said, community and/or city colleges have residency requirements in order to qualify for in-district tuition. That is something that you should look into before signing up for classes.

I'm not touching that whole 'is chicago depressing thing'

[domergurl]

Chicago isn't Scandanavia ... the sun does shine in the winter time. Visit now ... January and February can be pretty challenging. Keep in mind though, the sunniest days in Chicago during the winter are usually the coldest.

There is a lively party scene in the city. As far as CC's ... city colleges are your best bet. Harold Washington College was at State and Lake when I lived in the city, I think. Truman College is on the north side off the Wilson L stop. Robert Morris is also in the loop and Loyola & DePaul all have campuses downtown.

Good luck.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by jess2005

I might be moving to chicago in may..i really would like to know what the weather is really like there.some have told me that it gets so bad there that they became depressed because they don't see any sunlight for days. im from the south and im not use to that..however im ready for a big change but not for the worst.Is there alot to do as far as nightlife goes? what are some good community colleges to attend close to the city..im a party person i love to have fun and would like to know if chicago is a place for me

Weather: If you leave early in the morning and come home after 5 and don't have any windows in your office, it is indeed quite possible to go all day, sometimes days in a row, without seeing sunlight. Right now it's not really full daylight out until about 7am, and the sun is back down a little after 5pm. The good news is that it's only dark that long for about 4 weeks a year, maybe 6. And the tradeoff is summer daylight hours that start at 5am and linger on until about 9pm.

(Here's something freaky that can really throw off your internal clock: in late June or early July, head up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, particularly that part that's in the Eastern Time Zone. Look at your watch at 9:30pm, and the sun is still in the sky. We're not talking twightlight here. We're talking full sunlight. Then it finally goes dark at about 10:30 pm, stays that way for a little while, and by 5:30am it's light out again.)

Nightlife: Chicago is a 24-hour international city on par with NYC, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Tokyo, et cetera. Some of those places are notably bigger than Chicago and have a higher sheer volume of stuff to do, but Chicago matches them in terms of diversity of things to do. Think of it this way: you'll be no worse off because we only have, say, 200 sushi restaurants versus NYC's 500, or Chicago's 30 indie-rock record shops versus NYC's 70. These aren't actual numbers, but rather an illustration that there comes a point where there's such a saturation of any particular attribute that it won't make a difference if there's even more of it. Chicago has reached that saturation point in just about anything you can think of.

[domergurl]

You don't have to go to the UP for daylight till 10 ... come to Indiana! Since our wonderful governor put us on eastern daylight savings time (the exeptions being counties in NW Indiana), we have daylight until almost 10pm during summer solstice. Fun trying to convince your kids that they need to go to bed during daylight.

[Steve-o]

Heck, go to parts of Alaska and Norway where the sun doesnt go down for weeks at a time, at all! How trippy would that be?

[chitowner]

If your looking for a great nightlife and social scene ,Chicago has it. Lincoln Park ,Wrigleyville, Cubs, Sox games in the summer are the best!Hanging out at the Rush street clubs on a warm summer night ,eating outside at Orso's on a moonlite night in august... All this fun comes with a price ,long dismal winter weather!!!

[nanannie]

And dont forget the LAKE!! ALways lots going on