A summer vacation in the windy city - the Chicago Bulls, Oprah Winfrey, Wrigley Field, Sears Tower, the Hard Rock Café, and of course, Geraldo Rivera - flashed through my mind. Did I want to go to Chicago with my friend? Does one have to think about traveling to the big city when you are cooped up in a small-town school?

Flying in an airplane - you hear about it and you see it, but have you ever done it before? Apparently, it seemed that I was the only person in the world who had never flown before. My friend constantly smirked at my childlike glee when I examined the air vent, radio, magazines, and most importantly, sitting by the window!

Now that I felt like a reversed guinea pig (saved for last), I was prepared to be amused by my friend's astonishment. After we struggled to get off the plane with our enormous carry-on bags, we soon met my friend's brother-in-law. To our surprise, we were going home by the way of the El, the famous subway. It was confusing trying to keep up with our guide with the swarms of diversified people around us.

The El was a legendary experience. Television scenes entered my mind as we boarded the eerie subway. Ironically, I felt reassured when I recalled our guide had acted insane on a subway when he was joined by a questionable street gang.

We changed compartments frequently and walked through underground tunnels to he next adventurous ride. Sometimes, music filled the tunnels with a man playing a trumpet, saxophone, or harmonica hoping to gain enough money for his next meal.

After speed-walking through the gloomy tunnels, we ascended up the street stairs to a clustered street. Activity and lights were everywhere. People of all walks of life swarmed around me.

Living in a condo on the seventh floor for a week was mind-boggling. The skyscrapers extending across the entire skyline was a new entity; this was certainly not a vast expanse of endless land that creates and eyesore trying to find a conceivable structure in the endless distance. Ascending up to the hundredth floor of the John Hancock building provided a scenic view across the mainland of Chicago and Lake Michigan.

Traveling to Chicago or traveling anywhere is worth the journey. Developing new insights and ideas about the world can be inspiring. I encourage anyone to travel. The fast moving schedule and activity of a city stimulates one's mind after living in a small, ordinary, and predictable town and the simple life in which one lives.

By Kathleen Hayes