In the beginning...

okay folks, I did it. My first architecture foundation docent class.

It was Saturday 9-4:30 and I have 9 more weeks. The first class was a blast as I'm sure 1st classes are. We did the whole introduction thing by interviewing each other. The class is 25 people and a wide variety of types. A few men and women my age, a few in the next age bracket and then a few of our older, senior type friends. Some are amazing, with grand travel backgrounds and educational as well. Then there's some people more like me who just love the city and want something to learn and do.

We got a two hour lecture from a Northwestern History professor...happily I can say I knew most of this history, but it was neat to listen to him talk and show slides to get it clear in my head. Then we had lunch for which I promptly ran away from everyone to eat by myself, I'm me that way.

Then we had a scavenger hunt in the Loop. It was neat to find things I hadn't noticed before, and I had a fun little team to go romping around the city with.

What I learned most of all was how quickly our little city grew. NYC was up and running before anyone even decided to come here basically. It's fascinating to learn how the railways, stock exchange, the fire, and new building technology all conspired to make Chicago one of a kind. We had nothing to go off of here, we didn't have previous thoughts and ideas. No one had ever made buildings out of iron before, and the invention of the elevator and electricity made skyscrapers possible.

I'm looking forward to getting to the nitty gritty of this stuff, learning about cantilevers and ionic columns. Learning about the sadness of Louis Sullivan and the heroics of Daniel Burnham. Bring it on I say, but ask me in a few weeks, I may not be excited so much!

Also, I'm anti-recommending The Manchurian Candidate (the remake that is). I turned it off and went and played dice slider on yahoo. But I do HIGHLY recommend the Vegas edition of the Real World. Man, I love me the reality tv.