Chicago mafia

Brace yourselves folks, hurricane ho! Yes, in what looks to be a fleeting visit, a Mr Hurricane Earl of North Carolina will be dropping by New Haven tomorrow. In doing so, our guest is expected to knock some Yalies around a bit, zap a few leaves off the elms, and, above all, leave us very, very wet. The severest gale to strike the East Coast since 1991, experts allege. I've started banging old planks of timber to the windows. Come the morning I'll decamp to the basement with canned soup, an old radio set, and a bottle of Scotch. Just like I learned in the movies.

Speaking of blustery things, Chicago. For reasons I've yet to fathom, pretty much all my friends in Yale hark from the windy city. I'd heard before that natives tend to laud the Big Onion in extravagant terms. But my first-hand account attests to a whole new level of adulation. They simply *revere* the place. The people? Pioneering polymaths, modern-day Adonises! Cultural life? Like Medici Florence. The university? Best in the country, duh! The streets? You could eat your dinner off them. And so on.

Now, you might think the city's crime record, comically endemic corruption, and barely-fit-for-human-habitation climate (akin to living, in a freezer, on the South Pole for 10 months of the year) might give Chicago-rooters pause, and invite qualification to these fulsome plaudits. Not a bit of it. Shrugged off like pesky flies. Maybe they're right - maybe Chicago is the city of dreams. I don't know. I guess I'll just have to conduct ethnographic research - social science code for a good long holiday - of my own to weigh up the city's virtues and demerits :)

Courses have begun in earnest. On available evidence, Hindi will be the hardest grind: hour-long sessions every weekday - no time off, even for good behavior - and plentiful homework. We have to keep a diary outside class to build vocab. I considered switching this blog to Hindi for that purpose. But on reflection I decided such a move may dramatically limit a) my ability to write anything beyond listing the items of furniture in my room, their color (so long as they're not brown), and my preference for cats over elephants; and b) audience reach. It stays as it is.

The hurricane and rain will pass soon enough; I hope to be in New York on Saturday, when, in Central Park, we may again salute the sun. Plus brunch with Beth, shop with Michael and Sharon, reminisce with Jess. Much, as ever, to revel in and savor.