SEEING IT WITH MY OWN EYES Irina Matviitšuk
Language school InterLink, Narva, Estonia
This autumn I came up with a new (for me) reason why it is worth travelling. When I got an invitation to travel to the USA, I was, frankly speaking, skeptical enough that this trip might be real – a visa, such a long distance, flights. But having applied for ESTA, to my surprise, I got a reply within 3–4 days: Welcome to the USA!
The author at Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
Though I stayed there only one week, I visited three cities in two states; even now I couldn’t believe how I managed it. My first stop was Chicago. From the first moments, I was impressed by its magnificent skyscrapers dotted along the river. It immediately took my breath away – they are of different shape and style. One reflects the water and changes its color depending on the weather and time of the day, another symbolizes unity with the previous centuries’ architecture. Interestingly, they don’t have windows, which gave the architects freedom to put their ambitions into life. Surprisingly, this doesn’t cause a chaos – on the contrary, it’s an ensemble united by its own concept. It is a rather amazing fact that nowadays only conceptual architecture is allowed in the city. I wondered what concept the architecture in Narva has? That’s a good question…
My next place of destination was Urbana-Champaign – a city, renowned for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I had been planning to take my time walking to the university to see how the city drifted by, but once I left the house, I was immediately taken along by a stream of young people of different nationalities and races who were rushing all together in one direction. Some minutes later this stream disappeared and I found myself standing in the middle of a huge territory with nobody around. I realized that it was a campus of one of the oldest and biggest universities in the USA. It’s like a city in the city with its own life – a library, a museum, a bell tower, a concert hall and, of course, numerous of educational premises. The surprises didn’t stop there. Having explored the campus, I decided to go to another part of the city Urbana, which is famous for its picturesque and tranquil scenery. I 56
Chicago skyscrapers
