The spatial aspect

The following is an excerpt from the adventurer's journal.

I've been lucky enough to get a room on the uppermost floor of Herman Crown Center (HCC), one of the best places possible. It's a seventeen-storey building equipped with several facilities to make our lives easier, quite decent interior, and of course strict security.

The location doesn't get any better central than this, as the building is placed at the Loop, the "historical" heart of the city. Being the second-largest central business district in the whole States, after Midtown Manhattan, it is a very peculiar place. It's got some sort of emanating energy, and has so far been rather enjoyable to explore.

The place is incredibly close to just about anything a lazy person could need. The main Roosevelt university campus is just next door, you don't even have to leave the building. It's just one block from Grant Park, which is located right at the beach of lake Michigan. Simply sweet. Also noteworthy is nearby House of Blues, a venue where several cool gigs will take place this year. Can't say I'm not looking forward.

My floor is reserved for grad students only, so it's quite peaceful so far. I'm curious whether this will still be the case after a few weeks, when all the people have arrived. Apart from Satyam, my roomie, a pretty cool Indian biotechnology guru, and Melissa, our sweet most precious residence assistant, I haven't had an opportunity to socialise with any of the neighbours yet. Nonetheless, the people I've met all around have more than made up for this. If there's one thing I can't complain about, it's lack of social activities.

Herman Crown Center and the university building
That's not the case when it comes to the room itself, however, which doesn't quite live up to my expectations. It's small, the furniture is old, there is dust everywhere, wardrobe door is broken, and the window is a disaster. My bed sucks and the Internet access is slow, (for university standards,) and unreliable. The air-condition is always on, and I haven't figured out a way to disable it. There is no fridge, no toilet, and not even a sink in the room... Actually, on the second thought, it's not so terrible. Guess I'm just spoiled by the Norwegian standard of student housing.

The one great thing is the view. The two largest skyscrapers on following photo are visible at a very nice angle, which makes for a first class view some very rich people are used to, I guess. I'll supply a genuine shot when I get my camera. The tallest of these buildings is the Sears Tower, which is with its impressive height of 527.3 meters currently the tallest completed building in the world. It will probably be surpassed by Burj Dubai sometime in the following years, though. Anyway, it feels kind of fancy having it standing there right outside my window in its full height.

The window of my room is something that just eludes my understanding. It is composed of three sections. One smaller on each side, and one large openable center piece. Unfortunately, the window is very dirty from the outside, and there is a metal safety grid guarding the center piece, so it's impossible to wash from the inside. Thus, I can't even appreciate the magnificence of my view fully. :-(

I've been inquiring about the annoyance of having a grid on my window, and was told it was there to prevent suicides. "We wouldn't like having you jump down," the person said. After collecting my jaw from the floor, I've decided that pushing the topic and asking why the grid was only on the central piece, while the side ones could be easily broken to jump out, was pointless.