World: r3wp

BrianH:  I live in the west suburbs of/go to college in Chicago

Really? I live in Chicago, on the north edge near the lake.

Which college do you go to?

IIT (not to be confused with ITT)

All my classes are on the main campus, just south of the Loop on 
the green line

That's a good school, congrats. What are you studying?

Computer Science - I just finished my third year as an undergrad. 
 Just one more to go - I don't plan on doing any more school after 
getting a B.S., at least not for a while.

Chicago :-) I think of gansters 80 or so years ago and ... Al Bundy. 
I know, probably a cranky view. How is Chicago?

That's probably for the best, Izkata. After graduating, switch to 
learning environments where they pay you to learn (less loans).

I like Chicago, and have lived here more than everywhere else. It 
would be hard to leave :)

I've been thinking more and more that I'd rather live in the city 
than in the suburbs, too.  But this is the only city I've even been 
to, so I can't really compare to other parts of the US  ;)

More diversity in the city, and more to do. None of my friends who 
have moved from the suburbs have regretted it.

How far is it from the suburbs to the center of the city? I live 
in the suburbs of Copenhagen, and it takes about half an hour with 
train or car to get to the center. I guess, the distances are greater 
where you live?

I'm in Bartlett, it's about 45 minutes to an hour on average by car. 
 A couple times it's taken about an hour and a half, though.  Also, 
I don't have my own car - there's 3 vehicles to share among 5 people 
in my family.

Yeah. I live on the north edge of the city, my parents live in a 
west suburb (Naperville, not the furthest west), and it's an hour 
drive each way. Between gas and tolls it costs me $12-16 to visit 
my parents. I have friends who live 260 blocks from me.

Is it common to use triain, metro and bus, or do eveybody travel 
by car? Anyone going by bicycle?

What, bicycle from the suburbs to the city?

I prefer rollerblading for exercise anyway

Yeah, or around the suburb or around the city? I sometimes take bicycle 
to center of Copenhagen, about 40-45 minutes. Many use bicycles in 
copenhagen. Paths for bicycles along most of the roads.

Some people bike in the city - there's bike lanes everywhere - but 
for the most part people either use cars or public trans. Suburban 
people mostly use cars - the suburbs are designed that way.

ok, typical image of traffic in copenhagen: http://livablestreets.info/share/copenhagen_cyclists.jpg
What does it look like in Chicago?

or http://www.recumbentblog.com/images/copenhagen-cyclists.jpg

Owning a car is very expensive in Chicago because the traffic and 
parking rules are defined by the Department of Revenue - lots of 
bogus charges and tickets.

I suppose the amount of highrises in Chicago creates a different 
street environment than Copenhagen, that AFAIR is a very flat city.

Kind of the same is going on here. Parking is getting more and more 
expensive to get the cars out of the city. It's free to use the roads 
though. You only pay, if you cross the large bridge to go to Fyn 
and Jutland. I use a motorbike, train/bus or bike. It's free to park 
a motorbike, so less exensive.

People tend to either use cars or public trans, but less often both. 
Neighborhoods with easy access to public trans (particularly trains) 
tend to not have parking, and vice versa. I live in a rare neighborhood 
with both.

Or walking, but it generally seems too crowded for bikes

at least in/around the Loop

Yeah, loop traffic is a little to scary for your averave biker. That's 
why every bike messenger I know is likely clinically insane :)

Is a block a standard size?

Well, my roommate and a friend did bike from IIT to O'Hare and back 
once - from Midnight to about 8 AM

How standard is standard size?

Er, what size is standard size?

I often hear "a couple of blocks away" in US TV shows, but I have 
no idea how big a block is. :-)

A friend from Texas got confused once, because apparently we're one 
of the few places in the US that measures distance in units of time. 
 I'd never even thought much of it.

Are all blocks 500 yards or something, or is it different from place 
to place?

The scale on Google Maps looks like most are around 400 feet, but 
there's the river that messes it up, and some locations have a slightly 
different layout...  Unfortunately, that's the best I can do

8 blocks = 1 mile.

Yes, Copenhagen is pretty flat: http://www.copenhagenet.dk/Images/KBH-Copenhagen.jpg

Not like Chicago: http://www.fas.org/irp/imint/docs/rst/Sect6/chicago2.jpg
:-)

Our cities are not lined up like yours. Ours are just a mess of roads 
going in all directions. :-) It's because our cities are maybe 1000 
years old, and the roads were never straighten. I've heard, some 
danes find the US way more practical and makes it easier to travel 
around. Others find our way more charming.

Winding roads in a city make it more fun to explore - "Wait a minute, 
how'd we get over here?"

Most of the outer suburbs are laid out at random. The city is a grid, 
with some occasional diagonal weirdness for indian trails.

What the oldes parts of US cities? The city or suburbs? If it's the 
city, why wasn't the grid just continued? Or maybe the suburbs are 
old villages and the city came later?

Naperville came first, then Chicago. Many of the suburbs started 
out as villiages or farming communities - the rest are filler. The 
grid is no more than 150 years old at most.

Ok, I've found Naperville at Google maps, and you live north in what 
area?

I've found Bartlett too, a little north of Naperville.

Geomol, I think it's because of our road system that GPS is so popular.

Copenhagen Denmark?

yes

Looks like an interesting place..  And I can definitely believe that 
about GPS from the maps