Traveller Spotlight - John and Andrea

John (left) and Andrea (right) after enjoying breakfast at the
Hostel and a brief interview.

Meet John and Andrea!

On this cloudy Friday morning, I came across John and Andrea, who surprisingly enough are not travelling together, nor are they friends - they happened to meet each other that very morning and sat down to eat breakfast before I came up and started questioning them about their lives...

John, is a businessman in his home of Colombia, which he refers to as "the place you fall in love." Andrea, on the other hand, is from Italy where he works as a salesperson in a hardware and software company. There are, however, a few things these two have in common. For one, they are both in Chicago studying English. For both of them, it is their first time in Chicago, and in the U.S! They love it. All the way from the convenient and easy to use public transportation, to the friendliness and liveliness of Chicago. And lastly, they both are staying here at the hostel for 1 more month, after which they are going back to their lives and jobs in their hometowns.

For John, this U.S trip took him 3 years of planning. John is the owner of a small engineering company that handles, among other things, imports and exports, and it is crucial for him to communicate efficiently in English. John has been in the U.S since last September, staying at hostels. He first stayed 6 months in Boston, he has since then been to New York, Miami, and Texas. He has been in Chicago, and at the hostel, since March. Compared to the other places he visited in the U.S, he ranks Chicago the highest. "It has a small town feeling, even though it is such a big town, people are so friendly.Usually in big cities people don't talk to you. In Boston they don't even look at you." John's favorite thing about the hostel is the 2nd floor, and, that the hostel is so conveniently located in the loop. John is an outdoorsy guy and his favorite thing about Chicago so far is running along the lakefront, and biking. He has taken advantage of many of the bike routes, and has even bought a bike since he's been in Chicago.

Andrea has done much travelling around Europe and been to Spain, France, England, and Croatia. He arrived in Chicago just last week, but it has already made a special impression on him. "I love this town. It is incredible! Its friendly, easy...What surprised me the most is the buildings, I live in a small town [in Italy]. The tallest building there has 11 floors," he laughs. Andrea evidently loves the city, he's been up in the John Hancock observatory and seen a good view of the city and the lake, but, even after hours of nosing around the city, he's been having a hard time physically finding the lake, and has yet to find it, he says....