About a month ago, I wrote two blogs about my first 4 weeks of my summer in Chicago with Wrighteous86, which you can find here and here. It was a very full vacation, so I've put the last 2 weeks in this blog to finish it out. Sorry it took so long, but I just started back up in college, so it's taken me a while to find the time!
 

Training Beluga Whales

Man Vs Food

The Magnificent Mile

The Lake House

Busting Myths

Wrapping Up

You guys are too cute! I'm glad you had a good time in the States, we're not so bad. I think it's great you duders are making it work. It'll pay off in the long run. I would say y'all should come down to Austin next summer it's way cheaper than SF and there is just as much cool shit to do. But, it does get over 100F here and sadly no GB crew.

I'm always left not really knowing what to say at these blogs, I just think it's so awesome that something like this can happen. I'm cheering for you guys.

Fucking Beluga whales!

Thumbs up!

Good Luck Have Bomb!

@Scooper said:

Thumbs up!

x2 :)

Always cool to see things going well for people.

Gambling is pretty great. I highly recommend it. It's the best hobby ever!

@ManU_Fan10ne said:

@Scooper said:

Thumbs up!

x2 :)

x3!

That whale should be in my sandwich!

@Irvandus said:

Always cool to see things going well for people.

Part of me is convinced this is just an elaborate hoax and at some point one of them will be kidnapped by terrorists or something and it becomes this weird Alternate Reality Game.

Whyyy do birds suddenlyy appearrrrr

edit: Is it just me or does that baluga kind of look like a penis?

That lady's one eye peeking around the side of the whale is awfully sinister-looking.

Hey, y'all found love... think you could set me up with that beluga whale? She's cute.

@DuskVamp: I LOVE LUCKYS!!!!!!

I won't be posting much here anymore, but as always I just want to say that this is a fantastic write up and I'm glad you guys had such a good time.

All the best for the future!

@Irvandus said:

Always cool to see things going well for people.

Part of me is convinced this is just an elaborate hoax and at some point one of them will be kidnapped by terrorists or something and it becomes this weird Alternate Reality Game.

Why do I keep hearing this whenever I read something about you guys? Ha! Keep enjoying each other and this magnificent world!
     

@MarkWahlberg said:

@Irvandus said:

Always cool to see things going well for people.

Part of me is convinced this is just an elaborate hoax and at some point one of them will be kidnapped by terrorists or something and it becomes this weird Alternate Reality Game.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter is the most authentic military shooter.

Since this is her last blog on the subject, I figured I'd throw my hat in on one or two things she skipped over.

We played a couple of games while DuskVamp was living with me, but she was very insistent that we play Catherine. Every time one of the relationship questions came up, I could feel her eyes' piercing gaze, judging every little muscle twitch or bead of sweat on my face.

• Is it okay to lie if you'll never be caught?
• Does life begin or end at marriage?
• Can you show everything in your inbox to your lover?

It was like one of those Cosmo quizzes from hell, specifically designed to make me answer uncomfortable "yes or no" questions about my faithfulness and views on love and sex. For the most part, I think I passed, though she wasn't happy with one or two of my choices: particularly the fact that I'd always play dumb with Catherine, not directly telling her no, because I liked the attention, while staying faithful(ish) to Katherine. I'd always not-so-subtly comment on her sexting photos to me too, so as to keep that gravy train coming without having to take any responsibility for it. She saw right through that, unfortunately. Girls have an eye for that kind of deception, I guess. Let's just say, I'm lucky we got the True Lovers ending, otherwise it would have been a long, cold 6 weeks on the couch...

Her last night before going back to the UK, we also went to a Hibachi grill; the first time for both of us. It was just a lot of fun watching them toss ingredients around, set things on fire, and play with our food. They gave us so much, too! We were both stuffed before he had even finished cooking. If you've got the money, a Hibachi grill is a great place for a date, guys.

And finally, a few observations that DuskVamp made as a Brit seeing the US for the first time.

1. First off, our roads and cars are much wider than they are in the UK, as most people know. She was surprised that many of the streets in Chicago and most of the places we visited in Illinois had gray streets, though, rather than black. Something I never noticed before. She was also constantly pointing out people driving their cars with small-to-extensive bodily damage. I've never noticed how many people have damaged cars driving around in the States, but she was pointing them out all the time. It was probably so obvious to her because the UK has a much stricter set of tests that cars have to undergo in order to be roadworthy, where as we mostly just have a very minor emissions test.
2. She was surprised how the suburbs and homes therein weren't as massive and fancy as she was expecting. From the media we produce, she assumed everyone lived in as nice a neighborhood and as big a house as Kevin McCallister in Home Alone (a reference we kept making since it's set in Chicago). She seemed a bit... underwhelmed with my middle-class suburb and my ranch-style home. It didn't help that it was one of the hottest Chicago summers on record so all of the grass was dry and yellow.
3. Homeless people everywhere. Homeless people are a problem throughout the world, but she was surprised that such a relatively wealthy country had homeless people just camped out in front of Union station, and lining the blocks that the 9-5 employees walk to work, one every 15 feet or so, asking for change. Not to mention most of them are regulars and have their own "spots" and that nearly all of them in Chicago are grossly overweight for being so "hungry" and "poor". I guess that's not as common in the UK and they have systems and police in place to prevent that? Not quite sure.
4. She also had heard rumors of shopkeepers being much friendlier and more active in the US, that we're "known for our hospitality" and she found that to be true, but in a very artificial way. Retail workers do say "hello" and "have a nice day" but they say it very mechanically and don't really mean it or think it while saying. I'd prefer it the UK-way, actually, where they for the most part stay out of the way unless you ask for help.

That's about all I could think to add though. If you're still with us, thanks for caring. If you're annoyed by all this, you won't have to deal with it anymore. As always, thanks Giant Bomb, for everything!

I played Catherine with girls and they hated Katherine; her only defenders were a couple of guys who knew the story of the game.

So that was fun.

You're both inspirations to all of us in an LDR. Have more fun, and keep up the awesome work!

@Little_Socrates: Aw, but I like Katherine.

@medacris said:

You're both inspirations to all of us in an LDR. Have more fun, and keep up the awesome work!

@Little_Socrates: Aw, but I like Katherine.

Are you in one? Have we already discussed it?