Six college students shared a Chicago apartment while on J-1 visas, bonding through cramped living, minimal planning and shared cultural moments. The group relied on hostel orientation and personal resourcefulness to settle into the city and split rent, creating close, convivial ties. Two decades later, plans to return to Chicago exposed how careers, family duties and midlife responsibilities make maintaining those friendships more difficult. The reunion planning highlighted the emotional value of those early connections and the deliberate effort required to preserve and rekindle friendships amid adult obligations.
I did my J-1 in Chicago at a time the Cubs were still cursed by the Billy Goat, French fries were 'freedom fries', Tom Brady and Kobe Bryant were the new sporting icons, and La Résistance were the WWE's biggest villains. I was part of the college student droves that skittle into various cities, towns and resorts across America, each summer. I travelled to Chicago alone, with ER episodes and a barely touched Lonely Planet as the height of my research.
USIT Travel put a hostel-full of us up for the first night, provided an orientation, then nudged us from the nest. I was hyper-friendly, extra-outgoing and fortunate enough to find six fellow students happy enough for me to sleep on an inflatable lilo in their back hall, in exchange for a share of the rent.
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