Chicago : living there

Welcome to Chicago

Chicago, named the “Windy City”, “Second City” (even if she is the third populated city after New York and Los Angeles), or “City of the Big Shoulders” is a attaching city where is nice to live. There is a economical and cultural boom Elle est en plein essor économique et culturel, and it's the good time to come for expats. The city is twined with Paris since a few years, and the french community is growing and active.

Living in Chicago

Chicago is active all the year but life follows a binary cycle. The summer is overflowded with outdoor activities. Nautism on Lake Michigan, walks in the parks, footings, beach-volley and simming on sand beach along the lake shore. In the city there are concerts, and many outdoor festivals in the parks. During the winter, the activities are inside. Bars, restaurants and clubs are kings. Around the year, you will enjoy theaters, opera, symphonical orchesters and other artistics and cultural activities.
The eating scene is active with many restaurants of prime level.

Being french in Chicago

The french community is relatively small (a few thousands in a city of 8 millions inhabitants) but it is growing fast and shows a real dynamism. A key event was to twining of Chicago and PAris in 1996(Paris Chicago Sister City Committee).

A few more or less informal groups of french people are gathering regularly. One of them is the 'Groupe des Français de L’Etranger à Chicago'.

Security

Chicago is a very safe city. Just respect a few rules. The most important is no to go in the bad neighbourhood. On a general case, you have no reasons to go bu in cars to cross them. It's sad to say but on this side, Chicago stands like most american cities as a divided city. The town center and the vast majority of residentials areas are safe, even if there are risks like in any large city. 

Pratical guide to Chicago

Find it's way in Chicago: very easy. The town in a perectLa ville est faite d’un squaring of vertical roads (North/South) or “horizontal” (East/West). This roads, called streets, boulevards or avenues according to their importance, can be very long (up to 10 or 20 kilometers), but there names never change. Even if most streets have a name (not like in New York for example), they are also numerized from 100 to 100 , from a certain point zero in the center of the town. For example, the 10th road going towards the north is at 1000 North, and the 5th road going to the west is 500 West. It is then very easy to find ones location.· Driving in Chicago: with a foreign licence, you are allowed to drive during 6 months. Most of the cars are automatic, it can be suprising at first but you will get used to it fast. To get the american driving licence, you will need to learn the basis of the road signals and pass a quite simple test.

A few sites

	The wesbites of the Chicago Tribune and of Chicago Reader: the websites to check for going out (restos, clubs, arts et shows, events, etc.) and the practical details (real estate adds, job offers…)
	The very good website of the city of Chicago City of Chicago
	Paris Chicago twin commiteeCulturalAffairs
	Marathon of Chicago Chicago Marathon
	The festivals SpecialEvents
	Calendrier d'evenements Calendar
	Sport ligue of Chicago Sports Monster Sportsmonster