- Leave in Fall. So you’ll take the nice memories of the Chicago summer with you and avoid the cold, endless winter.
- Plan a several-month-long trip as your way home. Helps make leaving something to look forward to.
- Hire a moving company. We chose Armstrong Relocation who did a great job so far.
- Get shots against Yellowfever, Meningitis, Hepatitis and Thypus as preparation for your trip. Stock up on Malaria pills.
- Bake Linzer Schnitten for a final coffee hour at the Goethe-Institute.
- Travel one last time to your office in Champaign to say goodbye to co-workers, to return your work computer and monitor and to get your new contract set up.
- Clear out your closet.
- Throw away loads of paper and other stuff you don’t really need. Stuff is a burden. To say it with Tyler Durden’s words, “Everything that you own eventually owns you.”
- Think really well about what to ship, what to take on your journey and what needs to go in the first place.
- Think really well. You won’t be seeing the things you have shipped for a long time.
- Cancel your magazine subscriptions.
- Sell your sofa, bed, nighstands and bike on Craigslist.
- Remember that once all your lamps are gone, you will sit in the dark because your apartment doesn’t have ceiling lights in a few rooms.
- Have your bike stolen from Michigan Avenue.
- Hang out with your friends.
- Hang out some more with your friends.
- Slowly stroll over Michigan Avenue bridge to take in the view of the river, the lake and the cityscape and be thankful for how lucky you are.
- Don’t think of all the places you haven’t visited in Chicago or all the bars you still wanted to try. They will be on your to-do-list for your next visit.
- Start planning a trip to Chicago!
- Have your mail forwarded to local friends’ address.
- Have the movers pack and take away your stuff for putting it into storage.
- Have your friends over for an aperitivo before you go out to dinner the night before you leave. Sit on the floor, drink gin and tonic from plastic cups and snack cashews from plastic cups.
- Spend your last night in Chicago in an empty apartment on an air matress.
- Remember that you still need some sheets and pillows for your last night and borrow them from friends.
- Have one last burrito at Burrito Beach for lunch.
- Have your friends take you to the airport.
- Be thankful for the opportunity to have lived in such a great city like Chicago, for all the friends for life you made and the things you learned, tried for the first time and enjoyed.
