Three and a Half Weeks In: Reflections on Miami

I woke up at my parents' house in Oak Park on January 30 and the outside temperature was nineteen below. Not sure whether I scrolled down in the weather app to look at the wind chill value, but at that point is was just academic to me. Sixteen hours later, and by way of New Jersey because my original direct flight was cancelled, I went to bed at my Airbnb in Miami where it was 61 above. An eighty degree swing.

And that, dear readers, was the story I will always have about the day I moved to Miami.

Three and a half weeks later, and I am happy to report all is going well. I have been having a great time at my new job, meshing well with my new colleagues, feeling appropriately challenged by my new assignment, and making the most of my evenings and weekends to explore my new city.

Here is one fun fact that people not from South Florida might not know, because I did not: Miami and Miami Beach are two different cities. The City of Miami is the second largest city in Florida (counting the city proper only) and the commercial and cultural anchor of South Florida. The City of Miami Beach, just across Biscayne Bay, is the coastal resort city that forms most of what the popular imagination conjures on hearing the name "Miami." I am writing this sitting outside a Starbucks in Miami Beach, just around the corner from a view of the Atlantic Ocean, and I can report that Miami Beach and Miami are distinct places. But the iced coffee tastes just as good in both!

So far, in addition to three full weeks of work on the new job, including my first run of concerts, I have wandered around various neighborhoods and suburbs including Brickell (the upscale shopping are abutting the financial district), Coral Gables (adjacent suburb, Spanish revival architecture planned city wherein is the University of Miami), Downtown Miami, Little Havana (the Cuban neighborhood, where my Airbnb is), and Wynwood (industrial area turned indie arts scene), as well as seeing the Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and Naples just briefly while there for work purposes. I have connected with a few other Wheaton alumni in the area and hope to find more, as my brief search tells me that there are more of us!

I have also had the opportunity on my three weekends here so far to visit three different churches. I have not yet settled on one, but was very grateful to receive a warm welcome at each, especially since coming from being a church staff member, for better or worse I came with a lot of notions about local church culture.

And needless to say, I am sure I have not even scratched the proverbial surface of all that Miami has to offer. I have avoided reading too much written for tourists about this area, choosing instead to get ideas and tips from my colleagues and fellow Wheaton alumni and other new friends and acquaintances, people who actually lived here. So it may be a slower process to get to know the area, but I think it will be better and more authentic that way.

Will check in again in a few weeks! And please feel free to visit my Instagram (no login needed, for you non-Instagram users) where I have a few pictures so far from my wanderings in South Florida.