Every time I think about Chicago I am filled with a warm nostalgia; a feeling of pride and longing to be home. While I'm away at college I start off most of my sentences with "I'm from Chicago so..."

When someone is complaining about the 45º weather or offering to take me to the "best" pizza place in town I often have to stop myself from diving into my long winded speech about how if only everyone lived in Chicago they would understand the pain of living anywhere else.

To begin my promotion of Chicago I would like to discuss one of the most underrated and beautiful things in this world: The Chicago Summer.

Chicago is famous for its insanely cold weather but no one ever talks about the summer. Oh, God the summers. Any Chicagoan will tell you that summer in Chicago is the closest to nirvana a human can possibly get.

The beaches, honestly don't even get me started about the beaches.

Look at this. This isn't even a good photo straight up.

Okay, look at this. This is just a section of the beaches that stretch for miles along Lake Michigan. The temperature in the summer is a perfect average of around 75º — not too hot not too cold. You can go to North Avenue beach and experience the classic Chicago beach scene or you can go to less populated areas and soak up the sun in your own personal bubble of enlightenment.

This is an example of a more secluded beach area; it's called "The Point" it's amazing I highly recommend.

Now let's just talk about the food.

Chicago is a culinary majesty. If you visit Chicago I recommend spending a full week/month/year exclusively eating. There is amazing Greek, Mexican, and of course Italian. Obviously, there is the ridiculously delicious, never gets old, saliva producing DEEP DISH PIZZA.

This isn't a joke: when the wheels of my plane hit the tarmac in Chicago, I call Baccino's Pizza on Lincoln and order a large deep dish half cheese half pepperoni pizza. You can ask my family and friends -- this is a fact. The places I personally recommend are Baccino's, Lou Malnati's and Giordano's . Please, for your own health, try actual Chicago deep dish pizza. I know you think it's not a big deal like, "oh, haha go try deep dish", no — go get some deep dish from Chicago.

But what about the social scene?

WHAT ABOUT THE SOCIAL SCENE YOU ASK! There are music festivals weekly if not daily during the summer in Chicago. I have seen hundreds of artists live in concert just by being a living person in Chicago. There are also unreal comedy clubs including Improv Olympics and the Second City.

This is Lollapalooza, the biggest music festival of the summer. Every year huge artists perform. I've seen Eminem, Kid Cudi, Cold Play, Lana Del Ray, Skrillex — the list goes on and on. Other amazing music festivals include but are not limited to Pitchfork, Northcoast, Wavefront, Peacefest, Jazzfest, etc.

Now that I have reeled you in it is time to get the cold hard facts about the winter.

Although it can sometimes reach -30º with wind chill, the silver lining of the Chicago winter is that it scares everybody away from moving to Chicago so us true Chicagoans can keep our little secret: Chicago is the best place to be in the known universe (IMO).

I could write more but my longing to be home is becoming too intense so I must leave with this:

Go to Chicago.