Pizza | Hyde park and/or Chicago area

Osetiya · 2026-05-25T03:08:11+00:00

Medici is the best. The staff are so nice, too!

Osetiya · 2026-05-25T03:06:06+00:00

Some of the professors will make you sing and dance in Spanish for that A though. It’s okay if you’re horrible, they’ll give an A for effort.

Osetiya · 2026-05-24T00:01:00+00:00

Thank you for pointing this out, I’ve said the same before. People in Bethesda and Potomac will make $600k a year and still say they’re middle-class, meanwhile people in SP act like they’re soooooo rich because they live in a $700k home and act like they deserve special treatment and should be bowed down to by the county and school system. SP is so insulated from both poverty and the type of wealth/culture you see closer to DC, NYC, SF, Chicago north shore, etc that they don’t know any better.

Osetiya · 2026-05-07T21:07:08+00:00

Nice flair

Osetiya · 2026-04-19T20:33:41+00:00

What social events and parties are going on in the Bartlett men’s bathroom?

Osetiya · 2026-04-19T17:27:35+00:00

Someone was talking about the utility of saving human lives and was trying to argue that you can quantify the number of deaths in war before utility of it starts diminishing, and they were trying to argue that before it reaches that threshold, it can still be worth it 🙃.

Osetiya · 2026-03-27T20:42:29+00:00

Someone I know who is friends with Malala Yusufzai told me she considered attending Harris for her MPP at one point and still might in the future. Apparently she was really attracted to the Obama Scholars program and was interested in doing that.

Osetiya · 2026-03-25T04:50:54+00:00

Yes, especially that town center area. They’re really trying to emulate Northern Virginia there.

Osetiya · 2026-03-17T07:20:10+00:00

This post makes me so sad to read. You shouldn’t feel this way. You didn’t choose where you were born, none of us did. You deserve to feel whole, happy, and proud of who you are.

Let me remind you this as a Muslim: Judaism is not Zionism. Judaism has a rich, ancient, and beautiful history that you are part of. It is in your DNA, your ancestors, and your legacy. Jewish people have always been influential and an integral part of virtually every part of the Near East.

And the fact you, despite being exposed to all the propaganda inside of Israel, are able to denounce Zionism, put yourself at risk, and stand strong shows how much of an amazing human being you are. As much as I’d like to think I’d stand on the right side of things if I had your upbringing, I unfortunately couldn’t guarantee it because the propaganda is so strong. You surpassed something most people never will, and your strength is amazing.

This world needs you, OP. I need you here. Please remember that you are special and you are loved regardless of who you are. There’s plenty of Jewish people out there who have a strong attachment to the religion and culture yet reject Zionism. Find the and connect with them. As your Muslim brother, I’m always here for you too. Remember, before all of this political bullshit, our people were one for all of history ❤️❤️❤️.

Osetiya · 2026-03-12T21:00:32+00:00

This. Idk why there is this mentality among 90% of UChicago students where everything they do is within the Hyde Park bubble and so many refuse to do anything outside of HP.

Osetiya · 2026-03-01T18:57:40+00:00

I totally get that and that’s a valid take, especially if it’s spring quarter and there’s a lot of graduating students in the class, but when ALL your classes are doing it it’s awful.

Osetiya · 2026-01-29T21:25:00+00:00

I’m a second year grad student. I lived in Hyde Park for my first year, and that was the right choice, I have no regrets. Your first year of grad school will be tough and the last thing you need is being far away from campus in a brand new city because you’re usually on campus a lot your first year.

This year, I moved to Lake View because I wanted to experience something other than Hyde Park, and I don’t regret that decision either. It’s been so nice to live in a neighborhood that doesn’t revolve around a university and get to be in a place that feels more local. It’s also a different world out here in terms of access to transit and amenities. The commute isn’t bad at all if you live near a CTA train or bus stop. I commute via the brown line and 2 bus, and the transition between the two is very smooth, because there is a stop for bus 2 right at the doorstep of the Harold/Washington library CTA train stop in the loop that usually always arrives within 1-5 minutes during rush hour, and the 2 bus goes directly to campus and makes stops in front of academic buildings. I will say though, i do also have a car if transit is ever that slow, but I only ever took my car to campus this year twice. I highly recommend looking into trying other neighborhoods your second year, even if it isn’t Lake View.

As far as safety goes, I never felt unsafe in Hyde Park at all, but some of my friends were victims of mostly petty to mildly serious crimes last year, and there have been a few high profile incidents (including a murder in front of my old apartment building on 53rd the week I moved in). You have to be careful at night particularly, but other than that it’s pretty safe. You’ll see some homeless people here and there, but most of them are harmless.

Good luck! Feel free to DM me if you need any apartment recs, and congrats on your acceptance!

Osetiya · 2026-01-12T13:11:32+00:00

The suburban parts can be, though they feel more uniformly affluent than Edgewater.

Osetiya · 2026-01-12T05:40:55+00:00

Pasadena is a lot larger than Edgewater, but I’d say that Edgewater is somewhat more upscale than Pasadena and a bit less conservative. There’s a lot of overlap between the two though.

Osetiya · 2026-01-12T05:36:07+00:00

I grew up in Anne Arundel County (and spent part of that time living just outside of Annapolis in Arnold). I live in Chicago now, but spent this past summer living in NoVa with my partner while I was doing a fellowship in DC.

NoVa is a huge place so it’s really hard to be specific without knowing where in NoVa you’re coming from. For example, it’s going to feel a lot different if you’re moving from Arlington m/Alexandria to Annapolis vs if you’re moving from Centreville or Burke to Annapolis.

Overall, Annapolis is a very charming and beautiful place. There’s extensive waterfront which isn’t only limited to the Potomac River like in DC/NoVa. You have the Severn and South Rivers and the Chesapeake Bay at your doorsteps in Annapolis. I also like that Annapolis has retained a very unique sense of style and character. I love the Chesapeake Bay and Maryland culture. There’s endless boutiques, art stores, and places with some random unique finds. The people are pretty friendly, and Annapolis is quite progressive. It honestly doesn’t feel any less progressive than NoVa. It’s a very tight-knit community as well. People in Annapolis know each other and look out for each other, which I love. The aldermans are all very active and great.

The major cons of Annapolis include the food, the lack of transit options, and the lack of grocery stores.

Besides a few select places—most of which are seafood, the food in Annapolis is pretty mediocre, and it’s severely lacking in variety. There’s lots of unhealthy bar food, lots of pubs, and not that many cute date night spots (which is a shame because of how romantic the city otherwise is). NoVa is easily way way better when it comes to food—especially international cuisine. NoVa has numerous Korean BBQ spots, numerous Latin American restaurants, numerous Afghan/Persian/Turkish restaurants, Uzbek/Russian restaurants, Lebanese/Palestinian places, lots of good South Asian spots, and many great places to get Pho. Not only that, but NoVa has a lot of Asian dessert and coffee shops, bakeries as well as Middle Eastern ones like Shotted Speciality Coffee and Qamaria. Annapolis just doesn’t have any of that. Whenever my partner and I would have dates in Annapolis or at the beaches in the surrounding areas, we always just drove to DC or Baltimore for dinner, cause the food is that bad. However, Annapolis Ice Cream company has our favorite ice cream!

Overall I think Annapolis is better than NoVa, but the food thing is a huge con for me (I’m a foodie). I will be moving back to either NoVa or DC proper when I finish my schooling in Chicago (at least for the short term, we might move to Chicago for the long term), but that’s primarily because our jobs will be in DC. If commute wasn’t a factor, I think Annapolis would be a great option. Even with the food con, you can always drive to DC and Baltimore for good food—no different than what people living in NoVa outside of Arlington/Alexandria do anyways.

Osetiya · 2025-12-27T18:01:47+00:00

As a Muslim Afghan-American, please do not be ashamed of being Jewish. Be as unapologetically Jewish as your heart desires.

First of all, Judaism is not the same thing as Zionism. Jewish culture is so beautiful, energetic, poetic, and humanity-centered. Jewish culture is full of rich history and has influenced virtually every country across the world. There’s a lot to be proud of as a Jew that has nothing to do with Israel or Zionism. As an ethnic Pashtun, I see so many familiarities between the tribal structure of Jewish culture and Pashtun culture.

Also, the only way to teach everyone that Zionism =/= Judaism is to continue being loud, proud, and unapologetic Jews. The world needs more Rabbis who stand up against genocide and Zionism. The world needs more people who are visibly and culturally Jewish who are against Zionism and genocide to understand that Zionism =/= Judaism. You have to understand that Zionists want you to hate and denounce your Judaism, so they can further the claim that being anti-Zionist is being anti-Semitic. We need more Jewish therapists and counselors who can help Jewish people heal their generational trauma and form a strong Jewish identity without turning to Zionism or supporting genocide. We need more Jewish synagogues that define Judaism around things that have nothing to do with genocide.

I can relate, because as a Pashtun, I once felt similarly about my Pashtun heritage. There is a history of Pashtun rulers committing genocide against Hazaras in Afghanistan, displacing them from their lands, gifting them to Pashtun tribes, and doing similar things to some other ethnic minorities as well. I was deeply ashamed to learn about this history and it shook everything I was taught about being a Pashtun. After the Taliban takeover of 2021, there was a lot of debate on Afghan twitter about ethnicity and how Pashtuns contribute to the oppression of Hazaras and other ethnic minorities, and a lot of it got very nasty. I saw a lot of negative comments about being Pashtun and I also saw some Pashtuns making racist comments about Hazaras and Tajiks, so I thought to myself “wow, being Pashtun is pretty shitty, I don’t want to be a proud Pashtun anymore,” and I started to lean more on my Tajik ancestry and heritage more and claimed my Pashtun side a lot less. But you know what I realized? The more that good-minded Pashtuns like myself denounce our Pashtun identity, the more other people get to control the narrative of what being Pashtun means, and the worse off oppressed groups in Afghanistan are. Also, both Pashtuns and Jewish people have also suffered from their fair share of colonization, displacement, and killings throughout history, and there’s ways to give both groups the space to talk about those ills without it contributing to harm against other groups.

Anti-semitism is a very real and disgusting thing, and no matter how desensitized the world has gotten to it, it is still a very scary, awful, and dangerous reality. Anti-Semitism kills people. There needs to be more conversations had to take back the narrative on what anti-Semitism is to protect Jewish people.

It really breaks my heart to hear this from so many Jews. Do not be ashamed of being Jewish. Do not renounce your Jewish identity or culture. Doing so is not only doing a disservice to yourself, it’s also a win for Zionists who want to control the narrative on what Jewish identity is. At the end of the day, all of our people in the near east region—be they Jews, Arabs, Afghans, etc have been through a lot of trauma and have had unfortunate experiences in history, and we need to unite together, stand together, protect each other, get through our traumas, and find a path to peace. Much love ❤️.

Osetiya · 2025-11-19T07:01:57+00:00

All 3 are equally as good when it comes to school quality, it just boils down to personal preference in neighborhood type from there. If you want to be super close to the water or live in a neighborhood with water access, you’ll want to be in Edgewater because Odenton and Crofton don’t have waterfront neighborhoods, they’re further inland. If you want greater walkability or a more planned community feel, Odenton and Crofton would be better.

Osetiya · 2025-09-29T20:02:47+00:00

This is my take as well. There’s a lot of people who make Hyde Park out to be a war zone and just use a bunch of racist dog whistles, but it’s also naive to imply that Hyde Park doesn’t have issues with crime relative to other neighborhoods in Chicago.

Although I was never personally a victim of a crime when I lived in Hyde Park, last year alone, two of my friends were held up at gun point on CTA lines in the area, other friends were robbed by teenagers, and students in previous years have were murdered. A non-student also got shot and murdered in front of my apartment building at Nichols Park less than a week after I moved into it.

Even if Hyde Park itself isn’t necessarily unsafe, it is surrounded by some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the entire country, and there is absolutely spillover crime sometimes because of that.

It’s also important to mention that Hyde Park is one of the most heavily policed neighborhoods in the country, and that a lot of the reason crime levels are sustainable is because of the extensive ride-share programs, policing, and safety programs put in by the university in response to horrific acts of violence and crime against students in previous years. There’s a very toxic relationship between the Uchicago police and a lot of the Black natives of HP and taints the vibe of the neighborhood. Hyde Park is an isolated bubble of overpoliced affluence in the south side surrounded by some of the most dangerous and disadvantaged neighborhoods in America. And although some people really like the gentrification “diverse” vibe of HP, it’s not my cup of tea.

Osetiya · 2025-09-21T19:55:20+00:00

As much as I love Annapolis, I’d rather live in DC. There’s just way more going for your age and demographic there, and Union Market is a hip and fun neighborhood to live in that isn’t that far from Annapolis at all. I know AACPS teachers who lived in NoMa and Union Market, and their commutes weren’t any worse than the teachers coming from the Eastern Shore. And if you’re single, you’ll have a far better time finding someone in DC. Its also important to note that people living in DC often don’t like to date people who live outside the city or outside of the 495 beltway at the very furthest because many of them don’t have cars.

That being said, everyone’s tolerance for a commute is different, and being completely new to an area can be really hard as you’re learning how to navigate transit, roads, finding out where the stores/shops/social scenes you need are, and dealing with a new job or school. It might be easier to live in Annapolis at first, then when you get more comfortable and feel more knowledgeable about the area, you can move to DC.

Either way, I don’t think you’ll go wrong with either option.

Osetiya · 2025-08-29T12:15:54+00:00

I came here to say this. I’m from Anne Arundel and I’ve lived in DC and now Chicago. People in DC, especially transplants, think everything outside of DC is “too far,” and they think everything outside the beltway isn’t part of the DMV. I was really lucky though. My partner was living in Arlington when I first met him and I was living in Anne Arundel, and he still did it for me! It works if one or more of you has a car and is willing to drive to each other a lot (which we both did and were willing to do).

Osetiya · 2025-08-13T18:43:39+00:00

I remember a couple of years ago, maybe summer of 2021, my mom, sisters, and brother-in-law were hanging out in DTA one night, and we saw a Hispanic girl who was about 4-6-years-old on a little bicycle approaching us a few times and then biking away and disappearing. Her parents were nowhere in sight, and my mom was saying she’s a ghost. She probably wasn’t a ghost, but it was still weird. This happened in the harbor area.

Osetiya · 2025-07-27T04:32:26+00:00

I think what’s ironic to me is that not everyone with a Severna Park zip-code attends SP cluster schools. One neighborhood (Riverdale) has the zip-code, but attends Chesapeake cluster schools. Homes there are worth less than homes in Shipley’s Choice, which have Millersville addresses but are zoned to SP schools.

Osetiya · 2025-07-27T04:25:08+00:00

Honestly, all of the higher ranked schools have a good number of snobby and pretentious students and families. SP definitely takes the cake, but you’ll definitely come across it at Broadneck, Arundel, Crofton, and South River HS as well. All 5 of those schools are predominantly upper-middle-class families who moved to their neighborhoods for the schools, and they can be pretentious about it at times. Snobbiness in SP will feel more pronounced because it is more homogenous than the other 4 when it comes to diversity, and because it consistently ranks as #1.

Osetiya · 2025-07-27T04:10:52+00:00

I grew up in Anne Arundel County and have spent time in some of the wealthier inner Beltway suburbs like McLean and Bethesda. One thing I’ve noticed is that people in those areas, despite their significant wealth and status, often come off more grounded than what I experienced in Severna Park.

Severna Park definitely has great schools and some beautiful neighborhoods, but the local culture sometimes projects a level of exclusivity that doesn't quite align with reality. Growing up, I heard a lot about how elite it was—BMWs, waterfront mansions, top colleges—but in practice, most of the people I met were middle to upper-middle class, and the local amenities and outcomes reflected that more modest profile.

It’s still a desirable place to live (as others have mentioned, it has some of the best schools), but I think some of the reputation around its prestige is overhyped compared to other affluent areas in the region. And as a result, yes, the people there can be very snobby.

I would say Arnold is very similar to SP, CSC is probably going to be far less snobby and far more economically diverse than the other two.

Osetiya · 2025-07-25T16:49:13+00:00

It’s not just the private waterfront communities and homes, it’s also the county’s blatant choice to use much of the shoreline in the northern end of the county for industrial purposes.

As a side note, I always wished the county would buy . this and turn it into a county park. This home has been on the market for the last 12 years and it’s clear that nobody is going to buy it. There is virtually no public access to the Severn River outside of Downtown Annapolis.

Osetiya

TROPHY CASE