See The World: Downtown Chicago

The buildings you see before you are from my trip when I was in Chicago. I had taken a tour of the Windy City and seen tons of skyscrapers. This city is filled with condominiums, apartment complexes, businesses and corporate headquarters. While on the tour I noticed the architecture of this city. As you can see, the buildings range from different sizes to different shapes. I noticed that the buildings in Chicago heavily emulated Roman buildings except in a more modern form.

This picture is of the Chicago Skyline taken from a boat tour of the city. This view allowed me to see the many different buildings of Chicago. The buildings ranged from the Chicago Board of Trade to the John Hancock building which is an office building used for radio stations and etc. This view magnificent view allowed me to appreciate architecture and the beauty of construction.

This picture was taken from the Willis Tower Skydeck (formerly known as the Sears Tower). This view is on top of the 115^th floor of the tower. This tower attracts over 3 million visitors a year. Also you can see the vast amount of buildings that occupy Downtown Chicago which encompasses a 200 mile radius at each side. This city truly has a fascination with buildings because buildings are being constantly built or renovated. The city follows the motto to build “UP”.

Welcome to the Breaking Perceptions Blog!

In the summer of 2009 Cortez Alexander from Chicago and Robyn Williamson from London both took part in a programme that involved bringing together groups of young people from London, the USA and Iraq to learn about each other's cultures and break down any stereotypes and misconceptions.

This programme was a life changing experience. We learnt not to judge each other based on what we see in the media and how to fully accept each other for who we are, not for the stereotypes that society places on us. All of those on the programme remain friends despite the miles of ocean between us and we know that young people from anywhere around the world can speak to one another and build positive relationships. We may be from different countries but we all want connect together to change the world.

This blog aims, in a formal sense, to enhance international relations between young people from all over the world. Together we will improve understanding, education and perceptions of each other's countries through debate, dialogue and digital media.

We will answer many questions you may have about other people's countries by posting information on different topics ranging from the small things like food and clothing to the larger ones like politics and economics. We will also have video and audio with people of different countries debating different topics and telling you about their country and culture. This is where YOU can play a part. We want you to email us at:

breakingperceptions@gmail.com

with your articles, audios and videos all about you, your country, your culture or maybe just you and your friends debating different topics.

So here is to the start of a groundbreaking journey!

See you later, salaam, Fir Milenge, à plus tard, hasta luego, Auf Wiedersehen, じゃね and Goodday mate!