arrival

It took a little over six hours, but we made it! For a while I wasn't sure we would - just 17 miles away from our hotel, we got lost because of all the road construction. And once we got back on track it took us between 45 minutes and an hour to travel just seven miles! It made me so grateful that I won't have a car here :)

We then checked in to our incredibly fancy hotel - the Allegro which is just outside of the theater district (I'll try to take some pictures of the room I have today and tomorrow and then wherever I move to on Monday).

Right away my mom and I went exploring to find a place for dinner (and did a little shopping along the way - including a joyful stop in to one of the greatest places that I know... Jamba Juice!)

My parents decided on a restaurant called "9" for dinner which I believe was the fanciest restaurant I've ever eaten at... well, at least the most expensive (I'm not used to seeing a price range from $25 to $155!)

Tomorrow my parents will be leaving some time after lunch so I will have basically 24hrs by myself until everyone else gets here for orientation on Monday at 2pm. I'm going to try to work up the nerve to go exploring and get a general grasp of the surrounding area :) I know that there's a Borders just three blocks away so I'll probably venture out that direction. But mostly I will be working on embracing the fact that I'm going to be living here and trying not to get too stressed. Just take deep breaths, right? :)

eight hours away

Ironically I'm writing my second post just eight hours before my parents and I pack up the car and head out :)

I managed to put off packing pretty much entirely until this afternoon and did the majority of it in the last three hours since I got home from seeing a movie with Mary and her mom. The only reason I feel okay with packing everything in a little over three hours is because my wonderful Mom is going to help me out by organizing a few of the last-minute things over the next week before they return to Chicago to help me move in to my apartment.

At this point, however, the nerves are really starting to kick in. There's really no turning back and there are so many unknowns. I keep having to remind myself that this is really happening! I'm going to be living in downtown Chicago for an entire semester!!! It feels so weird knowing that everyone is already back at Central and have had three full days of classes (I don't officially start classes until the 8th).

Any and all prayers would be greatly appreciated over the next couple of days :) The first two weeks are sure to be the hardest (especially the first three days -Mon, Tues, Wed- with having interviews and having to chose roommates, apartments, and internships)

Thanks for reading and hopefully I'll have more interesting things to say in my next post :)