september 5th - 9th

Sorry it's been a while... After we moved out of the hotel and in to our apartment on Saturday, we were without internet for a bit. I'll attempt to sum up the last couple of days for ya:

Saturday - like I said, we moved in to our apartment... My parents arrived around 12:30 and I think left around 3-ish. Nothing too exciting happened in the afternoon except worked on unpacking and getting everything settled. But I did discover that I strongly dislike grocery shopping for myself. Trying to figure out what I would eat for a week at a time is almost impossible since I don't really know how to cook anything :)
Saturday night I went on an adventure with one of my roommates, Jeanne, out to Navy Pier... if you want to know about it, feel free to ask but otherwise I won't bore you with the details right now

Sunday I went to church at the down-town branch of Willow Creek. Willow Creek Chicago meets in this amazingly gorgeous theater and so far I really like it. I went with two other people and we decided to sit in the balcony which I think is on the 5th floor. Worship was amazing - I love worshiping with such a diverse group of people! The sermon was good as well - definitely got me thinking - but it was a little different for me because it was a video feed from one of the other branches in the Chicago area. I think I'll still go again next week because they are starting a series (where I think the speaker is actually in the room haha) about being aware of how you spend your time and not letting yourself get too busy.
After church we did a little exploring while looking for the Jazz festival - and even though we never found it, we did find the Buckingham fountain:

This dad and his little boy were absolutely adorable! :) They were running around, playing games, and here the dad is trying to teach the boy how to do push-ups.

In the afternoon a few of us went to the beach which is just a few blocks east of our apartment building. It was gorgeous - a wonderful day to walk with your feet in the water... or to build a sand castle:

  

 

(more pics on facebook)

On Monday my roommate, Renae, and I went on an adventure to go thrift-store shopping with the hopes of finding some things to decorate our apartment, but... we forgot it was Labor Day and all of the stores were closed. We ended up relaxing for the most of the day at the apartment and then met up with one of Renae's friends from high school who has lived in Chicago for three years now. We went out for frozen yogurt at 

and then walked all over the city and ended up hanging out at his dorm for a while. But I just want to say... if any of you come to visit, we are definitely going out for some frozen yogurt! :)

Tuesday was pretty basic - I had more orientation meetings for the most of the day - just an introduction to the classes I will be taking.

And finally, today. Also pretty basic. This morning we had an intro to our practicum groups that we will be meeting with all semester. I took an unintentional nap while trying to get a head start on my homework :\ but it was needed. It's taking me a while to get used to the sounds of Division Street (major tourist bar-hopping street if you didn't know) right outside our window which we have to leave open in order to not suffocate from the heat. Now I'm going to once again attempt to get started on homework until leaving for a Bible study a guy in the program is hosting tonight at 7pm.

Thanks for reading! I hope you are all doing well and that you know how much I miss all of you!

Oh, and to just give you an idea of how much walking I've done this weekend here's a map of  some of the different places I walk between:

There are many other places I've gone and paths I've walked over and over again, so this is just a glimpse :) I really enjoy being able to walk everywhere or taking public transportation, but I know after a while I'll probably miss driving my car.

september 4th

Sorry, no pictures this post, today was a wonderfully lazy day :) I was able to sleep in until 9:30am and not have to worry about being anywhere until 12:20pm. My hotel roommate and I pretty much hung out in our room the entire day except for going out to lunch. The one productive thing I did was decide which internship I would accept. I spent all last night and this morning debating between Café Media and the Field Museum... but as of 3:15 it is official: I will be working at the Field Museum of Natural History! :) It will be great! I will be working in the Exhibitions Project Management department and will have the opportunity to do all sorts of tasks as well as shadow other departments. Also, I don't have to start work until next Monday, so not only do we have a three day weekend starting tomorrow, I will essentially have a four-day weekend next week :)

This evening was the wrap-up at the hotel where we all stood up and shared our name, school, and new internship location. We then found out our practicum groups that we will meet with each week and went out to dinner. We were going to a comedy club out in Wrigleyville as a large group so my PG hopped on the Red Line and found a bar and grill. It was interesting because they ONLY took cash.

After dinner we met up with the rest of our group at the IO Theater to see the "Shakespeare Improv Company." It was really funny and quite impressive. They asked for the title of one of Shakespears unwritten plays. The suggestion was "Queen Sarah of Kent" from which they created a two-act play. It was great and I was tempted to stay for their second show just to see what they would come up with since every performance is different.

But now I'm back at the hotel just hanging out and getting ready to move in to my apartment tomorrow so I better get back to packing :)

september 3rd

Today almost matched yesterday in terms of busy-ness...

For my first interview I had a 80-90min commute which should have only been about an hour but I missed the train and the next one took some time to get there. Plus along the way, just three stops away from where I needed to get off, the conductor announced that the train was now an express train to the end of the Red Line. I had to jump off the train before the doors closed and wait another 7 or 8 minutes for the next train. But I made it to Teller Madsen just in time. We had a nice long interview where Mr. Madsen told me all about his company and the most exciting elements of their job (like how they are working on an exhibit with a library which include artifacts such as Lincoln's Bible (also the Bible used for Obama's inauguration) and the actually things that were in Lincoln's pockets when he was assassinated).
I had to go directly to my second interview at the YWCA because of the long commute. I ended up taking two buses and didn't even get lost! :) I think I might be getting the hang of this... but I did have to wait 20-30 minutes for the first bus to get there.

Anyways, both interviews went really well and I finally had a break this afternoon! I can't even explain how happy I was to be able to just sit (which eventually led to lying down and taking a nap)! They warned us that we'd be doing a lot of walking, and I thought I was prepared... but I still have blisters galore and have been getting charlie horses in the middle of the night from so much walking and not drinking enough water. :\

Tonight we had a catered dinner and a meeting for prayer and reflection as well as a wrap up of what is expected of us for tomorrow with deciding our internships. But none of that is terribly interesting so I'll just show you a few things and wrap this up hehe.

This is a photo of what I've needed at all times this week. If I were to lose any of these items (Schedule, Orientation folder, Graphic Design portfolio, resumes, notepad, CTA map, key card, and most importantly my U-Pass) I don't know what I would do:

Another thing I couldn't live without this week was the hotel notepad I snagged from our conference room. I used it to write the directions to EVERYWHERE I've gone this week! This morning I used the last sheet, and this is what I found:

I can't make out too much, but I believe the last point says something a long the lines of "screening genes that are susceptible to this/a drug treatment"

And lastly, a quick look at the start of my business card collection so far this semester :)

september 2nd

Tuesday was a busy day to be sure. I can't remember the last time I woke up at 6:30, but I managed. To start of the day I had an interview at the Field Museum of Natural History, for which I actually arrived 45 minutes early (even before the two people I was interviewing with got there). But once we got started it went really well and I even got a tour from a girl on staff who was a part of the Chicago Semester last spring.

I left that interview, ran back to the hotel to catch my breath and then left with another girl to head to our interviews at Café Media. We ended up getting a little lost because we couldn't seem to find the Blue Line and once we got to the right part of town, we reached an incredibly confusing intersection. I ended up being ten minutes late to my interview but I called on the way, and they were really understanding.

With both interviews going so well I have a feeling I will be debating for quite some time which of the four places I will work at during the semester... this is when I really hate how indecisive I am! :)

Right after I got back from the hotel from Café Media, I met up with my roommates to go pick an apartment. It's really nice because the building is just two short blocks from a station which will make getting places quite easy :) We chose a 1-bedroom on the 7th floor, signed the lease, and paid the first months rent. I now live in Chicago! It is such a weird feeling! And I'm sure it will be even crazier once we move in on Saturday.

In the evening we went to the CS offices where we will be having our classes for an authentic Chicago Pizza party. It was my first time having Chicago-style pizza, and I'll admit. . . . it's as good as everyone says! And this is coming from someone who doesn't even like pizza all that much. Pizza was followed by a walk down Michigan to a river boat tour which was a lot of fun. Instead of boring you with a wordy-explanation, I'll just post a few pictures:

september 1st

My brain is toast... burnt to an absolute crisp! I think I was in denial of just how crazy this week was going to be. But today accomplished a lot! It feels pretty good, actually, because I finally have some answers :)

First of all, I have two roommates, Renae and Jeanne, and we will be living in a one-bedroom apartment on State Street. Tomorrow afternoon we will be venturing out that way to check out the apartment, sign the lease and pay the first months rent.

Tomorrow I also have two of my four interviews - one at the Field Museum of Natural History and one at Café Media. My other two interviews are at Teller Madsen and the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago.

We just got back from small group-dinners where it was meant to be like a mini "Taste of Chicago" and my group was supposed to go for Lebanese. But when we got there, we found out that the restaurant is closed on Tuesdays so we ended up walking to a place called the Basil Leaf for some Italian. It was a fun time but the conversation lagged a little as we were all exhausted from a day of getting our U-Passes, housing lottery, class confirmation, internship assignments, meetings, practice interviews, and lessons on public transportation.

That public transportation thing might be a problem, I have a feeling I will be getting lost quite frequently. But hopefully not over the next two days while I have interviews. Tomorrow I start by heading out at 7:30 am in order to get to a 9 am interview :P  I have to make sure to get to the site by 8:30 to go through security and I've been told it takes at least 10 minutes just to walk the length of this building. Then I will have a little break and I'm off to another interview at noon.

I'm just anxiously awaiting Thursday night/Friday/Saturday when interviews are over, I'll have decided where I will be working for the semester, and moved in to an apartment. Just the fact that I won't be living out of a suitcase any more will be more than enough! 

Hopefully I'll have pictures of the apartment soon, but I might wait until we are moved in and settled :) and then I can finally go exploring and meet up with everyone I know living in the city!

august 31st

Today was the start of a very busy week to be sure, so I took advantage of being able to sleep in one last time. Eventually I moved in to my new hotel room which looks pretty much the same as the old one except for having two beds, feeling a little bit smaller,

and a far less interesting view since it's five floors down.

After getting settled in the new room I worked up the motivation to go out for lunch. I knew there was a Subway about two blocks away so I took a quick walk and enjoyed a not-so-quiet lunch... sitting outside, underneath the L tracks. It was really interesting watching the business men rush by in their freshly-pressed suits, the homeless sauntering down the sidewalk and jingling their change cups in your face, as well as observing a few panicked tourists who looked terribly confused and lost. I took a stroll down a few more blocks and walked around Borders for a little while.

Soon enough, 1:30 rolled around and I went back to my room to get ready for orientation. I meet my roommate, Sara from Briar Cliff and 65+ other students and faculty over the past NINE hours and heard so much information it makes my head spin so I won't bore you with the details. Even though we just had hours and hours of information thrown at us mixed up with a few ice breakers (think freshmen orientation but a bit more professional), I'm still pretty much clueless hehe. But we did break up in to small groups for dinner and my group made a trip out to Navy Pier and I got to meet some pretty fun girls.
Tomorrow starts the day bright and early with pictures at 8am for our U-Pass... and is packed with info meetings, the housing lottery, and info on internships so it is sure to be crazy busy and exhausting!

august 30th

Here are some photos of the hotel room I'm staying in until tomorrow... It's kind of interesting because you open the door with the best key cards I've seen:

and unlike other hotels I've stayed in, you enter a corridor covered in funky wall paper:

 

To the left is the teeny-tiny bathroom with double doors:

And to the right is the rest of the room: 

 

The bed is very comfortable (especially compared to the cot that I slept - well, attempted to sleep - on last night) and the image of the cello is so random, but I like it :) 

But the best part is the view - It's a corner room so there are two windows:

  

  

If today, as the first day being in the city by myself, is any gauge... it will be a little difficult getting used to living here. But I know it will get better each day - especially after getting to know the others who are coming tomorrow. I'm really excited to meet everyone! I did run into a girl who is a fellow CS-er in the elevator but I didn't get a chance to catch her name.

The rest of the week is pretty much packed with activities, meetings and interviews so I'm going to relax for the rest of the night while I still can :)