1 Week...10 Days...

So in exactly a week I will be back in the state of Minnesota. In 10 days I will be done with college. It all seems to be coming so quickly! I must say that I am not ready to leave Chicago yet. I am wishing it could be warm on the weekends, instead of the crummy rainy weather we have had lately. But basically, the thing I will be missing most is the girls that I have grown so close to.
Another hard aspect of my time coming to a close is trying to fit in everything we have had on our “to do” list. The Cubs game was a blast, but it would have been even more fabulous if it didn’t feel like it was 35 degrees! Another big event we have gone to was the play “Billy Elliot”. I enjoyed it, but me being me…I did nod off a few times.
Tonight we had our going away dinner at a place called The Parthenon. It was an on going delivery of Greek food. I tried a bite of everything…eggplant lasagna stuff…not my thing. Nutmegish tasting lasagna…not my thing. Beef something in grape leaf…I ate half of it, without making a face! Chicken…wonderful; unfortunately, I am so graceful and managed to knock of the piece of something I liked and was saving for last to the floor. I was cutting my potato and it shot off the plate. Real, real bummer…it was a good chunk of meat. Tomorrow I will be ushering and then watching the Blue Man Group for free. I hope it is enjoyable! And there are still a few other things on the list that will be crossed off in the last week here; the departure will not be an easy one.
Highlight of the night…riding a new CTA train! Haha It was pretty exciting though. They are making the new trains with seating only facing the insides instead of rows facing forward or backwards. This new style is supposed to hold more standing passengers. I am not sure how I feel about this theory, but I guess it doesn’t matter. I am sure they know more than I. One of the sweet aspects about this train is the light up signs saying where you are at and what is next. Real exciting…huh?!
Another almost tragedy of the city... One of the awards given tonight was most likely to lose their CTA u-pass. I figured no doubt it would be me...heck I lost it the second day I got it. Thankfully some kind person turned it in for me. With a week and a half to go...what do I do? Lose it again. We had gone to Ed Debevic's for lunch and then walked back to our place doing a little shopping or store gazing on the way back. About half way home I realized my pass was gone! The gut wrenching feeling had returned as I thought about how stupid and expensive this was going to be for the last little bit of time. Unlike last time though, I had some hope that it could be retrieved in this large city. I got home and called all of the places I was at, and once again felt my heart flutter as I heard the voice on the other end ask what the name was on the card. I knew then they had it, and was able to entertain them with my excitement of still having my card. Yes, twice, once at the beginning and once at the end...I am one lucky girl! :)

Stop and Look Both Ways

This probably sounds familiar, but I am not talking about the crossing the street. Last Saturday we walked down to Navy Pier and found that we could not just cross the path at any time. We had to stop, look both ways, and occasionally wait for the runners or bikers to pass through. I also should probably remind myself that this is something I should continue to do when crossing the street. I generally follow the little walking light, but as I have become so familiar with my path home I forget to look sometimes. The one afternoon, I was forced to stop a story mid-sentence to ask Kelly what we were doing. We were literally in the middle of the street as a car whizzed right in front of us. But don’t worry, I have not yet been run over.

Things at school have been going well; I have come to realize how close to my heart some of these children have become, some even being the headache givers. One day one of the young girls called me, “Mean Lady Gaga”! She was trying to look at her spelling words inside of her planner so I was taking it away from her and this is the name she chose to describe how she felt about me. I did indeed laugh inside my head as she repeated again, just to make sure I knew how she felt about this situation. There is another girl that after about 3 minutes of questioning, the conversation that started out liking my hair and earrings turned into, “Do you have kids?” “Nope.” “Why not?” Well…yep that is an interesting one to describe to a 1^st grader while trying to provide an answer that won’t lead to more questioning. Even though going back after spring break was hard and waking up in the morning has become more of a struggle I am enjoying working with these kids and the joy they bring.

As for city entertainment, a few of the things I have done include a Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” (definitely a modern version), The Chicago City Orchestra (beautiful music, but not so much of a visual aspect for a tired person), Shedd Aquarium (hideous show with weird fantasy aquatic creatures), and today…going to a Cubbies game!! It should be a blast! I also have loved being able to take the trail down by the lake to go for a good run, the one super nice weekend there were so many people and I really wish I had some sporting gear to play volleyball or catch.

And one last story that happened last night coming home on the train…it was jaw dropping. As we sat down there was lady who entered our cart looking for money for some food. Not unusual, and I have also seen this lady a few times before, she has kind of been the in your face type. Well she stopped next to the one lady and proceeded to use her foot to reach for a plastic bag underneath this lady. As she pulled it out far enough she bent over to pick it up and open it. I noticed it was somebody’s left-overs, take note…not the lady sitting there. In my mind I was trying to prepare myself to witness this lady eating whatever that had been sitting there for who knows how long. Well not quite. She opened it up, picked at with her fingers and then whipped it at the lady and used some not so nice words. The food flew over this unfortunate lady and the two people behind her. Pretty sure everyone on the cart either gasped or grew large eyes as we started at the lady walking away yelling at all of us for looking at her. Yes...such a wonderful commute, I am so thankful it was not me as I am not sure how I would have handled the situation!

10 Happenings

Well it seems as if I have done a lot since I last wrote.
1. Skating in Millennium Park- it was a ton of fun and they even had a couple skating performances for us. I will say I was a little disappointed though that our group did not receive the prizes for most enthusiastic skaters.
2. Held an Oscar- Kodak had a display at one of the malls so we went to check it out. They had one of the awards handed out this year and the one they let us hold will be rewarded next year.
3. St. Patty’s Parade- The dying of the river was pretty sweet, we watched from the river walk so we were nice and close. From there we headed to the parade. I thought this parade would be somewhat spectacular…nope. Perhaps waiting close to an hour and half in the cold rain had something to do with it though. We left a little early, but it didn’t matter, by then half of my body was numb.
4. St. Patty’s Day- We had out fine arts event for the week this night. We went and were able to listen to some Irish music. I must say those kids were pretty talented! I really enjoyed it…kind of makes me wish I was in dancing through the hills of Ireland! Haha Unfortunately I had to leave at intermission to go get ready for school the next day.
5. Neighborhood Tour- For class we visited the Hyde Park and Kenwood areas. This is the area in which Obama’s house is located. Yep, it is guarded well, and their signs that say, “Attention, if you pass this point you are subjecting yourself to be searched.” Something like that any how, but it really means, do not pass this point…walk on the other side of the road.
6. Adler Planetarium- After walking half of our way there with a guy who just got out of rehab for cocaine (he really just needed somebody to talk to), we enjoyed the star show. I really did not see any of the constellations they were trying to get me to see, but oh well; it did remind me of the Iowa night sky. They also had a pretty sweet view of the night skyline.
7. Willow Creek Chicago- This is the church that I have been attending the last few weekends. I must say that I have really enjoyed it. It is a large satellite church, so the actual sermon is delivered via screen, but the messages have been hitting home pretty good lately. I also have really enjoyed the music, which is live. It sounds like they are preparing a sweet Easter service that I would love to attend, but I will not be here for that.
8. Finish My Full Time Student Teaching!!!
This Friday I finished my 3 weeks of full time student teaching! It was way more work and stress than I was expecting, but by the last week I was much more comfortable running the class and enjoyed trying new activities during small group time. There were still a few children that kept me on my toes and made classroom management a new task everyday, but it was so rewarding to see when they worked well on the lessons I had planned. There was one day when 2 of the students were gone, and man-oh-man, did they make such a difference! I have learned a lot and have enjoyed being able to use what I have already learned. I will still spend half of my day with this classroom, but my focus will be spent on the special education students. I am sure this part of my placement will bring me new challenges, but I am interested to see how it goes and excited for the change.
9. I will now be spending the rest of this week in anticipation for the weekend and spring break week to follow. I have a friend visiting for the weekend and we will be attending a Bulls game and exploring a bit! I will also get to spend a few days back at school catching up with some friends and then spending time at home seeing family. Needless to say, I am very excited.
10. Children Stories- I was complemented on my hair and then asked if I was born on a beach again. I guess the unique curly blonde hair is rather intriguing and can’t be from the state of Iowa. Heck, I am pretty sure they don’t even really know that most of Iowa exists. I was teaching them about the different types of communities. I was sharing a personal story to describe a rural area. I shared with them that growing up I did not attend school in the town I lived in and had to drive past cow farms and corn fields for about 15 minutes. One of the students raised his hand, looked at me in disbelief, and with great doubt in his voice asked me if this was even a real story!! I chuckled to myself and told him that there are indeed places such as this!

Wait....Wait....and Catch Up

Some of you have been waiting for this one, as well as I have been waiting to find time to update it. So now since the last 2 weeks were spent on me catching up, you now get to catch up on part of my life out here.
Valentine’s Day Party…not so much. I was so excited to have this party, I envisioned different crafts set up on the clusters of tables, children eating pizza, passing out their valentine’s, and talking and laughing amongst each other. I brought my camera thinking this would be a good time to document some of the children in my class. Well, while they were at one of their specials the teacher decided they needed to have more practice on adjectives, and needed to something extra to grade in the area. So the children arrive back with the smell of pizza in the air and the mentality for an afternoon off. NOT so fast! First they had to sit down, look over their homework, go over adjectives again, and then take a test (which she had to read to them so nobody would go to fast). During this time I was placed back in the corner with a young girl who had arrived shortly before lunch. They claimed since she had been sick the last couple days she didn’t deserve to participate in the party she had work to do. I was the one who had to sit there and guide her through everything, luckily one little boy brought me a cupcake to eat while I was there, also not enjoying the party. The party which included sitting at their tables eating their pizza and then table by table passing out their valentines, and if they wanted, decorating their paper bag. Felt so bad for this little girl who after each worksheet looked up at me and asked if she was done yet, who had to listen to the teacher announce to the class that the scented valentine’s where from her. I did not leave school very happy that day, minus the fact that I had a 5 day weekend to look forward to!
On Thursday, I enjoyed a nice day off and ran some errands; yes, it seemed weird thinking, “I am just running some errands here in Chicago.” Haha That night was the first night of our fine arts events…they were one acts. They were not too exciting at all and I don’t think I would have missed out on much had I not gone! On Friday, I then headed up to Kalamazoo, MI to spend some time with my sister. It was a nice relaxing weekend for me. I headed back on Monday and did a little lesson planning that I had hoped to get done before, but hey, procrastination is in my blood.
Well I had my lesson plans for that week done…but I did not make very good use of the weekdays to get my work done. I have classes on Tuesday nights and Thursdays are our fine arts events (that week it was the modern wing at the Art Institute). So I then went into the weekend with a lot of work to do, Friday night I was so tired I crashed during a movie at about 10 (yes…I fell asleep during another movie for those of you keeping count) Saturday we cleaned, I did some homework, and then we decided to make a trip to Target. We arrived back at 4:00 and realized we had an hour to prepare appetizers and finish touching the place up before the Chicago Semester progressive dinner. We did it and then enjoyed WAY too much food throughout the evening. Church on Sunday took probably close to 4 hours of the day, travel/ wait time took about half of it! I then spend the rest of the day preparing for the week…not enough time! I fell behind and made my week incredibly busy and stressful. Writting lesson plans, doing self evaluations, and correcting a zillion papers has taken over my life. So that was my last week, staying up later that I prefer (one night may have been midnight! Haha) to make sure I was ready for the next day.
This week I will start my full time teaching, I feel as if I have already been more productive! I need to be ahead of the game these next 2 weeks. Luckily Monday is Pulaski Day (Polish man known for be a Revolutionary War hero…fighting for freedom!) so I have an extra day to get work done.
A few quick pieces of randomness…
* Little boy at school was wearing an Iowa Hawkeye’s t-shirt…I obviously complimented him on it and now I am pretty sure he thinks it is the coolest shirt he owns! :) He is also convinced that his sister who got it for him is friends with my brother Mike; you know there can’t be very many of them in the whole state!
* I highly dislike waiting for buses or transportation as a whole. Sitting outside in the cold for 20 minutes is just not very fun, especially when you see how many people drive by and could very easily bring me closer to the train on the way to their destination. Or there was the time I tried leaving 20 minutes early to get to school early only to arrive at the same time. I believe that day I waited over an hour…just waiting!
* I have the same bus driver every morning…he is starting to creep me out. The one morning he sucked my pass through the machine and asked if it was me or my sister. The next day I received a wink. The next he took the pass again and told me he thought it was a very nice picture. Why did he even have to look at it in the first place?! No one else ever does!! We will see how this week goes.

Were You Born on a Beach?!

So I can officially say I am doing good being here in Chicago. After this weekend and the rest of the week, I am feeling good. A little change in attitude at school and getting to know the kids better is making that go much better. I just really need to focus on the students and the type of difference I can make for them, maybe motivate them a bit more to do their work or inspire them to really want to do their best. At first I was thinking so much more on the level of how much I disagreed with the teaching style of my cooperating teacher or the waste in time management. Towards the end of this week I was able to connect with some of them better instead of becoming so frustrated with their lack of work ethic. Finding the little ways to get them to do their work and make them proud of completing my challenge brings me a nice little smile.

A few random stories from school…just because kids are so dang cute. I was working on math computer games with 2 of the special ed. students. I told the girl she was thinking of the right answer, but just clicked in the wrong spot. She looked at me and asked, “Were you born on a beach?” All I could do was laugh and ask her where she came up with that. I am assuming she has heard that line used before similar to “Were you born in a barn?” But once I asked her, she became completely serious and wanted to know if I was born on a beach. I told her I was not and was actually born in Iowa. She then asked me if that was a beach!! NOPE…not close…it is filled with cornfields. She gave me quite the chuckle!

Friday was the school spelling bee. We had 4 students participate. One of the little boys apparently decided that for big occasions of the type cologne was necessary. It wasn’t way over done as one would assume a second grader would do, but he did ask if it was okay that he was wearing it for the day! Once in the auditorium, I saw 2 little kindergarten boys with dress suits on…too sticking precious! They were adorable!

Friday afternoon felt so amazing as well… a weekend! That evening we went out, after looking for places to go for a couple hours. Haha We rode the “L” up to Wrigleyville and decided we would just find a place on our walk. It was a fun night meeting some new girls from the Chicago Semester. Saturday I ran a few errands…went to Target and saw tons of cute things!! Like normal, but I only bought the non-fun, non-cute things that I needed. That evening I also went and experienced the environment and taste of the Chicago style pizza. It was pretty tasty and filled me up fast.

So yes, things are feeling good right now...especially knowing I have a 3 day week which includes Tuesday morning for a movie reward and Wednesday afternoon for the Valentine's party. I am looking forward to it! I also will be attending my first fine arts event this Thursday and then spending the long weekend with my sister.

Glimpse at the Weekend

Well to start off with some rather exciting news relating to that which really put me in the dumps last week…My U-Pass was turned in for the lost and found!! I left school a little early on Friday to go fill out paper work and pay to have a new one made, but despite being told not to bother calling, I had to! As I waited to get on my bus, I went through all the transfers and on hold to hear that they did have my pass, which made me ecstatic! I went and got it yesterday, a nice little trip by myself after school (I literally asked every bus driver or security guard/police officer on the corner where it was exactly that I was going). But I now have it back and will hopefully never lose it again!!
On Friday night I ate at a little diner in Wrigleyville and then with the group we went to an improve Shakespeare comedy show. I was a little skeptical about how it would be, but I laughed plenty and enjoyed the show.
Saturday morning I packed up my belongings and made the official move to my apartment. My parents arrived that afternoon with the rest of belongings and then I headed off with them to Kalamazoo, MI to spend a bit of time with my sister. I will admit that I had some nerves traveling back on Sunday. I think anytime I travel some where new, especially on my own, I will be nervous. I guess I worry about things a bit more than I realized!
So yeah, nothing too exciting for a weekend, but I enjoyed myself. Teaching hasn’t been real exciting yet either. Friday was a day of teacher meetings, which I actually enjoyed. The K-2 teachers met to discus the expectations for writing and the one kindergarten teacher seemed to be doing some great stuff in her class! I really enjoyed hearing what she had to say and think I would possibly like her class a bit more. Haha My teacher was out the last 2 days, so we have a sub that has to be pretty new to the teaching world. It is interesting to have her be the one in charge before I actually have observed the total function of the classroom. I am really finding out how far behind these kids are in reading and how much that affects all they do. I think some of them also have learned helplessness or are simply lazy. It seems like most the class needs help/ walked through each problem. I found today, many just raised their hand and said they needed help without even trying to read the problem…kind of frustrating!
Tonight was also my first night of my student teaching seminar class. OVERWHELMING! It seems like there is so much to get done and extra stuff to student teaching here. Not going to lie…I did leave a bit wondering why I was here. I feel like I could have gotten away with the semester being so much easier and more comfortable. But there is a reason I am here and I will grow and learn many new things. I just need to remember to look at the positive and not to have doubts so early on.

1st Day

Today was my first day of school. I made there just fine, at least 15 minutes faster than I was expecting. When I arrived, I got to sit in the office and wait for the assistant principal to arrive. Over a half hour later, she showed me where my classroom was. Real important that I wait for her to show me!!

The class is an interesting set up. There are 22 students, very diverse. It is full inclusion, with special education teachers working within the classroom. From today’s observation though, it seems as if those students are off on their own in the back of the room, not totally full inclusion, at least not from my perspective. The teacher also seems a bit harsh and snappy with the children. There were a few times that I wanted to tell her she had no reason to be yelling at them…but of coarse I did not do such a thing. I actually was afraid a few times to help or talk to some of the kids in fear that I would get them in trouble. I was told she was impatient with the students, and I think they were right. I am sure it also seems a little worse coming from my perspective, because I admit, I am probably too nice sometimes. We will see how it goes.

Highlight of the day, some man coming in the room telling me he had to take my picture for my id, and also that I had a delivery in the office. I had no idea what could be there for ME! Well I got there and there were some very beautiful flowers waiting for me. He simply said, “I bet you know who those came from”. I muttered, “No, not really, I am going to guess my parents though.” I was right and he simply smiled real big. They now make my room smell real nice! J

The way back was a little interesting as well. I had to wait for dang near a half hour for the bus. Luckily there was another girl who is getting hours at the school to wait and chat with me! The excitement…Transferring to a new train. I got on and noticed the cart was filled with high school students. I then noticed 2 police officers talking to a gentleman and the map signs torn down. I guess these kids were up to no good and this man was not happy, especially when they told him they should push him off the train. I should have moved, but instead I politely sat down trying to seem invisible. They scarred me a bit, but I just tried not to look, instead I tried to double check what stop I need from the pieces of map on the floor. Haha Thank gosh I am not a high school teacher, they would eat me alive!!

Got back talked to my roommate for a bit and then realized I had a meeting. I left, came back, grabbed my maps and left. Not real sure where I was going, but didn’t think I had time to figure it out. I got off, started walking, turned around to go inside the grocery store and look at my map. It was too big and I didn’t want to stand there looking like an idiot, so I just went and asked somebody. Turns out I was going the right way, so I was lost a little, but not really. It is kind of a reoccurring happening I think.

That is about it. Sorry these are so long; I thought this one was going to be short. Promise they soon will be and less often, unless I have super exciting stories to share.

Can't Change the Past

Today started off pretty well, minus waking up a little after 7:00, but I guess that will soon be considered sleeping in. :S I signed my lease for my apartment. It has one nice small bedroom, with 3 beds. The kitchen is open! Thankfully, most others were little closet kitchens, not much opportunity to move around! The storage doesn’t look too bad, so that should be nice for me, even though I swear I am not even bringing half of what I normally do to school! I will try to take some pictures once I am arranged in there this weekend.
I then ventured off to find my school route so I would not have to be too extremely nervous when I had to go in the morning. Things were going well, transportation was easy and didn’t make me wait to long, only walked a few blocks in the wrong direction, pretty normal! Haha
The trip back is when my trip started to go down hill! I used my lovely pass to get on the bus. I think I was holding on to the pass thinking, “It is a short trip, I will hold it so at the next stop I won’t hold anybody up.” Such a wonderful thought, huh! As I was stepping off the bus I began to realize I didn’t have my pass. I checked all my pockets, but by the time I knew it was gone, so was the bus. I asked the man inside and he said he couldn’t do anything and I would have to ask the next bus. So I waited. The next one soon came and I asked if he could radio the other man. Nope…simply gave me a number to call. All I wanted was somebody to contact this bus driver so he could look where I was sitting at his next stop…I knew it was there! It has my lovely face and name on it, who would really want to keep it from me. Well I called lost and found and they said I had to wait until the buses pulled it. Bah…I was soo mad at myself and sick to my stomach. I had this pass for a day and half and had already lost it.
Thankfully some man must have overheard my conversation and offered to scan his pass to get me back on the L. Very nice of him. So being extra flustered I had to ask the lady if I was going the right way and all I could tell her was I was going to the loop (downtown area). I told her other than that I didn’t know! Haha, I kind of did, but didn’t care, I would figure that out when I got closer. I was right and the train started moving. I attempted to calm myself down and then looked up and thought the train next to us was going to hit us. My draw dropped and my eyes got real big. I felt kind of silly right away and happened to glance at the lady who just confirmed I was going the right way, she was laughing… at me. I couldn’t help but laugh a little either thinking about how ridiculous I looked and that I actually thought the train was going to hit us. Obviously NOT local!
So yes, I got back to the hotel and told the lady in charge what happened. She told me to go buy a week pass…a little unsure of where I was going, but didn’t care. I just walked fast and knew I would run into a Walgreens or CVS on some corner. Bought that, walked back and met people in the lobby to go to our pizza party. I was still sick to my stomach and upset, but didn’t have time to just let it out. We went to the pizza party, got lost, but just had to turn around. After hardly eating all day and looking forward to the pizza, I choked down about a piece. Food was not on my stomach’s mind.
Well, the end of my day was not so happy, but I can’t change what happened. Yes, I will have to spend money to replace it, but I suppose it could be a lot worse. There is no point in spoiling good things, worrying about something I can no longer do a thing about.

Main Event: Housing

So the first one is actually from Monday and this is really Tuesday, the 2nd day.

I came thinking I knew how it would work out; 2 girls from NWC and I would be living in a 3 person apartment down town. But then…There was a 6 person one available in Uptown on the Wheaton campus! It would cut my commute in the mornings down by quite a bit, at least a half hour if not more!! There were also some other pluses, such as furnished down to the utensils in the kitchen, free laundry facility, internet, and about $50 cheaper. The 3 of us found 3 others and I really got my hopes up for living there! It seemed like it would work great for me! Unfortunately, there was only 1 of these apartments and 3 groups going for it. I guess you could say I generally am not a lucky person; apparently nobody else in my group was either! Haha There is a group of guys from school that will be living there. Crush my hopes and dreams why don’t they!! JK, but for real!

The drawing continued. Two picks later we had one 3 person room. It continued. We sat at the table trying to figure out what we were going to do, especially once we were down to 2 person studios. We could split into 3 groups of 2, but that made me pretty nervous not really knowing who I would go with, even if I was here to take risks. It continued and we were trying whatever we could to get one more 3 person. Lucky for us, the girl in charge called the apartment complex and hooked us up. So we drew names from a cup at our table and found out our roommates. I will be going to sign my lease tomorrow morning with Kelly and Amanda (new person).

Yes, that was the main event of my day! Haha Real exciting and heart racing! I am glad though that I had an idea or people to start with and didn’t have to find a completely random person to live with.

Tonight for dinner the student teachers made a trip to China Town. We went to a little restaurant and had a TON of food! I tried some new things here as well. Not that I have never had Chinese food, but I normally order pretty safely. I had a pot sticker, wanton soup, lemon chicken, orange chicken, crab ragoon, and then also some of the regulars. Don’t worry though, I didn’t personally order all of this! We all ordered either an appetizer or meal, and this is how I was able to sample so much. It was soo much food though!

Up & Down

So this may seem a little long, but for those of you who know me pretty well...I like to talk. :)

So…I have now completed my first day living in Chicago. It is still hard to believe that when I look out the window at the skyscrapers that this really is where I will be living for the next 3 months!

I am pretty sure last night was the first time in a long time that it took me a while to get to sleep due to nerves. It felt just like it does that first day of school, except for instead of dreaming about going to school without school supplies, it was what I forgot to pack or would I find my way down town. I woke up according to my alarm clock at 7:01. I set my alarm for 7:00…why didn’t it go off, how could I forget to set it?! I returned after my shower to find that I had set my phone alarm which was 5 minutes different than the actual alarm, but my nerves had me up just in time on my own.

Starting the day I was most nervous about my transport from the O’Hare to my hotel. Once I got here, you could probably say I was a little paranoid. Nearly every person I saw look at me I assumed were thinking about how much of traveler I looked like, and that they probably want to steal my purse, which was hidden in another bag. Or perhaps they were reading my address on my luggage. It is the school address, but what if they found where I went to school and then later found where I lived… Way TOO much thinking!! Haha I did make it here just fine though.

We start our orientation shortly after which brought my nerves back a bit. It felt like I was at camp. A room full of people preparing to introduce themselves to several strangers while trying to make new friends. The reality started to set in, I am not with my close friends or family, and am way out of my comfort zone. I am super thankful though to have some great Northwestern classmates here. They will for sure provide me with a reassuring blanket of comfort. So the first up and downs have been the switches between excitement and nerves.

Second story of up and downs involves me feeling slightly motion sick. The elevator here seems to get my stomach a bit more than others. Since there were so many people and it made me sick I thought it would be a good idea to take the stairs. I am on the 19^th floor. Bad idea; especially by starting to run up them. Great workout though! Haha Since it took me forever to get to the top and I was breathing rather hard, I decided it would just be easier to take the elevator down and suck it up. Later the escalators and The El (train) didn’t help much. Nothing too bad, but not something I was thinking I would have to deal with.

Other randomness:

* Went to eat at a Thai Restaurant, I tried some Pad Thai and for the first time. It was good, and I wouldn’t mind going back to the place to try something else.