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.