Chicago!

After a hectic week, what better than to kick it with your peeps in Chicago?!

We left campus around 4pm on Friday, Nov. 9th, and got back around 5pm on Monday, Nov. 12. Probably the most surprising aspect of the trip was our hostel - the beds were comfier than ours in the dorm, and it was like a hotel with 8 people per room! They provided breakfast (French toast sticks, bagels, apples, cereal, etc.), and we had to wash our own dishes, which I thought was pretty ingenious of them. Meeting in the lobby after breakfast, we headed off to the Field Museum. We saw ancient mummies, dinosaurs, Africa, evolution, and some strange and wonderful things. Then came free time - it started raining as our group made its way to Michigan Avenue, so we walked a while and backtracked our way through the rain to find lunch. Six of us broke off from the large group and stopped to chow down at Pita Heaven.  From then on, Julianna, Andrea, and I went off by ourselves, and we finally found the Bean in Millennium Park. It is quite impressive in person, and we of course took our goofy tourist pictures. We wandered to the shore and stood on a little dock, moseyed back into town, and headed back to the hostel to meet the group.

From there, we rode the L (elevated train system) to Gino's East of Chicago for some deep-dish pizza. We then headed out to see Second City, a famous comedy gig where a bunch of SNL folks got their starts. It consisted of six actors, four chairs, and a "special group of people [that] will never come back as one audience again." It was mostly good, but some sketches were a bit over-the-top, if you know what I mean. It was supposed to be improv, but it definitely was not all improv - the spot-on sound effects kind of gave away how much it was scripted and rehearsed. After that, we returned to the hostel worn out.

Next morning, we ate brunch at Panera (we missed breakfast). We stopped by a store on Michigan Avenue so Andrea could take care of some unfinished shopping, saw the Bean again, and then met in the hostel lobby to go to Navy Pier.  I wore my hair down, and the wind got pretty intense. At one point, we were all being supported by the wind while we leaned into it. We also saw a gorgeous stained glass exhibit, a greenhouse with jumping fountains, and the Ferris wheel (which wasn't operating). After Navy Pier, we went to our Humanities Festival Session: "The Other 1960s," which was mostly interesting. I think it would have made more sense if we were alive during the decade. Our speaker, Kevin Boyle, spoke mainly about this family who were regular people, children of immigrants, and how they survived. None of your usual hippies, civil rights, Kennedy conspiracies, or anything. We then stayed for the reception, where we consumed some fancy foods, chatted, and went our separate ways.

Fourteen of us found our way to Ed Debevic's, right next to Gino's. It was a dark and stormy night, so we tried not to get too soaked. Ed Debevic's is a diner where the waiters are supposed to be rude to you, and when we walked in, I received the first insult. I commented on a waiter's Boy Scout outfit, and he saucily replied, "Man Scout. It's called puberty, you've probably never heard of it." It was quite funny. However, I was not impressed by our waitress. Although she was dressed like a little old lady with her hair in curlers, she seemed like she was done for the night and was hardly spunky at all. She did call me a cheapskate, though, which was pretty accurate. We also got cute little paper hats. We all went back to the hostel afterwards, and a small group of us went to see Buckingham Fountain at night. However, it was dry (besides the rain), and turned off.  We hit up a Dairy Queen on the way back, then dried off in the hostel and went to bed.

We had almost gone to Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) or the John Hancock Building that night, but the viewing deck on Willis was closed, and there was no visibility on Hancock. Overall, we had a blast and made some lasting memories with our fellow Humanities Scholars.  The last morning we woke up, packed, handed in our keys, ate breakfast, and hit the road. Lo and behold, here we are once more, home in Haverfield.