The Windy City

I had to attend an orientation meeting on campus in chicago from January 15-18th. I flew in monday night and stayed at the inn of chicago. I think I was blessed because I had a Dunkin' Donuts shop right across the street and a subway that was open late just down the road that saved me from nearly starving one night. I couldn't have asked for a better Chicago experience. This was my first time to the windy city and I packed everything I could into one week. I walked up and down the magnificent mile visiting the different shops. I saw tribune tower and the NBC studio. I was able to get a half price ticket to go and see the broadway musical Wicked. I saw where the Cubs and Bears play and visited the paintings in the museum of art. I also went to Navy Pier and helped in a magic show and almost got my head chopped off, ate a chicago hot dog and watched I am Legend at the Imax theatre. Later in the week I also took the ride up to the top of the Hancock building during sunset before going to watch the Bulls play the Pistons. I visited the giant bean in the park, was on the 10 o'clock news with a wierdo in a purple suit, heard some blues, slept on a park bench and ate at Pizza Uno--the original chicago deep dish pizza (absolutely disgusting by the way). During the day I was in classes and meetings with the other students and program directors.

There are about 20 other prosthetic students from around the country. They are all pretty cool and we were able to bond by playing pool and having drinks (Sprite for me of course) at Timothy O'Toole's Pub. I only booked the hotel for two nights due to...how do you say....insuffiecient funds. So the other four nights was the adventure of finding a place to stay. I got in contact with a few locals from couchsurfing.com. I emailed them telling them I was going to be in town and if they could put me up for a night or two. Metin, the first guy I stayed with, worked at the Evanston campus as an I.T. guru. I was surprised to find that he lived in a studio apartment and that we would be sharing the same room!My first experience couch surfing took me off guard in more ways then one but Metin was a very nice guy and I had a roof over my head. I stayed with another local chicagoan named Dave on the weekend. His place was very nice and I didn't even have to sleep on the couch because he had a guest room. Dave was an awesome host and he took me around to see many of the sights, take pictures and showed me some great places to eat. There are a lot of good sandwhich shops around Chicago. Dave even came to church with me on sunday. It was by far one of the most abnormal sacrament meetings I've been to. It just so happened that there was like two baby blessings and a family of 4 being confirmed. Those things alone pretty much took up all of the time. One last thing I have to make mention about the weather there. They're not kidding when they say its the windy city and that the winters are cold. It was freezing! It was -15 degrees with the wind chill. It was suicide to go outside without a scarf and stocking cap. Occasionally we would have to duck inside a building just to warm up to walk the next block. I wore a huge ski jacket and a soft shell jacket and was still cold. It made sleeping on the bench impossible.

I'll be out in Chicago August through September so come visit!!!