Just this morning—wow that felt like such a long time
ago—both the Cornell and Columbia cohorts were still checking in with Don at El
Cerrito High School before heading off to the SF airport. While we were there,
Don weighed our luggage, took a group photo of each cohort, and passed out the
itinerary to each ILCer and his/her parent. As we waited for the shuttle to
take us to the airport, we began to say our goodbyes. The bus pulled in, and we
were off.
I was still pretty sleepy at the time but I was pumped
to stay in Chicago for 3 days. Everything was going accordingly as each of us
stood in line waiting to check in. However, after we separated with the
Columbia group, Michelle noticed she had taken a Columbia ILCer's identical
looking suitcase by mistake. That definitely woke all of us up for we all
immediately checked our own suitcases to make sure we had not taken someone
else's by accident as well. After Mr. Chan-Law helped Michelle get everything
situated, we went on with our routine and headed to Gate 29, our boarding
location.
The plane ride to Chicago went very smoothly, for we
landed within the estimated 3½ hours time. Christian was my plane buddy and I sat
in between her and Mr. Chan-Law. When I stepped off the plane, I was ready for
a hot and humid rush of air, but instead felt a light breeze wisp by me. I was
satisfied with how cool the weather was but I started to regret wearing shorts
on the trip.
Even though I was expecting a huge culture shock when
I got to Chicago, right away, I began to notice many similarities Chicago
shared with the city back home: San Francisco. First of all, the city's
architecture reminded me a lot of that of the buildings in SF. I almost felt as
if I was simply in a part of San Francisco I had not explored before. The
transportation was also so fabulously convenient—also like that of San
Francisco.
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| Jenna, Tomi, and I at Mity Nice Bar and Grill |
After getting settled in our hotel rooms, the 6 of us
along with Mr. Chan-Law walked down to the Water Tower Place for a late lunch
at the Mity Nice Bar and Grill. There was so much variety, and I ended up
ordering ravioli and some blueberry cookie ice cream for dessert.
We were all extremely full after this meal, so we
walked it off by visiting some of the sight-seeing locations in the city. Both
the Millennium and Grant Parks were absolutely gorgeous (I also noticed that
Chicago is a lot cleaner than SF!) as the former featured “The Bean” while the
latter featured the Buckingham Fountain. Chicago is so beautiful and I can't
wait to see it again tomorrow morning.
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| Buckingham Fountain, Grant Park |
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| The Bean, Millennium Park |
You're so very lucky, Tamilyn, that the weather you're experiencing is so pleasant. Last year's entire ILC contingent melted in the blistering 110º heat and sky high humidity. we're used to a moderate climate so the extremes seen in the northeast during the summer can be a real bummer if you're just dumped into it.
ReplyDeleteWe've never had a situation where luggage has been swapped like this. We try to learn from our mistakes and we'll certainly learn from this so we won't have any luggage swapping going on.