Chelsey in Chicago

First official week of school started this week (Sept. 25)! Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 9:30-10:50 Nuevas formas de la intimidad en las escrituras latinoamericanas actuales 9:30-10:50 Nuevas formas de la intimidad en las escrituras latinoamericanas actuales 12:30 – 1:50 Core Lecture 12:30 – 1:50 Core Lecture 3:00 – 5:50 Tropical Commodities in Latin America  2:30 - 3:50 Precept group I have already described the Core class and precept group so I will only go on to describe the two electives. The "Nuevas Formas..." course, as you may have deduced for the title, is taught in Spanish and by a guest lecturer from who happens to be from Argentina. Professor Kamenszain is a small, older woman with short blond hair who is a poet and critic. Not surprising then, we will be reading a lot of poe...

So far I have been to the Lincoln Park Zoo, Smart Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, seen a Nobel Peace Prize and eaten deep dish pizza. Last weekend Maggie and I biked the 10 miles to the Lincoln Park Zoo, cause it's fo' free. We passed several beaches on the way and people were enjoying the sun and water. We passed a section downtown that had tons of people in their party boats playing music and woohoo-ing. We only had about an hour and a half 'til closing by the time we got to the zoo but we managed to see most of it. A very nice zoo with neat exhibits (see pictures below). It was neat to be surrounded by skyscrapers on three sides and have that as the backdrop to this animal habitat.   On the way back from the zoo we stopped at "the best pizza in Chicago" according to that google search: Lou Malnati's. It's a chain and they are very efficient. We were put on a waitlist but could put in our order while waiting. We got a pepperoni deep di...

My first week of colloquium began Sunday (9/10) with a film screening of Singin' in the Rain and a BBQ . I had never seen the movie before and was glad that's what we watched when I found out the year before they showed the movie Alien (I would not have enjoyed that). The BBQ offered the chance to meet and talk with my peers, which was great. Monday started with a breakfast with our three cohort mentors . There are 100 of us and these mentors went through the program last year and are here to help guide us through our year. After that we had a presentation from the grad school career councilor . I have already set up an appointment to see her in the beginning of October so she can tell me what I'm going to do after this program! Then we had our first Core lecture . As a group our interests are very diverse, I am the only person studying Spanish literature. I've talked to folks studying the classics (Greek and Latin), philosophy, art history, French and Italian litera...

I live about a quarter mile from the Lakefront Trail which is 18.5 miles long. Where I get on is a little less than 3.5 miles from the beginning point, right around campus. Last Sunday's run was a long run of 12 miles so I got to experience a whole lot of it on my first outing. There were folks biking, walking, and running. A race was being held on the path, though a small one so it didn't impede anyone else's use of it. I passed tailgaters on the grass near the Bear's stadium enjoying hotdogs and beer and trying to play their music loud enough to drown out the music of the guy next to them. Only around the fifth mile did it start to get a little too crowded as I got closer to downtown. But at mile six I turned around and headed back. The whole way out I could see the buildings of downtown looming closer and closer. On the way back I mostly enjoyed views of the water. It's called the Lakefront Trail for its proximity to Lake Michigan which I could see nearly the ent...

From our apartment we can hear the periodic comings and going of the Metra train, including garbled announcements, and the honks of outgoing cars across the street, alerting pedestrians on the sidewalk of their presence. Seems like nearly everyone in our building has a dog and if they're out for a bathroom break in the rocky courtyard below, the dogs like to bark up at the windows when they hear us talking. Out and about on the streets or in a diner people talk with their friends on speaker phone. The conversation you overhear from someone on a phone is no longer one-sided; both sides are for all to hear.

In three hours we unloaded the container with all of our worldly possessions and brought them up one flight of stairs and into our new apartment. While living in Monterey Maggie purchased a beautiful brown couch that folds out into a queen size bed. I have slept on it many times and can vouch for its comfort as a couch, and bed. It is the reason we have been able to encourage so many friends and family to come visit (this includes you, reader of this blog). It is, however, the heaviest thing I have ever lifted. When putting it into the container in Monterey, we wisely put it in first when our strength was at its fullest. This time however, we left the couch for last and when we went to lift it, we didn't. Our energy was zapped so if it weren't for the offer of help from a neighbor and her friend, that couch would still be sitting in the grass downstairs. And future visitors would be on the cold, hard, wooden floor. It is a one bedroom. Maggie and I have each taken a room and ...

From RMNP to Chicago it was estimated to take 15 hours of driving.  I thought there was going to be nothing out there but the surrounding area on either side of the highway was actually very pretty. Green rolling hills, fields of corn, quaint far off barns, etc. We broke that up into two days and enjoyed the highway through Nebraska and Iowa, staying a night in a hotel in Iowa on the border of Nebraska. Before getting to our hotel we stopped in Lincoln, the capital. The next morning Maggie and I drove to the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge which is the only bridge that connects two states and I ran over that and around the parks on either side. We enjoyed a tasty breakfast sandwich in Omaha and then were back on the road. The next day we spent at Maggie's cousin's house an hour outside of Chicago in a town called Carpenteresville. It was actually a very cute town and they had an awesome bike path that I ran on as Maggie biked. Not before I slept 12 hours though. Maggie ac...

Out of the desert and into the woods! RMNP was a breath of fresh meadow air. I went for a nine mile run on a beautiful path that offered views of the Colorado river, meadows and mountains. I didn't turn down the right path despite oral directions and a map on hand, so I had to run along the road for the last few miles. At this point Maggie and I were pretty tuckered out, from the trip, not sleeping as well in a cold campsite, etc. So we took a leisurely stroll through a flat, 1 mile round trip path views of everything I just named. We then drove along the road that offered views at higher elevations but unfortunately there was a fire in a nearby park that made everything hazy. There was still snow at the very top! We drove an hour or so out of the park and towards Chicago and stopped at a Starbucks for their Wifi. After being unsuccessful in finding a place to camp, we went to a Walmart parking lot and slept in the car. Which turned out to be very comfortable and c...

We were in Arches NP by 6AM and made our way to Delicate Arch, the one that can be seen on the Utah license plate. It was a three mile hike round trip but with exposure to heights and the sun and a steep uphill climb up rocky surfaces, it was challenging. Once at the top we enjoyed jam and croissants we had gotten from a local grocery story the night before. I was amazed that you could walk right up to the arch, I wasn't expecting to get that close. Obviously people wanted to take pictures under it so an orderly line was formed. I joined the line and did the following pose much to the crowds delight when they realized what I was doing. Back down we went with a plan of going to the farthest point in the park and then making stops along the way out. We got to Devil's Garden and walked about a mile to the Landscape Arch. This one actually had a huge chunk break off, while people were hanging out underneath it, in 1991 so we only got to enjoy it from a distance since they'...

Another bright and early start to the day I awoke at 6:30AM to run 6 miles on a trail near our campsite. It went up and up and up but I was rewarded at the top with views of the canyon below. Maggie was up when I got back and had already packed up the tent so we could go down to the visitor's center and purchase tickets to the ancient houses built into the walls of rocks. Arrived an hour after they opened and the tours were already sold out! Disappointed, we went back to the campgrounds to take advantage of the opportunity to shower and decided we'd just head on to Arches. The miracles of showering! Spirits revived we were no longer daunted by the idea of driving the 1.25 hours to do a self-guided tour and go to a look out point for one of the most popular of the dwellings in Mesa Verde. The drive was wound through rocks and trees without leaves, looking more dead than alive, leaving you to wonder how anyone could survive out here. But at the top we were given directions to...

Had a pretty delayed start from Las Vegas. I went out for a 6 mile run, partially on the strip at 6:30AM and it was already 83 degrees. Before leaving we stopped at a Walmart to purchase a tent, deciding we would try our luck at camping at the Grand Canyon. As it neared 5PM we knew we would only be able to try the self-service sites and were a little worried about availability, since our move coincides with Labor Day weekend :/ Just before reaching the park though, we spotted a campsite at a state park, found an available spot and set up camp. Happy with our find, we journeyed into the park. There are some things that you see repeatedly in photographs because they're famous and  frequently visited. And sometimes when you get to see those things for yourself, they don't live up to the pictures. For example, when my mom and I went to Sydney, Australia and saw the Opera House with its funky white arches, we both remember being disappointed. It wasn't nearly as big as it lo...