I got It

... SLU 101 that is! SLU 101  is the program that every incoming freshman has to attend during the summer, and it requires 20 upperclassmen to work as student leaders.  Lots of people apply, some get individual interviews, and out of those a few get one of the positions.  I got one.  I'm so excited and so relieved.  So far, my summer has been one big question mark, and slowly it has diminished to what resembles a period.  There is still a little tail of the question mark left, but it too will be gone in due time.  

I love accomplishing things like this.  I've always had that oomph in me when I want something, and I gear every ounce of energy in my body towards achieving that something.  Not to say that I've gotten everything I wanted in life, but more to say that I have the ability to work very hard to gain what it is that I truly desire.  It's really nice to know that I stand out amidst the crowd sometimes.  

Next topic:

So I'm sitting on my bed, with papers, binders, and books scattered about.  I've got one more test tomorrow and a few more things to write for French.  Part of me lately has been wondering why I'm wasting my time in business classes.  I find my courses to be anything but intellectually stimulating.  I guess History and French do the trick, but nothing says "interesting" like good 'ol Managerial Statistics, right?  Wrong.  I think back on my high school days of Honors English courses and salivate at the thought of writing essays and reading poetry.  I'm really good at that stuff.  Yeah, that's right, I called it "stuff."  I've come to realize that my intellectual curiosity has been left unsatisfied as a student in the Business School... even though wearing my Banana Republic business suit makes me feel pretty great about life.  I realized this as I was starting my application process for a few study abroad scholarships.  They all require an "academic essay," which has a prompt about a moment when an intellectual "aha" moment has sent shivers down my spine.   I don't know when I had that feeling last.... but I want it again.  I am excited to write that essay, because it will force me to do some outside reading and artistic discovery.  

I'm just tired of memorizing things that include the words, "inventory, transactions, accounts, systems, planning, forecasting, purchase, profit, sales, blah, blah, blah."  Anyways, this blog writing is not going to get me a better grade on my midterm tomorrow, but it sure feels more rewarding to write than to study right now.  

Next topic: 

I can't wait until spring break!  It's next week already and I can't believe the semester is already half way finished.  I'm not ok with that.  However, I am ok thinking about the idea that my friends and I will be relaxing on the beach next week in LA.  Four of us are going out to stay with my friend Neil's family, and it's going to be great.  We plan on an immediate grocery trip, then completely morphing into California beach bums for the rest of the week.  It will be nice to spend some quality time in a new place with some great people.  There will be an entry about our adventures at a later date. 

For now, it's back to studying Accounting for me.  Woohoo!

..

Valentine's Day in Chicago

This past weekend my boyfriend Mark and I traveled to Chicago to spend Valentine's Day in the city.  We woke up early on Saturday morning (6am) and took the St. Louis Metrolink to catch our 9am flight.  We figured that taking the metro was the best way to get there, because anyone would be hard-pressed to find a college student willing and able to wake up at 7am on a Saturday morning and make a 25 minute drive.   So we called the DPS to drive us down to the Metro ( a very convenient plan, that way we didn't have to walk and saved some time ).  The electro-80s music being played in the DPS car was a nice touch 

Story: 

We got out of the DPS car at the Metro station, and walked over to purchase tickets.  Just as we stepped up to the ticketer, the announcement was made that the next train was arriving in 30 seconds.  Yikes! 30 seconds to get out our money, click through the purchasing process on the ticket machine, get our tickets, and get into the metro.  We could do it if we hurried.  Frazzled, we scurried into our wallets and pulled out 4 $1 bills. Clicking through ticket machine to purchase tickets = 10 seconds. Inserting bill into ticket counter = 4 seconds.  4 x 4bills=16 seconds.  Waiting for tickets to come out of the machine = 2 seconds.  Train arrives.  Hurry! I grab my ticket, quickly get into the train, turn around to check if Mark has gotten in, and the DOORS WERE CLOSED! I was standing inside the train, looking at Mark on the sidewalk outside of the train.  I had a minor panic attack.  He missed the train. I dramatically pushed against the doors to see if they could open, but no luck.  I was so sad.  A man behind me reaches up to press a button labeled "Press to Open Doors."  He pressed it, the door opened, Mark got in.  The day was saved! Relieved, we walked over to sit down on the train as the man stated, "That was just like a scene in a movie!" ... it really was. 

Here we are, sitting on the metro. Our eyes are closed because we were tired, but we still have smiles on our face because 1) we were excited and 2) Mark didn't get left behind.  It's a terrible picture, but you get the point. 

Our flight went by quickly, and we arrived in Chicago ready for the day.  We took the L from Midway airport downtown, and everything went seamlessly.  We prepared directions to get everywhere, and we knew what we wanted to do for the day. Here we are walking from the L stop down to the street. Guess what city we're in!

After dropping our bags off at the hotel, we decided to make the 2 mile walk from Wacker St. down to the Field Museum.  It was a very good decision, as we saw many fun things in the city including a Snow Sculpting Contest and the skyline along Michigan Ave. Also, we took a small detour into Millenium park along the way where we visited the Bean.  We took a lot of pictures with the Bean, but this turned out to be the best one.  We were very happy that we decided to walk, because if we hadn't we would have missed a really nice part of the day.  

After our walk, we were happy to arrive at the Field Museum.  It's such a beautiful building on the inside, and we enjoyed walking around and seeing all of the exhibits.  Here I am with Sue the Dinosaur.  We decided that one could easily spend about 3 days in this museum, because it's so huge.  By the end of our time at the museum, our feet were dragging and we were in need of some energy.  We had a light lunch at the museum cafe, and then headed over to the Shedd Aquarium.  

The Aquarium was fun and lively, and we enjoyed seeing all of the animals.  I liked everything except the snakes, because those are creepy. The best part was the downstairs Coral Reef section, because they had some big sharks that were fun to watch. We wanted to sit down for a little while and still be entertained, so we got tickets to the 4D Planet Earth show.  Here we are with the stylish glasses that are an integral part of show-viewing.  

On Sunday we changed it up from museum/aquarium to shopping and walking downtown. It was nice to have 2 totally different days. Sunday was a beautiful sunny morning, and we had a nice breakfast in the hotel lounge. That was kind of funny because we were definitely much younger than anyone else staying at the hotel.  I guess not many college students go for weekend trips and stay in nice hotels.  We realize that we're very lucky, and definitely took advantage of everything we could. 

After lots of walking on the Magnificent Mile, we stopped for lunch at Portillo's, Mark's very favorite Chicago-style restaurant.  This is a picture of Mark with is Big Italian Beef sandwich. Yum!  I got the smaller version of his, and it was definitely delicious.  Also, being the dessert junkie, I insisted on getting a piece of Portillo's Famous Chocolate cake.  Delish!

 

We planned just enough time on Sunday to enjoy some city walking, shopping, and eating.  After all of that, we got our bags and took the L back to the airport and headed home.  It was a great trip, and Mark and I had a great time.  It was so nice just to experience something new and fun together. There is so much to do in Chicago, so we decided that we'll have to go back sometime.  We kept joking about how, this being our first Valentine's Day, we'd have to do something to top this next year. I'd say we set the bar pretty high. 

Peaceful Morningtime

On the rare occasion, I save my homework to be done in the morning.  This means that I have either had too busy a day to do it ahead of time, or I'm just plain tired and need to go to bed.  Thus, I proclaim to wake up early and do my homework for that day instead of doing it the night before. I should really do this more often, because I frequently find these times the most peaceful part of my day.  

I wake up, have a shower, make a cup of tea (because it's usually an hour or so earlier than my normal wake up time... so I need a bit of a caffeine boost), and sit and do my homework.  I am not distracted by anything, there is no noise to be heard except a rare ding of the elevator next to my room, and the morning sun shines in through the giant window of my apartment, making it a perfectly lit. I have the morning absolutely to myself, and I think about my day ahead.  I get my work done, and it's very nice to begin my day with something worthwhile like learning. 

I can't say that waking up is the easiest part of this process;  I am known to hit my snooze button a good 5 or 6 times before actually waking up... my poor roommate.  Yet after I get out of bed, I realize what a nice time of day it is, and give thanks for that private time.