The Beginning of our Journey

Tonight marks the end of our first day in Chicago and oh what a day it was! Although we departed from El Cerrito less than 24 hours ago, it feels as if a couple days have passed because of how early our day started off. Speaking of which, let me start off with how this long day began for me.

After only a couple of hours of sleep, I woke up around 1 AM to have enough time to double check I had everything and head to El Cerrito High School with some time to spare. Once we arrived at ECHS, Don double checked my bags and had me tag them so they would be easily distinguished from the others. While we waited for the shuttle to take us to the airport, Don gave us a few reminders, provided us with some snacks and other essentials, and of course had us take pictures.

Once the shuttle arrived, we thanked and said our goodbyes to Don. Both the UChicago cohort and the Vanderbilt cohort were taking the same flight so we rode together and made our way through the airport together. Things in the airport ran pretty smoothly. We checked in our bags, got through security, and made it just in time to board after grabbing something quick to eat.

On the plane, I sat next to Ms. Sciacca and Anna from the Vanderbilt cohort. Aside from a small conversation with Ms. Sciacca, the flight was uneventful since I fell asleep as soon as the plane took off. Before I knew it, we had arrived in Chicago. The ILC then split by cohort with us heading to baggage claim and the Vanderbilt cohort in search of their connecting flight. We got our luggage quickly and followed our driver to the car that would take us to the Omni hotel. As soon as we stepped outside, I was taken aback by how hot and humid the weather was. I have experienced this type of weather before but in a very short time, I had grown accustomed to the air conditioning in the airport.

My bedroom at the Omni!

When we finally made it to the hotel, I was shocked by how fancy and extravagant it was. I honestly felt out of place as soon as I walked in. In the hotel, we took the elevator upstairs and checked in but realized only my room was ready. Because of this, we all headed up there to leave all of our bags before starting our sightseeing in Chicago. When I first walked into my room, I was really surprised to see not a simple bedroom but a sitting room with a desk and a set of doors that opened up to my bed which has lit headrest. The room also had a bathroom with border lights on the mirror, which I was very excited about. I was even more excited that I get to have this room all to myself, even if it is only for two days.

After setting our stuff down we finally got to go explore the city. We walked around the area and noticed a lot of cool architecture. We also got to see a little of Lake Michigan before heading back near the hotel to get some food.

We settled on eating at Giordano’s. It was a long wait for the food but the food itself was really good. After lunch, we got some time to rest before heading out again, this time to the 360 Observatory.

The observatory was really close to the hotel so we walked there. The observatory is on the 94th floor of the John Hancock building. To get up there we took an elevator that was quite shaky because it took us up to the 94th floor extremely fast. When we stepped off the elevator, I was really impressed with the views the observatory provided. Here are some of the pictures I took of the views:

Views from the observation deck.

The group that went before us on the Tilt.

After taking in some of the views, we decided to head over to the Tilt portion of the observatory. I was quite wary about getting on this attraction as I am not fond of heights. Also, the group before me did little to calm my nerves since one of the participants had to step back because he could not take it. When we were on the tilt, I realized it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I am glad we did it because I would never have the opportunity to do something like that again. Don’t get me wrong though I was still terrified. I still have marks on my arms from how hard I was holding onto those bars.

Next on the agenda of sightseeing was visiting Navy Pier. We walked from the observatory to the pier, it did not feel like that long of a walk because we got to see more of the city as we went along. There, we just took in the sights as we walked around the entire pier and had some ice cream. Although not exhilarating, it was a nice way to end the night.

Today was full of different emotions. Nervousness for the trip ahead, sadness that I would leave my family behind, but most of all I felt lots of excitement. I am excited that we are finally in Chicago and getting to see and experience so many things. Today was a fun and successful first day that has me really looking forward to the journey that lies ahead of us in these next couple of weeks.