Its Bean a Pretty Good Day

I woke up at 7:00 AM, after receiving 6 hours of sleep, to sense the California weather, here in Chicago. Dad John discouraged the idea of wearing a hoodie, as he believed the weather would be very humid. But as the rain passed by, yesterday, the weather felt unusually good. Thus, I instinctively sensed after waking up that Day 2 would be very productive and amusing. 

Early Morning

Though my normal morning starts off with no real breakfast and an awful lot of chips, Max found a very well-decorated deli with patterned red-colored tiles, which convinced me to eat some real breakfast today instead of a bag of chips. I normally try to stay away from eggs, but today was a different story. I ate an egg and cheese croissant, which had a very uniquely delicious taste - crispy on the outside and some nice flaky layers. 

We moved out to the train station, very close to the deli. The train took us to our intended location, instantaneously, fast! As it was rush hour, the purple line (few stops), took us there relatively quicker, compared to the red line. After getting off the train, we walked about a mile to Wildcats territory!

As a student interested in communications studies, I noticed the impact that the speakers made on the audience through composed professionalism, effective hand-gestures, and a coordinated pace. The speakers wore a suit and a dress, which definitely conveyed the message that they valued their work. Moreover, as compared to the many speakers I have met, their hand gestures were very effective as they did not overdo it. I have a habit of speaking fast, but they had a very regulated pace. 

One of the things that I was concerned about was the amount of waitlisted students at Northwestern University. One of the speakers said that 77% of the classes consist of less than 20 students, which, in my opinion, implied that many courses must have a lot of waitlisted students. As I questioned the speaker, he answered with a "No",  in a nice way, but did not have any evidence for his claim. 

Hogwarts at Northwestern                                         The Rock (NOT Dwayne Johnson)

The architectural creativity at Northwestern is a major highlight. Though I imagined the Rock as a not-very-delightful piece of boulder when viewing images, it was quite the opposite. Frankly speaking, it exceeded my expectations as I viewed it in person. And right on the opposite side of the Rock is a building designed just like Hogwarts.

Unlike other university tours, we got to choose our tour guide from various majors which included: Economics, Theater, Communications, and Sociology. We went with the theater tour guide as Issac has a great interest in drama. He was a very enthusiastic and informative young male who satisfied the needs of the prospective Wildcats! Max, now, is now seriously considering to apply to Northwestern!

Northwestern University is definitely a good place to study. As said by the tour guide, many of the incoming freshmen come as undecided majors. The Economics program is great but unfortunately the Computer Engineering major did not satisfy my needs. Stephen Colbert, one of my favorite comedians, went there!

As we ended the tour, we made sure to check out and visit the Northwestern Lakefill. The coruscating lake water made it a very enjoyable sight. Northwestern was, arguably, the highlight of the day. 

Going back to Chicago, featured a conversation with a software engineer from Adobe, who apparently lives in San Francisco. They were updating us on the World Cup game - Brazil vs Belgium. Though the outcome of the game was not what I expected it to be, arguably, it was a great conversation. I am sure she has checked out our blog by now. 

We made it in time to watch the 2nd half of Brazil vs Belgium. We were all rooting for Brazil except for Dad John. Though Brazil mounted a great amount of pressure in the 2nd half against Belgium, they lost and it was very unfortunate. But that did not stop our exciting journey!

We, then, headed out to Millennium Park which featured A LOT of Dad Hillyer jokes, which are not, originally, funny but his attempts made it hilarious. One thing I am helping UChicago cohort's dad learn is how to joke effectively. I think he has picked up some pointers already. (Lies are not funny Dad except for Dad jokes!)

If asked to describe Millennium Park in 2 words, I would say insanely attractive. This place has everything from fountains to an ongoing classical music concert. Quite frankly, I did not think the place would be this busy but there were a whole lot of people here. 

The bean was shiny and pristine! Man, there were so many people, that it took 3 minutes to take a single group photo that reached Don's expectations. Though the lighting was an issue, the Ivy League Connection students take great pride in perseverance, and adaptability!

"Max, go apologize to Kayla," Shreejal Luitel

To close off the day, we ate dinner at Brighwok Kitchen. I ate the Earth, Curry, and Fire - chili coconut curry spiced hot, white rice and tofu! While eating our conversation featured how the schooling system fails to the needs of the students and Max dropped a lot of knowledge! 

Stay updated for Day 3 - we are moving out to UChicago. :)