Chicagooo. Chicago.

Hey guys! Merry belated Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/the Other Holiday Which You Celebrate in the Month of December!

So I'm currently in Chicago right now and I just recently visited author Veronica Roth's (author of Divergent) alma mater, Northwestern University. The weather today wasn't so great: freezing and cloudy, but not cold enough for it to snow (apparently). In other words, during the tour, I felt like I was being hit by an icy hammer repeatedly because the wind was that rough, and it gave me a massive headache afterwards. But actually, it was worth it. (Now that I think about it, that simile doesn't really make any sense...) Northwestern's campus is amazing, and definitely better than the University of Chicago's campus--the college I visited first--which is way more cramped and city-like. And since I grew up and currently live in a pretty large town/small city, I like huge, spacious areas. I like to see trees and the sky. The suburban life. So yep, I was pretty impressed with Northwestern, and I love how it's more of a liberal arts school, the field I'm interested in the most. I actually really hope to go to Northwestern at the moment, but since I'm still a sophomore in high school and Northwestern is somewhat difficult to get into...well, we'll see, I suppose.

Today was day three of my stay in Chicago, and it's been...all right. I guess. It's my seventh time here, so, you know, once you've been to a place seven times for vacation it becomes...not so exciting. At least it is for me. But that's okay! Because I got to visit Veronica Roth's alma mater! And I loved it! And I also love Veronica Roth and Divergent! And I'm going to stop using so many exclamation points!

Anyway, the thing with Chicago is that it's crazy. And it's a large city, so there's the traffic problem, and the huge buildings-blocking-the-sky problem, and the messed up parking problem...and other various...problems. This probably isn't what it's like in the Chicago suburbs, but I haven't been to the suburbs yet, even though the hotel I'm staying at is supposedly located in a "suburb" (and if it is, there really isn't anything suburban about it. Grr.). And for those city folk reading this blog post, this isn't supposed to be offensive! Like I said before, I grew up in a fairly large town or small city, or whatever you want to call it, so I'm not used to this. And I don't really like it either. So please don't be offended D':

But really. Cities.

We went to Chinatown again, though, which was pretty fun. Ish. I mean, many of the stores sold the same merchandise for the same price, but the restaurants were great. The food was delicious. And we're going back tomorrow!

All right, I said I was going to stop with the exclamation points, so I shall.

I'm still not used to the fact that time is now one hour behind. I come from the Eastern Time Zone, and I believe Chicago's in the Central one, which means it's one hour behind. Every single device I have that can tell time--phone, iPod, watch--is still set at Eastern for some odd reason (not so much odd for the watch and maybe even iPod, I guess, but my phone should be automatic. I guess it isn't. Hrmm...). Now whenever I check the time, I have to subtract one from the hour--really hard work, I know.

And that's my life in Chicago so far(!) Not that exciting, I know...
What is exciting is that on Friday, I'm finally going to see Breaking Dawn. And then Wednesday, school starts again. Oh, and Sunday, 2012 begins. Will we survive 2012? Only time will tell. *cue scary music*

- E