UChicago

I finally joined the digital age, thanks to Christmas and my parents. These are a few pictures from the southern side of the University of Chicago campus--the side I tend to use mostly. More of the rest will come soon. I had about 20 minutes to kill before my bus left for home yesterday so I thought I'd take a few. You'll quickly notice it looks much colder than the cozy 65 degrees that a certain other blogger might be experiencing this time of year--I won't mention any names, you know who you are... (ahem, Tanner!).

This first one is a statue that stands on the south side of Harper Library--the "Harry Potter Library" as some refer to it. It's the old one. Most people use Regenstein for which i don't have pictures yet. Below is the Ice Skating Rink that sits in the middle of the Midway Plaissance on the south side of campus. I've heard it's only $2 to skate there! I haven't done that yet myself yet. Maybe when it's warmer.

Below is the famous Rockefeller Chapel. There's a big bell tower just behind but it's kind of unsightly with all of the scaffolding that's been covering it all year. You can kind of see the top corner of it from this view.


The right building in the picture above is the music school. Apparently anyone can check out piano rooms there. I've been meaning to do that. I had a class in the building on the left. I can't remember the name right now. Anyway, check out the sweet old doors. A lot of them are like that. Below are a few shots of the quad or near it.





Above, is the Divinity School from the side, there's a cemented, circular bench just in the foreground if you can see it. I have a class here and I eat Lebanese and other Mediterranean foods here for lunch all the time (mmmm... salmon kabobs!). These two pictures below are of my building, Pick Hall. It's the odd, non-gothic building on the corner. By "my" I mean this is where the Committee on International Relations (CIR) office and lounge remains on the third floor. I also have some classes here.


Anyway, I figure this is a good start. I hope you find this interesting. I'm sure there'll be more to come. If it's not too vain, (though I guess it's my blog so it may be appropriate--or at least appropriately vain), I'm contemplating doing a "day in the life" photo exposition, following a typical day of mine from early morning train rides, scary South Side "El" and bus tours, to the enlightening halls of the University and classic academia. Thoughts? I'm sure you'll all be captivated, haha. Cheers!

Good time to come home

So it turns out I get to come back to Nebraska for Valentine's Day weekend! It will have been 6 weeks at that point since I was home for Christmas break; and, though it seems like those weeks flew by, I'm ready to be home. Valentine's Day last year was Courtney's first day in Australia where she would remain for the following five months--we didn't really get one together. So, when I discovered the lull (as much as there can be in grad. school) in my academic schedule for the weekend, I jumped at the chance. I'm so excited to see her and be home!

To make it even better, my littlest sister, Kalen, was nominated as a Winter Royalty candidate and the coronation is the Saturday of that same weekend after Val's Day! Hopefully I will get to be in Norfolk briefly to see that--li'l sis followin in her big bro's footsteps :). (I was a Winter Royalty candidate my senior year as well).

Anyway, life here is good. I thought I would be swamped with three papers to finish in the two weeks before heading home, but surprisingly things haven't been too bad. Two more papers to go though. Which reminds me, I should get back to work. See some of you soon, hopefully. Cheers!

Change

I was going through some old files on my computer when I came across a file name I didn't recognize and that hadn't been opened since April of 2006. It is entitled Going Home. Pardon me if it seems a little too serious, I have my melancholy moments like everyone else (and maybe more than some others). But it struck me for the way it captured how I felt in a moment nearly two years ago, give or take a couple months, as college was coming to an end for me at UNL. It captures how I tend to react to change--something that I will deal with again soon (and fairly consistently hereafter). But, I thought I would take a risk and share it with you.

I tell myself as I leave that I’ll always remember this moment and feel the way I do now when I return, if I can return, that memories will be enough. I won’t be a fool. I know things must change for me to continue. This is my excuse to be sentimental, to ache at a remembrance of something I’ve lost. This is my rendition of transition from what I thought I knew so well and that could never end, to what remains so vague it scares me, excites me, despairs me, ignites me. A sorrow scattered hope explains me. Now resting and confident; now vulnerable and impotent. Beneath it all is the sense that a part of me is dying, or hiding dormant to be never awakened. Waiting for a change in me, an improvement that betrays direction—this sustains me, this place that awaits me. I am wounded but I am not dead.

I know it seems a bit much, haha, but it's how I felt. The memory and the moment intrigued me though, considering where I've been, what I've learned, and where I am going--even since then. Try it. Maybe consider a specific moment from the recent or distant past. Look where God has brought you and the hope you have for where He will take you from here.

Life in 'the hood'

Occasionally I have to take the "EL" to get to classes if I leave late enough in the day. It's sometimes a bit unnerving because campus is in Hyde Park--the south side of Chicago, the sketchier side. I take the Metra an hours' ride to the city then walk a few blocks from Ogilvie Transportation Center to the Green-Line stop on Clinton St. That line takes me about 35 minutes south to within a mile of campus but I usually wait for a bus that takes me straight there from the El stop, Garfield. Unfortunately, the Garfield stop is in a rough neighborhood and I usually have my expensive laptop with me (thankfully carried in a bag that looks like a normal backpack). There's a small grocery/liquor store there so you tend to see a lot of older men loitering around there drinking out of brown bags. I tend to get asked for money a lot at that stop as well.

Thursday was the first time I would have to take this route in over a month and some of the 'used-to-it' feeling had worn off. I had nearly reached the Garfield stop and remember thinking at about that point, "This isn't so bad," when I saw one man in the car a few seats in front of me quickly move closer to another man who had got on a few stops back. The two of them talked secretively and furtively glanced toward the conductor at the front of the car. Moving quickly to the two open seats four feet in front of me, they conveniently faced to my left so that I could observe everything going on between them. The newer passenger handed five or six little, clear plastic bags full of small, green-colored leaves to the other in exchange for a small wad of cash! A drug deal--I observed a drug deal on the El! Other passengers who knew what was going on acted as if nothing abnormal had just happened. In fact, one woman sitting directly facing the perpetrators asked the man who purchased the drugs if she could see them. He handed a couple of the packages to her and she closely looked them over and smelled them before giving them back. One would have thought they might have been just as easily purchasing food or a souvenir. I couldn't believe it. What do I do with that?

I got off at my stop, a little more paranoid than normal and trying to convince myself not to be irrational. Who was to meet me at the bus stop but Eric Johnston, or that's who he introduced himself to be. He wore a dirtied, dark wool coat, an old winter hat, worn pants, and stained boots. He appeared to be homeless but he made a point to say, "I wouldn't say that I'm homeless, but... I'm kind of in between living situations." Whatever that means. He proceeded to ask for me to pay the bus fare which he said "thank you" for before I actually agreed, haha. But I decided I could do that. I'd rather pay his fare than just give him cash. He said he had some business to do on the other side of the U of C campus and then talked almost non-stop from that point as we waited for the bus, through the bus ride (he sat next to me), and until I got off about how he was a jazz pianist and all the people he'd played with since he got out of the army. It was genuinely fascinating, I was just skeptical about how much of it I could believe.

Anyway, welcome back to the neighborhood, right? OK,it's not really my neighborhood, but I'm down there a lot.

In the Thick of it All Again

So, I'm nearing the end of my second week back and things seem crazier than ever. Upon my return, I received notification of a scholarship opportunity sponsored by the State Department. It's for an intense, critical language study program this summer abroad! So, of course I'm applying. Essentially, if I get it, it would mean an 8 week study of Arabic in Cairo starting immediately just before (yes before) the official end of my last quarter at U of C! Whatever I do next year, I have been realizing the need for and really wanting to learn a second language well. This would be a huge opportunity to do that as well as add some beef to my resume'.

With this scholarship application process, requiring multiple essays and academic recommendations from faculty I hardly know, I have been getting into classes as well. After a week-and-a-half of deliberation, I have finally decided (though not yet decidedly registered) on three courses. Arab-Israeli conflict, which will be a very interesting class with a very interesting, and dare I say stereotypical, foreign-accented, Jewish professor (he's great); US National Security Policy, which I have only been to once in four class sessions thus far (I'll get to it); and International Political Economy, a very dreaded and very required course for my program. All of which contribute to three days on campus a week and an already very busy work load.

Meanwhile, my Illinois family has been sick. The boys, Joseph and Joshy contracted a stomach flu and proceeded to give aspects of it to the rest of the household--including a visiting grandmother and great-grandmother (97 years old!!). So, yesterday (Tue.), on what was the day I had planned to complete one of three IPE papers due today already (Wed.), I writhed on my bed in pronounced, gastric pain for most of the day. Fortunately my professor gave me until tomorrow to complete the paper, which is actually essentially done now as I write. However, to accomplish this I decided not to attend the fourth session (and third class that I have now missed) of Security Policy. Also fortunately, I have good class mates that have agreed to give me notes.

My thoughts have also been stressfully consumed with plans for the future as I have been meeting with career counselors and planning to attend career fairs, which I also missed today. I don't know that it means much at the moment, but I am seriously considering pursuing foreign service with the State Department in the next couple of years. We'll see what happens! God Bless!

P.S. Sorry for the long posting. I had a lot to cover.

Back Again

Well, I'm back in Chicago and eager to get into a second quarter at the U of C (classes start Monday). I almost made it from Omaha on a single tank of gas without any stops. I say "almost" because I was about 30 minutes from my home here and my tank was on empty so I was forced to stop and get gas after 417 miles and about 6 straight hours of driving. I thought it was a good challenge. I have my fridge full of groceries, my car emptied, my Chipotle for dinner, and now I can finally hit the sack. It's good to be back.

Home Again, Home Again

Well, I made it. I survived my first quarter at the University of Chicago, (and the first season of 24. Though I've since started the second, haha). Friday, I turned in my last two final papers that I had been slaving over for more than the last week exclusively. I then met with my preceptor (program adviser) to discuss my thesis before catching up with some friends from my program (International Relations) over lunch and collecting some more thesis sources from the University library. From there, it was my last, two-hour commute of the year back to Winfield (Yay!!) to pack up so I could leave bright and early the next morning to be back in Nebraska by early, Saturday afternoon! I'm home! It was so good to see Courtney again and to visit my Lincoln friends. It was really encouraging to be at Grace again on Sunday morning, as well.

I'll be heading Home, to Norfolk, tomorrow most likely. Though I need to try to get some Christmas gifts and a haircut before I go. It will be good to be home-home as well. Kalen (my youngest sister) really wants me to help her review her AP Lit/Comp research paper (these papers were pivotal and formative for me in high school) before Friday and it will be nice of course to live under the comforting roof of my parent's home once again. Though I'm sure to be back in Lincoln by the end of the week. I think this break will be a lot of going back and forth, living out my car, and shamelessly requesting residence from Lincoln friends on short notice. Thank God for friends. Until next time, cheers!