Our adventure began leaving Kansas City at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Most of the bus ride to Chicago was spent asleep or munching on snacks. Ten hours after leaving we arrived in Chicago at Union Station with our bags. After hailing a taxi to take us to the church we are staying at we immediately laid out our things and fell into a deep sleep. That sleep wouldn’t last long though, 6:30 a.m. came much too early as I headed off to take a shower and get dressed in my KU garb to explore Chicago. We had to leave by eight every morning so after a quick briefing on the church’s policies we headed off to find our respective schools. Before we all split into respective schools we stopped for a quick breakfast at a local McDonald’s. My cinnamon roll was delicious but I really had to pee after drinking a huge iced tea. It was in this McDonald’s that I had my first encounter with door codes on public bathrooms. I inquired about them and was told they had to use that system to prevent loitering, homeless, and non-customers from abusing their services. It certainly made me feel far from home.
The metro system here is incredibly confusing at first glance and walking up and down stairs to switch trains and buses was exhausting. Brandon and I were going to volunteer at the same school until we discovered they would be having parent teacher conferences but went in search of it anyway. An hour into our trip we were soaked by rain and freezing at a metro station waiting on a bus. After the second bus that was the correct route drove by us splashing us with water and refusing to stop we gave up in retreat to return to the group for lunch. To keep ourselves entertained Brandon and I went "subway surfing" or to those of you who haven't tried it we were trying to stand up the entire distance of the subway without holding on. Much trickier than it sounds. As everyone found their way back to our Starbucks meeting spot we heard interesting encounters and funny stories about trying to find schools and getting lost. We found ourselves having lunch in Quodoba, a delicious Mexican restaurant that is quite similar to Chipotle. We decided to head back to the church to warm up a little and get extra layers to block the chilly wind Chicago is famous for. Everyone agreed we could use a shopping break and we headed off to the shopping district. We went through store after store, everything from Nike to Ghirardelli to Vera Bradley. We got a picture (shown here) in front of the very first UNOS pizza place. With sore feet and slightly emptier wallets we headed off to a sports bar and grill called John Barleycorns for some giant hamburgers and to watch our Jayhawks play the University of Illinois Illini. The game started out with a whopping 16-6 lead for the Jayhawks but the Illini gained momentum to pick up some points to keep the game interesting. As we sit in the restaurant we found another KU couple but even more Illinois fans unfortuneately. The Rock Chalk chant is about to shake the foundation of this building as everyone gets more and more excited. It’s amazing how anywhere you go you will find a Jayhawk and that inevitable KU spirit. ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK GO KU! I am going to divert my attention back to the last ten minutes of the game before I go crazy here. Wish us luck fellow hawks. More to come tomorrow.
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