My third week of work has started on a Tuesday, due to the long weekend for Independence Day. Wanting to make the most of our extra day off, my roommate and I attempted to plan our weekend meticulously...
On the Saturday, (going to see the new Twilight movie aside...), we went shopping on Michigan Avenue, and through a friend of my roommate, met up with a group of interns who are working with Proctor and Gamble who had decided to visit Chicago for the weekend. They had made reservations for Giordanos Italian restaurant, which is known locally as one of THE places to sample original Chicago deep-dish pizza, so we didn't hesitate to join in with the dinner plans. I am so glad we did, because it was delicious! (despite a fairly gargantuan queue which snaked out of the restaurant, and a rather long wait for the pizza...but still, it was well worth the wait!). On the 4th of July itself, we went on a boat cruise of the city, organised by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. My camera is now overloaded with pictures of skyline, one of which I may try to get blown up when I get home as a memory of the summer! Later in the day, I went to see the fireworks display at Navy Pier. So many people turned out to see them, but I somehow managed to get a good seat. The heart-shaped and smiley-face-shaped fireworks were definitely the best of the night.
All in all, I had a great first experience of 4th of July in the US...and here's some fireworks to prove it (sadly the smiley faces and hearts flashed by too quickly to capture!!)
After all the festivities, I'm now back to work - sorting through the fantastic number of responses I got from my survey, emailing with people about their involvement with society, and continuing to increase content (and 'fan' numbers!) on our social networking pages. So it's all go! I have also been brainstorming ways to connect the society with young people through pop culture e.g. making information available about Scottish bands, books etc. as well as picking out interesting Scotland-related news articles which might be of interest. For instance, did you know that vuvuzelas have been banned from T in the Park because there is concern that the noise will distract the acts? It's funny to think that until a couple weeks ago, vuvuzelas were largely unheard of and now they're causing debate all over the world!
I have been enjoying keeping up to date with everyone else's blogs...I'm no longer worrying about getting everything I need out here in my suitcase...but I'm becoming more worried about getting all of that, plus all the stuff I've bought in Chicago back to Scotland!!
Rachel x