It is very easy to eat out for every meal here...and more often than not, eat the boxed up leftovers from your restaurant meal for snacks the following day.  I have a feeling it could be very easy to put on a whole lot of weight in Chicago!  Just as well then, that it's fun to walk around wherever possible.  The 'L' (elevated train) is a bargain at only $2.25 per ride, no matter how many stops you go.  So I guess it pays to travel far!  If though, you just want to go a few blocks, you might as well save money and walk.  It a) keeps off the pounds of delicious American food and b) is good for getting a better sense of where you are on the grid system so it isn't as easy to get lost!  The only problem with walking of course, is the heat.  Major humidity.  Lovely.

Anyway, back to Chicago on foot.  The other nice thing about walking places is that there's always the chance of coming across some place new.  Wandering round the neighbourhood I'm staying in ('South Loop'), in an attempt to find a RedBox which, according to the infinite wisdom of GoogleMaps, was very close by (it's a movie rental machine found in supermarkets/grocery stores where you can take a DVD until 9pm the following day for $1), I came across three coffeehouses I didn't know existed, the BEST diner imaginable and a luxury chocolate shop.  All good.  My roommate and I actually went back to the diner 'Eleven' the following day, to eat the likes of tofu scramble and basil/pesto omelette.  Yum.

Talking of luxuries, this weekend I found myself attending a preview event for a luxury ice cream festival which is taking place in a couple weeks.  There were free ice cream samples, free cupcakes, the works.  All filmed and streamed live on Facebook.  They even had a Grammy-nominated band provide the entertainment!  Katie (a friend from where I'm living) chanced upon the event listing on the internet and was I glad she did!  Both of us agreed whilst riding the L to the event that 'free' and 'samples' were two of our favourite words.

I've found that there's always something going on in Chicago, so it's so important to maintain a work hard, play hard attitude.  It's definitely the way to go.  On the work front, I really can't believe this is my 5th week in the office.  It's going to be coming to an end before I know it!  Now that I have all my survey responses together, and have managed to speak to a good few people about their ideas, I feel like I have a better idea of how I'm going to conclude my findings.  There's still a lot of work to be done though!  I've been doing research into Scottish identity as well, to better understand why someone might want to make a connection with Scotland.  I'm finding it especially interesting (from both articles I've found online and people I've spoken to here) that many Americans who study or work in Scotland for any length of time are usually very keen to maintain that connection with Scotland in some way once they're back on US soil!!  I guess I will feel the same way about Chicago once I leave though, so I can definitely see where they are coming from!

Also this weekend I went on the Scottish-American History Club (part of the Society) bus tour of a town just north of Chicago called Lake Forest.  It is an area which has a relatively large Scottish population and there were several streets named after places in Scotland e.g. Inverness, Hamilton.  The organisers had done a great job of bringing the day together, and I felt a lot more knowledgeable by the end of the trip.  However, the highlight was probably passing all the gorgeous (and in several cases, massive!!) all-American houses...I'm going to have to get saving!!!

I think that's all for now.  Keep up the blogging, I'm really enjoying hearing about your travelling adventures (and your tips for dealing with the humidity!!)

Rachel x

p.s. Go see Inception. It's fab.  Warning: it messes with your head!!