Dear blog. I have less than 2 weeks left. Make that like, 10 days. How terrible would it be to cancel the return flight and spend the rest of my life on a boat on Lake Michigan?
Obviously I will not be following through with this um, flawless plan...but needless to say, I have been having the most fantastic time and will definitely miss Chicago a lot (even though I'm looking forward to getting back to St Andrews and writing up my social anthropology dissertation, which is going to be based on my observations and experiences of the Scottish-American community).
Things are continuing to go well at the office; I now feel like I've been here forever to be honest! Last week I did some more research into potential collaboration with local schools by looking at what kind of citizenship classes are included on the curriculum and whether young people are encouraged by their school to get involved in local not-for-profit projects. Since I will have left before term starts again, it's something which I hope that the Society pursues after I have left.
I've also been doing a little more work online. After several attempts at getting a large file through the Society's firewall, I uploaded an shortened version of an advertisement for the Scottish Home (which is where the Illinois Saint Andrew Society office is and provides residential care for the elderly) to Youtube which is to be embedded in the Chicago Scots website as well. I have also been attempting (read: attempting!!!) to write up a page on Wikipedia for the Society. However, considering that until last week I believed that Wikipedia was a free for all, I have been mistaken all this time!! First the website accused me of copyright infringement (for using a blurb written by the Society and already published on our website), then for 'inappropriate promotion' because I was writing about an organisation which I had vested interest in!!! So lesson learned - there are a lot more controls on Wikipedia material than originally thought!!
This Saturday is the Scottish Home's annual picnic, so I will be heading out here to see what's going on and I think also hanging out on the Society's stall for a bit. Fingers crossed the weather stays nice. The grounds at the Home are lovely, so it should be a good day.
Although not directly work-related, last Thursday I was invited to the Hard Rock Cafe for a networking event organised by the Chicago Festivals Association (Katie, who lives on my corridor, is an intern there this summer). There was some good food and drink, and I had a great chat with Miss Illinois and her bodyguards...she has to abide by a variety of rules in her position including not chewing gum whilst wearing her tiara!
On the play side of things, I have had a busy weekend filled with touristy Chicago activities! Laura, the Saltire intern working for Rolls Royce in Indianapolis, survived the Megabus and stayed with me this weekend. We managed to do so much in a short space of time! Friday night she arrived at 9pm, leaving us with not long at all to drop her bags at my accommodation (for some reason, I have a twin bedroom to myself where I am staying!) before we headed just north of the Chicago river to see a show at the comedy club 'Second City'. Katie also had a friend staying for the weekend, so the four of us had tickets booked for the 11pm performance. I was unsure as to whether I would get the humour (if it was too localised or political!) but it turned out to be a really good show! It was called 'Spoiler Alert: Everybody Dies' and sure enough, it stayed true to its title. It was basically a comedic look at the different stages of life. Definitely worth going to see.
Saturday we had some deep-dish pizza (something I have eaten rather too often since being in Chicago) at Lou Malnati's for lunch, before taking a wander down to Navy Pier, which is a huge recreational pier that juts out into Lake Michigan. Catching a water taxi from the pier back to near my accommodation, we completed a mini loop of the downtown area. Later that evening we headed out again to the Lincoln Park neighbourhood in the north of the city to an ice cream festival. I have never eaten so many samples in my life! There were the obvious flavours, like blueberry and chocolate chip, to the not so obvious, like 'goat's cheese and strawberry' and 'korma curry'! The more unusual flavours turned out to be my favourites though I think.
Finally, on Sunday I insisted upon a visit to one of my more entertaining favourite places in Chicago - the Tilted Kilt Scottish-themed eatery. I've never seen such a representation of Scottish culture in my life. They had Scottish football shirts on the wall sure, and some 'Scottish' menu items, but the most interesting piece of the theme is that the waitresses wear tartan mini-skirts and bikini tops...because that's what Scottish girls wear I guess...it's definitely a fun place to visit though, and the portions are huge!
Think that's all the news for now,
Rachel x