Hello from Chicago, Chi-town, the windy city! I, like most who are blogging this week, have just finished my first week of placement.

I am working for CHICAGO SCOTS this summer, the oldest charity in Chicago. CHICAGO SCOTS celebrate Scottish heritage and culture in America and host many events such as the highland games which includes haggis eating competitions! They do so much more that I'm going go spread it out in blogs to come.The society want to make themselves more appealing to the younger generation to ensure sustainability of the organization and this is where I come in.

My project this summer starts with organizing a Celtic rock concert featuring Skerryvore, a fairly famous Celtic band back home in Scotland. They have in fact played my home town a few times and happen to be my friend's dad's cousins! I feel like I'm not doing anything to help the impression many Americans have that all Scots know each other. I.e. I have been asked several times - ohhh my dads friends cousins uncle is from Scotland, do you know him!? This week has been spent liasing with the band manager and with the venue in order to get tickets on sale and promotions started. Everyone here is so willing to help you out and after my first ever email blast I've had loads of people get in contact offering me their assistance. So nice when you're miles from home and know nobody!

So aside from the work life, I haven't quite been partying/exploring as much as many of you as I am in Chicago alone. I also have nobody sharing my room in student halls so it's a little bit tougher to meet people. This weekend, however, I turned 21 and as my boss is away on holiday for his own birthday he set me up with a few lovely people who graduated in Scotland who took me out on saturday to celebrate. I have also managed to eat in a real American diner!! Portion sizes are ridiculous and I may come home fat!

Monday morning I also experienced my first Chicago thunderstorm. This was like nothing I've seen in my life. Trees were torn down, places flooded and all within about half an hour and it was all over. Except for the 600 000 people who lost electricity for two whole days, the office included!

Finally, in other news my laptop decided it didn't like being in America and had a break down, making my life much more difficult, hence the slightly late blog entry. I had also written my blog already, adding little observations each day but I sadly lost it all. 

Loving hearing what everyone is up to, it seems like all of our projects and placements are really exciting and that a lot of trust is put into us Saltire interns!

P.S. In my quest to find friends I have found myself talking to some very strange (slightly terrifying) people. On the train this morning, for example, I was chatting to a young lady who seemed perfectly normal - showing me pictures of her two year old, talking about university (or school as they call it here) etc. Then when the conversation came to a natural break she asked:

her - 'what kind of weapon do you carry'

me - 'um... none'

her - 'you don't carry a knife?! I'll get you one'

me - 'that's ok, I don't need one thanks' (and I made a swift exit from the train!)