Hello once again from Chicago, a slightly new location this time as I had to move from the student center I was in to a hotel as the students are all back this week.
My main project for the summer came to its climax and end on Wednesday. Skerryvore successfully arrived, got through customs and after a brief shower in their accommodation they were onstage in Martyrs singing, playing the fiddle, the accordion, the bag pipes, the drums, bass and guitar and they were amazing! Everyone who made it really seemed to enjoy the night, sadly turn out wasn't as much as we'd hoped due to some being back at university and many being on vacation. However, the feedback has been very positive and the whole thing eventually went without any glitches on the day. I want to thank the society, in particular Gus and Kristen at this point for allowing me such responsibility and to get so involved with their mission.
Otherwise, I am helping the society tie up any loose ends they have as not only am I leaving them in two weeks, Kristen, the only other person in the office bar Gus who is president, goes on maternity leave shortly after (congratulations Kristen!). I therefore want to take on as much as possible to help them out when that time comes. I also really enjoy the variety of tasks I get given here. Right now I am working on making an online directory of the board members and then I get to work on a rebranding task, which for a marketing geek like me is a pretty good job to have. The Kilted Classic is also coming up next week so I am mixing my day up between my projects and calling volunteers, making auction posters, organizing schedules etc which keeps everything interesting and also teaches a good lesson on prioritizing of tasks.
This week I had to say goodbye to my two friends I made here; Jon and Tristan as they go travelling down the West Coast before they start back university. However, as luck would have it Rory and Kitty who are working for Monsanto in St Louis and Jack and his friend Tim who are working for Rollys Royce in Indianapolis were all heading to Chicago this weekend and I was their host. Sadly on Saturday morning a massive storm hit Chicago yet again and we were out in it, so we ran to a diner for some food to dry off and heat up.
By the time we had eaten the sun was out again and we got to do a bit of walking/exploring and ended up on the beach at Navy Pier where we went on the chairoplanes and ferris wheel. We then went and watched the fireworks from the 96th floor of the John Hancock tower, the experience was kind of surreal being so high up (our ears were popping in the elevator!) but it was pretty stunning watching the fireworks .
On the Sunday Jack, Tim and I went to the beach again to watch the Air and Water show where they have planes doing all sorts of complicated twists and dives right above your head, another must do if you're around when one of these shows is going on! I even got to meet a Forest Gump just sitting on a bench when we went for a hotdog.
I have two pretty good (in my humble opinion) Saltire t-shirt entries but I need to wait on people sending to the pictures to me, I know you must be holding your breath! Haha.
Until next time, I hope everyone is making the absolute most of their time, can't wait to swap stories with everyone when we get back.