Chicago Baby!

Our weekend was so amazing, I had such a good time!

The city and our hosts welcomed us warmly with hot weather and a cold glass of wine. We were at Chicago at eight and after some chatting we went to downtown to Hancook Center to see Chicago at night time. We were there just in time because it closed just after we were ready with our tour. After that we spent some time trying to find some place to eat and finally went to small pizza/bar place and ate traditional stuffed Chicago pizza and were back home about at one am. We were supposed to get up at seven on the next morning but finally got up at eight and had some breakfast. After that we headed to the Shedd Aquarium, missed our stop and walked all through Millennium Park back to the aquarium. And it was huge and so beautiful! We spent there like four hours, went through all the displays and watched a dolphin show. And I loved the sharks! The wall of that aquarium was curved so that it was on you too! And the sharks were BIG!
After that we walked again through Millennium Park and got to Navy Pier. There we ate good ice creams and continued our trip to the NHL hockey game! Chicago Blackhawks against Detroit Red Wings. And it was so easy to yell "GO HAWKS!" :D Oh we were so excited about the game with Kaisa, there was Tuomo Ruutu playing too! And he made a goal too! And of course we won (though Iowa Hawks didn't win, they had game too that day). The game had some different rules from Finnish hockey, after first 20 seconds there was a fight between two players and the judges didn't do anything! And of course there were all kind of shows in American style. But it was fun to yell PERKELE! And to see hockey, which is kind of the only sports I get excited.
After that we went back home and it was again after midnight and we were so tired after all the walking. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot!! Before the game we went to the beach and took some really nice pictures from there! I just have to get them from Meike first.
On Sunday we got up at nine and had some really good breakfast our host family made (stuffed pancakes) and at 11 am we left again to downtown just to walk around and see the Chicago marathon. There were a lot of people and the weather was hot. We browsed some souvenir shops (and the only thing I bought from Chicago was a Chicago magnet where you can put a pic or card...) and headed back at 2:30. And finally left back to Iowa City at 3:30. So I was in time to see Desperate Housewives!

And the host family was so nice! And oh my god their apartment! It was so beautiful and big! We're going to get some gift basket for them. I really felt welcomed!

So the weekend was really nice, I'm glad we went there. But back to reality, I have Endocrinology exam on Wednesday and I really haven't had time to read for it yet, so I'll have to live at the library again for a few days. And then I need to start to catch up everything else. But then it's no exams in two weeks! And on Tuesday morning I have the appointment. Blah. But I really hope that we can figure out things so that I could talk with my parents again!

On our way back home I listened to Poets of the Fall and dreamed about Tarmo. When we were at Savolinna for the first summer we dated, he took me to a rides and showed me all the pretty places there and we listened to Poets of the Fall then. So it always reminds me of our first summer ^^ And when we were at the beach, I drew his name on the sand <3

ps. I'll post the pics when I get them out from my camera... I was lazy now, sorry! And here's an article about the marathon, someone actually died (there were ambulances running all the time...) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071008/ap_on_sp_ot/run_chicago_marathon

Which Way Should I Orientate?

Okay, so my laptop isn't working very well, it doesn't go on unless I put the windows cd in... Quite annoying and definitely not a good thing. I asked today if there would be any place I could take this and I got some place where they help with computers but I think it opens only next week or week after that... So I need to hang on until that. Though there was this guy in my group who said he could take a look of my laptop next week.

But first I'll tell you a nice thing that happened to me last Monday at the Mall. I was waiting for Paola and Kaisa outside some shop and suddenly there was this little cute boy (he had some kind of syndrome) hanging on my hand really gently and I said to him (his mom was holding his other hand) that oh, I can't come with you, then he kissed my hand, let go and went on. So cute! He made my day.

Yesterday we did our check-in, it was easy and over soon. We went to the place right on time, we got in in 15 minutes while those who arrived 15 minutes after us had to line really long time. They took a copy of my passport and immigration documents and I received an orientation packet which included much papers about what to do and what's going on in here and schedule for orientation weeks. Then we took a tour around the campus, got back to our hotel, just hanged around for few hours and then we went to downtown. We were supposed to go to this some kind of electronic music club (or that's what there was that night) because Meikes friends friend was playing at there, but that cost like $5 or something and we really don't like that kind of music so we went to the Deadwood (one guy said at the orientation place that there would be some people that night). And again I remembered how nice it is in Finland now when you aren't allowed to smoke inside. But the place was nice, we took one smirnoff ice and headed back home because we had to get up early next morning. And they didn't even ask my papers!! I'm so proud! (The legal drinking age in here is 21.) And I wore my new tube top! And I was surprised how comfy it was, first I was worried that it would fall down but then I couldn't feel it anymore and I felt good wearing it. So we came back to our hotel, went to shower and Paola made braids and they still look good! She really did some good job, right Paola? ;)

And today we had quite overwhelming day. We had some more papers and money! We got these checks and I got more that I expected to have! Not that I complain :D Then we had really good brunch (nice salads, juice and coffee), some speeches and then we were divided in small groups (yeah, and I met my future roommate Ashleigh) with about ten students and two group leaders. There were only me and Ashleigh in our group who were girls besides the other of the leaders, all the others were guys. We introduced ourselves, talked about general and not so general things, it was fun. Then we went to some sessions (which were quite boring) and after that we had this panel thing where we could ask all kind of questions, mostly we discussed about studying, living in residence halls and drinking. After that we stopped by at our hotel and went to pizza party. I ate way too much pizza, it was much more better than I expected. In Finland I don't really like the thick pizzas but these were good. And there was such a good service, we got our glasses refilled all the time and there was lemonade! I chatted with some Asian girls (their accent is so strong that I didn't get half of the things they were saying, I just kept laughing) and bunch of other people and finally I got so tired that I could only stare in front of me. I decided that I'm too tired to be social anymore and got back to our room. Paola still stayed there, I thought to do my internet things before she gets back so that she can use her computer.

Tomorrow our day will start with lunch so that's only at noon! Though Paola has something at the morning again but that's fine, I can call to my parents and best of all, I can call Tarmo! I really missed him last night at the bar. Though I'm still not all depressed, I feel quite fine, I just think about him all the time :) But that doesn't feel bad at all.

We have this message in our hotel phone but I don't dare to look (or listen) it before Paola comes. If it's in Italian, I can't understand it and I'm too afraid that I might delete it so I'll just wait for her.

Oh yeah, I got my student ID. And one of the guys from my group invited me to go to some coffee shop with some other people but I was just on my way back to the hotel and I really am too tired to be all social anymore, I'd like to go but I know that I'd only end up sitting all silent and just listening all the others and not be that social. I just need a good sleep and then I'm ready to socialize again! ;) And I signed up to the trip to Des Moines, where there is this Iowa State Fair next Saturday! I'm so looking for that! I heard that there'd be this real size cow made of butter and Harry Potter made of butter! Awkward!

ps. Tarmo knows what the title means ;)