June 30

Today I woke up at about 9:45. I had to be downstairs in the lobby for CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) orientation. It's not required by the city, but rather by the school. Before summer program students can use public transportation, they need to go through "CTA orientation." I was expecting a short little talk about safety and whatnot, but they basically just handed us a sheet with the most stupid and/or obvious safety tips such as:

Know where you're going BEFORE you leave.
Don't go to the ghetto.
Don't act like a tourist or people will try to lure you in and kill you.
Don't go with strangers or have them take you to a location.
You have to be back in Jones Hall for curfew.
If someone is making you feel uncomfortable, walk away.
Don't ride use CTA by yourself.
Use common sense.

These were paraphrased, accept the last one. That one was a direct quote. Anyways, they handed us this sheet, and we went on a "practice run" on the train. So basically, we had to take the train out to some neighborhood that we didn't necessarily want to go to, and either come back to the dorm, or go "explore" that neighborhood. The neighborhood we went to was Damen.

A photo of the Damen stop on the Blue Line

My friends and I tried to stop in Damen to find a place to eat, but there weren't any good restaurants nearby, and if they did look good, they were really expensive. Bare in mind that a one-way CTA fare costs $2.25. It's not cheap. So basically, our "orientation costed us $5 and 1 hour. At least now I can go visit my friend Theresa, who lives in Logan Square, 9 stops away on the Blue Line.

We took the train back to downtown and went back to Caffè Baci. I got a grilled panini with Turkey, Ham, Provolone, Pickles, and Mustard. I think it was the best panini that I've ever had, and it was pretty reasonably priced.

We walked back to the dorm and went up to the Rachel H's room, the cool room. We hung out for a little while and then came back down to the lobby at 1:30. Then, we left with a group of about 20 people to go to the zoo. Student Resident Educators plan these events throughout the program, and this one was organized by Claire. She's from Louisville, Kentucky. We took the bus to the zoo, but before we got on, we had to wait for it which took quite a while. While we were waiting, this lady was on the street corner playing guitar and singing, and she was actually REALLY good. We got on the bus, and it was a long while before we made it to the zoo, but I was able to talk with Claire, and she seems like a really cool person.

When we got off of the bus, we felt the heat of the Chicago summer afternoon. We walked together around the zoo for about an hour and a half. While we were walking around, this really friendly girl, Sabrina, and I started chatting. When I asked her where she was from, she told me, "Atlanta." I think I probably scared her because I bursted out in excitement because she was the first person I had met who was from my native city. She goes to Woodward and is friends with / knows of a lot of the people I went to school with in elementary. Here are some of the photos I took at the Lincoln Park Zoo:

A little dark, but in the distance you see one of the old buildings dating back to Chicago's World Fair in 1933 ( or so the internet tells me.)

I think they put the meat in the trashcan so the leopard has to find a way
to get to its meal, keeping the animal less dependent on zookeepers.

For dinner, Rachel R., Zoe, Andrea, and I went to Pizano's Pizza and Pasta. On our walk there, the same lady that was playing the guitar and singing was still outside in the blistering heat, still singing beautifully. I don't usually give my money to street performers, but as I walked by, I dropped a few dollars into her hat. I just couldn't believe such dedication and hard work.

At the restaurant, we ordered garlic bread, meat and cheese ravioli that was fried, and a large deep dish pepperoni pizza. The pizza was AMAZING and surprisingly filling. We could only manage one slice per person, leaving four slices for us to take back to our rooms. We left to go get gelato again at Caffè Baci. On our way back to the dorms from getting gelato, we realized that we left the four slices of pizza in the box on our table! I wanted to go back and see if they still had it, but everyone else said that they probably threw it away. Now that I look back on it, I wish I had just gone back inside to see if they had it. There would be no harm in trying. I guess I'll learn from that mistake.