Chicago!

Sunday I flew into Chicago, unloaded all of my things, ate dinner and crashed into my "bed" which is currently the floor, with a few blankets on it. Not too bad, I was way too tired to notice that the floor is a lot harder than a mattress. Yesterday I walked all over town, visited campus, and did some survival groceries before 5pm. At about 5 Janne called and took me to Target where I was able to get shelves and drawers, so I am now set up... but still no mattress. I did get the bed frame which is now set up, but not comfortable to sleep on at all, so again I slept on the floor. And again I was tired enough to sleep through whatever pain may have been forced on me. I am starting to wish I had a mattress though, and I haven't heard from Overstock if it is even shipped yet, which probably means I won't get it until next week. Ack.

So today, officially, Chicago feels like it is home, just without friends yet. Luckily I am meeting with Jamey for dinner (also this will be the first time I will take the bus, scary!) in a part of town I have not explored. It's amazing how gigantic Chicago is and yet I walked forever yesterday. I guess sometimes things are just not in walking distance. Again I went to the grocery store, it seems I always forget some essentials when I do survival shopping, but at least now I have yogurt and frozen vegetables, so I should be able to survive for a while on that. I am a little worried that the walk will kill me sometimes, for now it isn't bad, I can even walk it every day, but when it starts snowing... I don't know if I will be able to get myself to leave. I see signs on the side of the road that say "no parking when snow is more than 2 inches" More than 2 INCHES!!! in a city!!? Well, that says what goes through my mind every time I see that sign. And imagine, I see it every 20 feet on almost every road I walk down on the way to school. I'm definitely ordering that coat today, and I guess I should start looking for boots too. I talked to my advisor today, she seems worried that her students are all going to freeze to death, she just doesn't know that I am about 1000% more worried about the cold than anyone I know should be. Also, she recommended I sign up for a statistics class instead of the economics class I'm registered for, the only problem is that I already ordered my books on Amazon, oh, and I can't seem to find that class in the class listings at the registrars... Oh well.

Now onto things I will be getting rid of today. Mardi Gras this last year, Jose,

Sydney and I went out, on the Tuesday, to Rain, and a few other places, just to say goodbye to sugar, happiness, and alcohol. Jose had his last drink, I had my last candy, and Sydney... theoretically had her last candy as well, at least for 40 days. While there, Rain gave away beads, without flashing. So these beads (there are actually three of the, but I don't remember where the other two came from) are from Rain. If there is anything in Austin I am going to miss it will be my friends and all of the fun times I had with them. The best stories of these friends however, come from Rain. So goodbye Austin, goodbye Rain, and Hello freezing cold, huge Chicago, my new home.