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.

Holidays

Freshman year of college I was terrified I would feel lonely during the holidays. Thanksgiving I went out of my way to find someone to spend the weekend with. A few of my friends offered to let me go with them, but luckily my cousin was willing to take me with her to her father's farm and even to her inlaws place and I jumped on the opportunity to spend the weekend with family. My aunt from Austin is often out of town for Thanksgiving weekend at a conference so I spent the time with the other side of the family. Every year since then I found a way to have at least one Thanksgiving dinner with my cousin (she usually has three as her parents are divorced and her inlaws want to see her as well) and I enjoy my time. Each year I have been reminded of my first year with her. The farm was fun..even though they all joked about me attending UT instead of A&M and the town was about as Texas as they come. Meeting my cousin in laws family also allowed me a break from the every day. Holidays always do and I think they are provided to us for just that reason. Every once in a while we have to be able to step out of our normal lives to understand how comfortable they are for us upon our return to them.
Anyway, my blog is not about family and holidays but about getting rid of unwanted or not necessary items. After Thanksgiving my first year in college I took home left overs (mostly mashed potatoes and turkey if I remember correctly) in this tupperware. Since then I have used this for food of my own, and always intended to return it to it's owner. My cousin definitely does not need any more storage containers in her house and this was an old one, but I still feel bad borrowing and not returning....however, with the scratches in one corner, the fact that I have had it for almost 5 years and she does not have room for this one in her cabinets I think it is safe to say I can throw this tupperware away without feeling bad about it.
But how am I going to spend Thanksgiving when I am in Chicago!?

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One Week

I leave Austin in a little less than one week for Chicago. While this does not warrant my lack of a post yesterday, it still serves the purpose of making my brain freak out silently about everything I have to get done before I go. Moving is always a hard thing to do, there is so much to get done, and often it is hard to even figure out what it is that needs to be done. For today's item I am getting rid of a couple things from one of the first places I went to when moving to Austin. At UT I worked in the convenience store in the dorms I lived in, and started about a week after I moved in, and worked there diligently for two years. While I had problems through those years, with my coworkers (mostly it was just that a few got on my nerves or that many did not like to work their hours during finals) I attribute a lot of my maturity to that job. In the beginning I was shy, scared to man a cash register because it meant I had to talk to all of the customers, and by the end that was my favorite part, even after I was promoted. That job brought me out of my shell, allowed me to realize that I was not going to be negatively judged by every person. In high school I was shy, but still had many friends and was liked by most people. Coming to UT, which was about 100 times the size of my high school, I felt dwarfed, only to slowly realize I am only as small as I allow myself to be. Most people see a city as what they experience in it every day, few people can draw a good, full map of their city, but rather know just the parts that they drive through, or work in, or live near. While Austin has almost 1 million people, Chicago has nearly 3 million, yet I know that once I get settled I will find my niche and not need to feel the pressure of those millions of people.

Here's to new beginnings, by getting rid of part of my beginning in Austin I will be able to see Chicago in a better light.