Birthday Weekend

This Sunday (jan 18) I turned 19! It was a wonderful day- Jack took me to Chicago. We hopped on the train at 7:30 AM for about a 2 1/2 hour train ride, and spent the day wandering Chicago. We went to the Institute of Art, which was AMAZING. There was a HUGE impressionist exhibit which was awesome! It is so cool to see original Monet pieces in person. Then we walked around and shopped on Michigan Avenue. Finally, we went to a pizza place to get some real deep dish Chicago pizza! It was SO GOOD! Jack's roommate is from the inner city, so he recommended this place to us. It was absolutely freezing the whole day we were there, and by the time we were at the pizza place, it was almost time to take the train home, and we were out of time. So instead of walking back we had to take a taxi halfway.
It was such a wonderful day, and so sweet of Jack to take me. It means so much more to me to go to a cool place or have a new experience than get a material gift. Jack and I were frustrated because there was SO much to see at the museum, but both of our favorite exhibits were closed/under construction (modern art and photography), so we decided we would go again next year. Hopefully next time we can go for the weekend and stay in a hostel, and then see more of the city.
Here are some pictures! They are from around Chicago, but most of them are the art museum and one is us with our deep dish pizza! enjoy

Very Cold Day/Anniversary

Today was Jack and my one-year anniversary, so at my mom's request I am doing a post with those pictures.

It was VERY cold today, about -30 windchill, and walking around campus...that is HELL! So I was very surprised when Jack walked in with a huge bouquet of my favorite colored roses and....GODIVA CHOCOLATE!

Later we went out to dinner at a yummy place called Chez Willy's. I got steak.

Love, Kate

Back at School....

Well after a good long 6 week break of eating and sleeping back in Bloomington, I finally found my way back to blustery, boring Galesburg. It was really hard to leave all my friends in the cities. I got to see most of them over break, even the ones at school, since those in school were a short drive away.
My new classes for this trimester are Microeconomics, a critical reading class, and Atmosphere and Weather. They are all very difficult and time-consuming. My econ class meets 4 days a week. So far the material isn't too tough, but there is SO MUCH READING every night! My teacher wears turtlenecks and wears her pants up really high. My favorite part is that she sounds EXACTLY like Marge Simpson .

The girl who sits next to me in econ wears a suit to class every day and it makes me wonder....Should I wear a suit to class? I keep wanting to give her a handkerchief to wipe the brown off her nose; the way laughs after our econ professor makes a (not so) witty comment makes me wonder if I missed the joke. I always sit in the front row, and so does she. It's an epic battle (one-sided...her side) Every day she comes into class, looks at me, sighs, and sits down in the chair next to me. Then, reviews the situation and decides she can't be next to someone of my echelon, stands up again, and pulls her seat a good 5 feet ahead of mine. If you can picture it, the front row now has a sort of protrusion right in the center. She likes to be about a foot away from the overhead (closer to the professor?). Sometimes I act really offended to keep her going. It's really the only thing that gets me through class.

My critical reading class is very interesting. The professor looks like Kate Winslet, and is very loud and somewhat intimidating. Today she asked a foreign student a question, and when he mumbled the answer in a Spanish accent she shot back- "HAVIERE. EITHER SAY WHAT YOU JUST SAID IN AN AMERICAN ACCENT, OR SPEAK LOUDER." Poor chap.


My atmosphere and weather class is very difficult- very physics-y. I'm NOT good with that stuff. I struggle through every class, and just try not to get to frustrated. Our professor is very good-very into what he's doing.



I did laundry tonight, and I did a load of entirely wool socks. I have a plethora of them, you see, from Christmas. Thanks Mom.



All for now, but I'll add more later. I should get back to my (endless) homework.