Day 5: Wednesday, 3/16After meeting with Jennifer's former teacher, Rachelle, in the morning, we decided to go see the Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, IL upon her suggestion- due to the intricate architecture and beauty. There are only 8 Baha'i Houses of Worship in the world, with the one in Wilmette being the only House of Worship in North America. A half hour drive from Jennifer's house, I was extremely surprised when she told me that she did not even know of its existence. It was sunny and windy outside, so we did manage to capture several good shots. I was in awe of the architecture the entire time I was there- everything was so detailed and complex. Day 6: Thursday, 3/17Thursday was a lazy day. I tried to catch up on some schoolwork and watched some TV shows on Netflix. For lunch, Jennifer treated me to steak tacos from a local supermarket. I probably mentioned this before, but being an absolute foodie makes me really appreciative of all the different types of foods that I eat. This meal deserves two thumbs up for being yummy and cheap. Jennifer's dad also grilled various meats for dinner which I ate with Jennifer's mom and aunt (Jennifer was taking a "nap" for two hours). As you can tell, my stomach was treated very well throughout the trip :) Day 7: Friday, 3/18Headed back into the city for some more fun in the morning and afternoon! This time around, the weather was very cooperative, so photos turned out better :D FINALLY took Jennifer to eat at a dim sum restaurant. This location of Minghin Cuisine was more Westernized- no dim sum carts with employees advertising the contents inside. We ordered dim sum from a piece of paper (with pictures) and the dishes were brought to us on plates and not bamboo containers. I had another opportunity to practice my Cantonese with the servers! Day 8: Saturday, 3/19
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Day 4: Tuesday, 3/15Jennifer and I woke up bright and early to catch the 7:10am Metra train at the Waukegan station to Chicago, which is about a 1.5 hour train ride. The weather wasn't the greatest; it was a bit gloomy and cloudy. We took some photos near the Field Museum before heading in...
We also watched a half-hour documentary on the Galapagos Islands (which Jennifer fell asleep to- we were both very tired) that was included with our tickets. The Field Museum was sooooooooo big! We were there from 9am until 2:30pm. Overall, I left the museum feeling pretty satisfied. After going to the Field Museum, we made a detour to the Uniqlo store. Jennifer and I were originally planning on visiting the store on Friday, but her zipper on her jacket broke, so we detoured to find her a new one! I have been wanting to visit Uniqlo since forever (okay, maybe like a few years) but there's no Uniqlo store in Atlanta. Both of us love the store's clothing design: simple, classy, and elegant. Their sale prices for their winter clothes are also super cheap, so if we do go back on Friday, I might buy a bit more for next winter's wardrobe.
For dinner, we went to Lou Malnati's for a traditional Chicago-style deep dish pizza. There were some shots of me taken by Jennifer showing my eating habits...but I decided not to include those pictures to keep my image intact :D Monday, 3/14
In the afternoon, Jennifer drove me around the outskirts of Waukegan. I accompanied her visit back to her high school and met several of her teachers and friends from JROTC, a program for high school students who have strict discipline and are interested in the military regimen. After the long tour of Waukegan, Jennifer took her siblings and I to the movies at the nearby Gurnee Mills mall. All of us watched the recently released Disney movie, Zootopia; it was super heartwarming and filled with child-like humor (which I find hilarious- not sure if that's good or bad). Out of the entire theater, there was only a kid (under 8) in the audience. :D Afterwards, we ate dinner at Portillo's, a tourist-y restaurant for Chicago-styled hotdogs. There weren't that many people (because it's Monday) so I was glad :) Heading off to Chicago tomorrow for a day filled with museum visits!
Day 1: Saturday, 3/12Unfortunately, I woke up to the noise of my roommate leaving our dorm at 4:30am and couldn't fall back asleep so I didn't get too much sleep. I ended up doing laundry at 6:30am and cleaning the dorm at 8am. Cafe Mac (Macalester's cafeteria) doesn't open during Spring Break, so Jennifer and I decided to grab brunch before heading off to the airport. We learned our lesson from last time; we paid for an overpriced lunch at the airport and it wasn't even that great. This time, we visited The Neighborhood Cafe, about a 3 blocks' walk from campus, and ate brunch there. Overall, the meal was super fulfilling and definitely left me happy and satisfied. They were super busy and people were even waiting outside for tables at 9:30am. After brunch, we finished cleaning our dorms and left for the airport at 1pm to catch a 2:25pm flight. In case you don't already know from all of my food pictures, I'm an absolute foodie! I love trying new foods and am constantly hunting down the best (most authentic) places to eat Cantonese cuisine in the US. When I saw that Chicago's Chinatown had a highly rated Hong Kong-styled bakery, I HAD to go! So after Jennifer's dad picked us up from the airport, off to Chiu Quon Bakery we went! Most of the pastries were $1 or $1.25, cheaper than those in Atlanta, so I was very happy (and so was my wallet). I successfully(!) ordered in Cantonese and bought 1 蓮蓉餅 (Lotus seed paste pie), 2 蛋撻 (egg tarts), 1 葡撻 (Portuguese-styled egg tart), and 1 菠蘿叉燒包 ("Pineapple" barbecued pork bun). I was really surprised when I shared the pastries with Jennifer's family- her sister really liked the egg tart (mostly because it's a less sweetened version of flan), and her dad loved the lotus seed paste pie and the pineapple bbq pork bun! Day 2: Sunday, 3/13After eating a brunch with the family, Jennifer drove me around Waukegan. The weather wasn't that great- rainy and gloomy. On a whim, Jennifer's parents decided to take all of us to Medieval Times, a dinner show that includes a jousting tournament set in... the Medieval time period. It was filled with not-so-real acting, but the show was really amusing to watch and I was thoroughly entertained :) Huge thanks to Jennifer's parents for taking all of us out to see the show!!! Muchas gracias! I'm currently writing this post at 12:09am, so I'm going to close my laptop and sleep now! Day 3 will be another chill day at Waukegan- hopefully, I'll end up getting some school work done too!
Good night! Sorry for not updating my blog recently! There are just too many things that I want to do and not enough time!!! A few weeks ago, Jennifer and I decided to leave the Mac bubble. Both of us have seen really pretty photos of the Minneapolis Central Library (with its modern style) in downtown so we decided to commute 45 minutes and spend 5 hours studying on the 4th floor. Here are 2 photos that I took of the library- it's huge! Founder's Day: Happy 142th birthday, Macalester!Aside from having a paper due in 5 hours for my International Studies class, Spring Break has officially begun! I will be flying to Chicago with Jennifer tomorrow afternoon and staying with her family for a week. Yay for being a stereotypical Chicago tourist for a week :D I'm excited to see other parts of the Midwest!
In other news, I have chosen my worksite for Bonner for the next three years. I was lucky enough to get my first choice placement, so I will be working as the Activate program assistant at the Science Museum of Minnesota! |
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February 2018
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