Trips Into ChiCAgo, Lightning, Running Through the Woods, and MORE Crazy Weather!

An eventful, fun-filled, action packed three days! Well, kind of.

I seem to sit here and write when there's some crazy weather phenomenon going on, and so tonight is no exception. There was a tornado watch today!!! What? I have never a part of something like that! I really don't think there was any possibility of it hitting Chicago and Des Plaines, but it was crazy none the less. The weather was a bit windy all day, and then around 4 pm it got even more windy and dark and overcast -- on the longest day of the year, of course. Now there's a bit of thunder and lightning, so I'm assuming it will start raining again. This is so different from summer in California, it's nuts.

I know I said I was going to go to the International Museum of Surgical Science on Saturday, but I didn't....sad face. Andy and I still went into Chicago, but instead we met up with some other interns from Lake County who were in for the weekend and went to the Planetarium. Unfortunately, that's not one of the places where we get in for free with our Abbott badges, but apparently we do get in free to the Field Museum, the Aquarium, and the Art Institute, as well as a few other places, which of course we will have to check out because we are college students and we love free stuff! It was relatively easy to get into the city -- we took the hotel shuttle to the El station at O'Hare, and $2.25 and 40 minutes later we we in the Loop. From there, we walked by Navy Pier and along Lake Street (which runs along Lake Michigan). It was a really nice day, somewhat hot, but incredibly nice out and the view of the Lake was pretty amazing. There were so many people running and riding bikes there; everyone seems to love working out in Chicago, it was cool to see. About two or three miles later, we hit the Field Museum and the Planetarium. We met some people at the Planetarium, and spent a few hours inside. It was really nice inside; not sure if it was worth the money, but it was fun. Afterwards, Andy and I checked out my guide book and found a delicious diner about two blocks from where we were (Eleven City Diner on Wabash -- great food if you ever have the chance!). The food was delicious, the people were nice, and I left feeling so full I could hardly move. My kind of place! We then headed back to Des Plaines on the El and called it a day around 8 pm.

The next morning was Sunday, which meant it was my long run day (see Coach, I actually did it!). There's a bunch of woods across the street from where I am staying, so I figured there had to be a trail in it somewhere, which definitely sounded way more appealing than running along the streets with traffic, and would be much nicer on my knees and shins than concrete. After exploring for a bit, I did find a trail, which I took about a mile and half in one direction and then turned around and came back. I passed where I started and went about a mile further, and then came back about half a mile to my hotel. I did almost 5 miles altogether, which is the longest run I have done in....ever. It was a really nice run, through the woods and running with butterflies, dragonflies....and mosquitoes. I thought they only came out at night? Nope, I have about ten bites to prove that they just love me at any time of the day! Andy says it's reason to never go outside. But! The coolest thing that happened to me on my run was that I got about 10 FEET from a deer! I was running along, just taking in the view, when all of a sudden there was a deer to my left a little off the trail. I stopped suddenly, and so did the deer. I have no idea if it was male or female, but I continued to stand still for about a minute until it ran off. It was so amazing and beautiful.

After the awesomeness of all of that, I sat outside in the courtyard of my hotel and started reading for a good long time. I just started reading "The Girl Who Played With Fire" by Stieg Larsson, and if you have not read any of his books, I highly, highly recommend them. His first is "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo", and is the first in the trilogy. The first was amazing in it's level of detail and research; and they take place in Sweden, which is different. The third book in the trilogy, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest", just was released in May, and I cannot wait to read it. I started the first book in mid May, and I had it read within about four days, which in itself is pretty amazing since I had so much homework to do, but also these books are about 700 pages long. But they just suck you in -- so, beware, don't start unless you have a lot of extra time laying around. I also just finished "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. Now, I just need to see the movie -- I had heard that I needed to read the book before I watched the movie, so I did. The book was really good -- it got into a pattern near the middle, which you can see if you read the book, but it was an interesting way of detailing that it truly is the journey -- or I guess, the road you take -- not the destination that matters.

Went back to work this morning, and I still don't have much to do. A lot depends on knowing a lot of the manufacturing areas, which requires this tour that a PDP was setting up for all of us interns. However, it had to be rescheduled due to a deadline being Wednesday for the PDPs in my department. So, for now, I am reading a lot on how to classify buildings and rooms, and hopefully it will save me a lot of work later on. I have a breakfast meeting tomorrow (I swear, these people love getting up early. And I don't.) at 7 am, but at least I get those hours. I am quickly discovering that I am not told to go home. My manager doesn't care too much about the hours I keep as long as I work full time throughout the work, and so if I put in a little extra time throughout the week then I get to leave early on Friday. I am not expected to be at my desk all the time, but I am expected to get my work done on time and done well. I guess this is what real life will be like, right?

Well, it just started raining, and there's definitely thunder and lightning now. I have heard more thunder and lightning in my one week here (One week down, 12 to go!) than I heard in the last year in San Luis Obispo. Weird, right?

This weekend is the Taste of Chicago kick off, and all of us interns are going to go down Saturday and gorge ourselves on the delicious food and amazing atmosphere. I am so excited it's not funny...we'll eventually go to IMSS, but the museum will be there, and like I said, I have 12 weeks to go. Oh! And I finally got some delicious deep dish pizza. It was here in Des Plaines, and I'm sure I'll eat better in Chicago, but until I have that opportunity, this was the best. It even had all of my fave foods -- cheese, pepperoni, and bacon. Holy Moly it was DELICIOUS (haha Susan, I win).

Lesley