I took a spontaneous day trip to Chicago yesterday!! I LOVE that city! And I love it that I'm close to it now! I definitely want to go back and spend more time. We went to drop off a friend at the O'Hare airport, so we just bummed around for a while before she had to check in to her flight. It was such a blast. And the girls I went with are amazing. I took about a billion pictures. I'm just going to post some highlights:
This is me at the Lincoln Park Zoo. It's free. What a cool idea, huh? It felt so cool to just walk in. I took pictures of pretty much every animal I saw, but as some of you know, I have a dear spot in my heart for puffins. I'd never seen one in person before, and this little guy came right up to the glass to say hello. It made my day.
Wow, this place is cool. If you've never been there before, the first picture is of a giant bubble/ mirror thing that reflects the city in crazy ways. And I was really entertained by taking a thousand pictures of myself in front of it. The pillar with the face is a giant fountain that looks clear up close but far away is a projection of a really realistic looking face. There are two fountains like this and between them is a plaza full of water and a bunch of splashing little kids and sunshine and fun.
Mmmm, Chicago pizza. Check out that deep dish crust! We wanted to go to Girridanos, but the wait was too long, so instead we found this little hole in the wall place down a small street, and it was fabulous! It felt so Chicago. Watching a Cubs game on TV in a tiny packed pizza place scarfing deep dish.
And that was my first day in Chicago! Fun times indeed. I'll be back!
In other exciting Jamilyn news, I got the best letter of my life from Elder Morris that came in a Fed Ex envelope with a shirt that we pass back and forth so that it smells like him when I get it. It also came with some home made incense that he got from a neighbor in his apartment complex. Man I love my missionary! And I love incense! Wearing this shirt feels almost like a Nathan hug. I miss those. Lots.
I started my job as assistant to Professor Bruce Uchimura at WMU. I had all sorts of boring yet informative orientations and trainings and a really fun lunch meeting to discuss my position and my responsibilities for the upcoming year. Prof. Uchimura and I met at a Lebanese buffet. I think it's rad that Kalamazoo has a Lebanese buffet! With my bachelors degree in music performance, and countless hours of graduate assistant training, my first assignment was (drum roll please...) to decorate the orchestra bulletin board. My first thought was "you've gotta be kidding me!" but I actually had lots of fun, and from the before and after pictures, I think that it turned out really well!
Today is Elder Morris's birthday. My friend AnnaLaura and I volunteered to make dinner for the branch missionaries and I sort of turned it into a birthday celebration for Nathan. LOL. At the smell of home made chili, cornbread, and german chocolate cake coming from the church kitchen, about 8 more members invited themselves to the celebration too. It was completely awesome. The more the merrier, and we had plenty of food. There was cake, ice cream, candles, singing, and I took videos of it all to send to Nathan :) My favorite line was when Elder Smith, one of our branch missionaries said "Man, I wish MY girlfriend would do stuff like this for me!" Poor Elder Smith. He's the one closest to the camera in the second picture.
Other news that I have no pictures to document: I passed all but two of my placement exams, which my advisor made sure to let me know was pretty amazingly good. I didn't pass renaissance and baroque music history of all things, but it's ok. I chose my cognate, which is kind of like a minor. I am now officially a master of cello performance graduate teaching assistant with a music history cognate. Please step into my office, Dalton 1413, thanks. I feel so cool.
I also went on my first date in over TWO YEARS that wasn't with Nathan. A guy from the branch and I went on a walk around downtown Kalamazoo and then watched The Emperor's New Groove back at his place. I LOVE that movie and downtown KZoo is cute and charming, but I'm just not sure about how I feel about dating. I'll think about it some more and letcha know.
Speaking of cute and charming, I think I might have found THE PERFECT little studio apartment for me to move into. It's in the historic district of Kalamazoo, and it's in a darling yellow house... already sounds Jamilynish, right? I'm going to go look at it tomorrow and meet the landlord. If all goes well, the only trick will be getting out of my current lease. Wish me luck!