Friends visit!

Since it’s been about a week since my last post, I figured it was time for an update. Since my last post, I had several friends come visit me from North Carolina- Matt, Joel, Naman, Ivana, Emily, and Emily’s boyfriend Amr. They come up on Sunday, and I took the El into the city and met them in downtown Chicago. That day, we went to a German Christmas festival that was being held near the Thomson center, and walked around downtown seeing some of the sights. That night, we walked to Navy Pier, and then headed back to my apartment for a pasta dinner. On Monday, we slept in, and then prepared a picnic lunch to eat on the shores of Lake Michigan. I showed everybody my lab, and then we ate at the lakefill on campus overlooking Chicago and played some frisbee in the cold wind. That night we saw Second City with a few of my MatSci friends. For those of you who don’t know, Second City is a sketch comedy/improv show where a large percentage of SNL stars originally got their start, like Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, etc. It was a riot, and I would definitely recommend it to anybody who will be in the Chicago area.

On Tuesday, we headed into the city around noon and had lunch in Millenium Park. Afterwards, we ice skated in the park for an hour or so before heading to the Sears Tower. We went up to the Skydeck after nghtfall, and the view was simply amazing- I had never been up before at night, and the lights of the city were just incredible to see. To finish off the night, we saw a UNC basketball game in a bar in Chicago, and had Giordano’s deep dish pizza for dinner. Before going to sleep we watched a few episodes of House from the DVD I got Naman.

On the last day everybody was there, Emily drove up to Milwaukee to see a friend, but the rest of us headed back to the shores of Lake Michigan and made s’mores before heading out. They dropped me off at the grandparents’ house that evening and immediately proceeded to Cincinatti for the night. It was awesome to see my UNC friends again, and I hope they visit frequently. The Vora triplets will have to come up this summer since they were unable to come up this time around. And of course, I expect Rez to come up and visit again even though he couoldn’t make it this time.

More to come later about Christmas at the grandparents.

First semester is done!

Well, since my last post I've had an exciting few weeks. Last week was my final exam week, which was basically spent studying into the wee hours of the night for 3 days in a row. Despite all the long nights and grumbling, I ended up with a 3.90 GPA for the quarter, so I guess I can't complain too much. I'm glad to get my Physics of Solids class behind me though. Let's just say it was the hardest final exam I've had... ever.

This week is my unofficial baking week. On Monday, I went to the Shull group Christmas dinner from 6:30-11:30. It was filled with a lot of good food, company, and conversation, and I rather enjoyed myself. I brought Death by Chocolate, but half of it still remains in my refrigerator despite my attempts to pawn it off on my friends. Last night, Nikhil and Andres came over and we made sugar cookies, poppyseed bread and metal muffins. Somehow my timing got all screwed up in the midst of everything and I was up til 3 am waiting for the metal muffins to stop rising so I could put them out in pans. I've decided I need more airbake sheets because the dark ones I have cook the bottoms of the dough too much and I don't like it. Anyway, since I put them out so late I had to wait until noon to bake them, so I came back to the apartment during lunch and baked them all. I still have issues with my oven. I think it's never at the right temperature, so I tried turning up the heat, but then the metal muffins were done in like 6 minutes, so who knows.

I've been trying to get some work done in lab this week. I've got a Materials Science Student Association dinner to go to tonight (hence the metal muffins), and tomorrow my group is in charge of coffee hour (hince the poppyseed bread and cookies). I've got some chemicals I need to order, but I'm planning on mooching off some other groups until I get them in. Naman, Matt, Joel, and Emily Cupito are coming this weekend to visit me, so I'll probably take next week off as I'm planning to leave for Champaign on Wednesday anyway.

Anyway, I've got to head back to the apartment so I'll have to write more later. I hope all is well.

SNOW!!

A front view of my apartment complex- my apartment is on the first floor in the back right.

A view of my walk to campus. The El is visible on the tracks.

The church across the street from my apartment building.

A random light post that I thought looked kind of cool.

I've got to get back to studying, but I hope you enjoy the pictures!