A busy week? More like a busy month.

And I don't have time for editing pictures, so what you see is what you get. Straight off my phone camera, my little camera, my big camera, or stolen off of Amanda's Facebook page. I have no shame. These first pictures are in a randome order and of random things...big events are clumped together towards the end.

My roommate Alyse with the stray cat we wanted to keep. He was so sweet, and would cry outside our window all day long. We think his owner must have found him, because he hasn't been around for a few days.
The view down the highway from the 47th Street Red Line Station. We don't generally take the train from Hyde Park to other parts of the city, but when we do, it's this station. It's easier to access Hyde Park by bus, but some places are very convenient to get to by train.

This is the kind of weather we've been having. Sunny, but cold. Jackets are necessary, closed toed shoes are not. Yet.

This morning after my interviews, all dressed up.

We attended a peace rally here. You may have heard of Derrion Albert, he was an honor roll student who was dragged into a fight and beated to death on his walk home from school last year. They held this rally on the anniversary of his death to try to stop youth violence.

The view down the Chicago River from the top of the giant Whole Foods in Lincoln Park.

Didn't someone say they wanted a picture of my hair blowing in the wind? Here you go. Believe me, it happens every day.

One of the last buildings left of Cabrini-Green, a notorious public housing development in Chicago.

The buildings going up right next door. Selling from the low 300s, the signs say. It's an ideal location close to downtown, and no one is talking about the tens of thousands of people in public housing displaced by this. Chicago is eliminating all of its high rise public housing, and replacing it with basically nothing.

A building in the process of destruction.

My birthday! A very cool lunch box I got from Trudy and her family.

A homemade friendship bracelet in my choice of colors by Amanda, another girl in the program who lives above me, planned my birthday, and was the director of a summer camp this past year.

My surprise from Robert.

Sooooo delicious! Everyone enjoyed them. I tried both flavors, but loved the spice cake the best.

Cupcakes and champagne before we went out to dinner, and everyone sang happy birthday.

Dinner at Dick's Last Resort. My hat kept falling off, and it almost caught fire when the waitress lit an entire book of matches in my sundae.

Meagan's birthday! She also lives above me, and turned 20 on the 27th. I made funfetti cupcakes with rainbow chip frosting.

I left frosting off of two because she doesn't like most frosting, but she liked this kind so I later frosted those two naked ones.

We had Giordano's deep dish cheese pizza for dinner. They're a big name in Chicago, and we demolished the pizza. Meagan enjoyed her cupcake.

She even meditated with it.

Alyse is interning for a new non-profit organization called Barrio Bonito, which is basically a career building group for at risk youth with artistic talents. They were having a fundraiser at the Crimson Lounge, with all kinds of spoken word poets and rap and hip-hop artists, including some youth artists. Some of us girls volunteered to help Alyse out, and it was a good thing we did, because we were basically the only people working the entire event. It was crazy and long and a ton of fun.

Me, Meagan, and Amanda.

Maureen, me, and Meagan, and some creepy guy in the back.

A youth artist who is part of the program working on a piece in the silent auction room.

As you can tell, it's crazy busy here right now, and it doesn't seem like it's going to let up, especially since I'm starting my internship next week. I interviewed at two places today, and have decided on a position working in a school health clinic. I'm excited to get started.