Running Club

Last night I went to the first running club meeting of the Lincoln Park Pacers, the running group I just joined. I took the bus to the meeting area and actually found the place! Score. So I see this group of people come jogging in and start doing warm-ups. So I approach this girl and ask if this is the running club that meets there and she says yes and shows me the running exercises. Then this "coach" guy starts talking to everyone about sprint work and body mechanics and I start thinking...man this is WAY more intense than it sounded like online. Am I in the right place? Meanwhile, a smaller group is gathering nearby. So I ask the girl if this is the Lincoln Park Pacers and she says yes, but this is the more intense form of the group. So I told her bye and thanks and joined the group I meant to join. I had a really great run and found a few people that kept my pace pretty much exactly. It's so much more fun to jog with other people. It keeps you from taking a lot of unnecessary breaks. Then one of the people I was jogging with offered up two free Cubs tickets and I jumped on them because I've really been wanting to go to a game at Wrigley but didn't want to have to pay. Yay.

Today, I had my psychology of the child and adolescent class. The professor seems very cool and interesting. However, my brain hurts. I feel a bit out of the psychology loop at the moment since it's been two years since I did any discussion of theories, and 4 years since I discussed developmental theories. We read this brief article and discussed it and I decided I would need about 3 reads of that sucker before it really made sense. Talk about jargon! Thank God I at least have a psych background buried deep somewhere. The class seems very useful and interesting though.

I just have to get myself back in the swing of academia because the brain is like any other muscle. It has totally atrophied. It's like lifting weights after not lifting weights for two years. Your body says, "What the $^*( did you just do to me?" Owwwww. Such is my brain at the moment.

Brain hurts...

Had the first day of classes yesterday. I had Applied Behavioral Analysis, Professional Development, and Clinical and Diagnostic Skills (can't ever remember the name of the last one). It's definitely going to be a HUGE leap from undergrad. It's hard to know what to expect going in but it just seems like you have a lot more work and since classes are only once a week, they really stress time management because you have a LOT of work to do in a week. Most classes place a heavy emphasis on class participation and there are presentations in every class as well as a chance of pop quizzes. So basically be prepared or else. The last class was nuts. I haven't thought that hard in two years and we haven't even really done anything yet. I think the interviewing class (clinical skills) will be the most challenging because it's just awkward to have to videotape yourself and rewatch it in front of people.

Wish me luck! This stuff is nuts!

Epic run

This morning I walked to church--St. Mary of the Lake http://www.smolchicago.com/

which was super beautiful. Unfortunately I didn't get the feeling I want from a church in that everyone seemed kind of separate instead of a community. I might try spanish mass next week and see if I like it any better. I kind of have to keep going there no matter what though because it's only a 12 minute walk.

I went for a long run this afternoon to Navy Pier. I ran over 5 miles along the Lakeshore path. It's amazingly pretty and you get to see tons of beaches and just lots of active people which is cool to see. You also get a sweet view of the skyline and Navy Pier. Navy Pier was way way too busy--I'm obligated to say that now that I'm no longer a tourist--so I just walked around a little and then decided to find my way back. Rather than run the 5 miles back I decided to walk the mile to the Red line and ride it to Sheridan and then walk the 12 minutes back to my apartment. Note to self--always bring food since I am currently STARVING!

Week one in the windy city

So I'm going to try to find time to keep up on a blog so that everyone who cares will know what's going on here in Chicago. I'm starting a new one different than xanga because it's a whole different chapter in my life. Although I still heart xanga!

I moved in Monday to my apartment in Lakeview. Dad and Daniel drove up with me (we left at 3am!) and helped me move in. That was a trip. I don't know if I should say much more about that. I do appreciate their help though and I consider it a success because no one died, crashed into anything, the truck was returned, and the weather was amazing.

On Tuesday, I thought I had something at the school to attend, but it turns out it was the next day. It turned out good though, because I found out which bus to take and where I should get off the bus and how long it took to get downtown. Luckily we live right next to an express bus that takes you right into town in the morning in under 30 minutes. So since I had nothing else to do Tuesday we finished unpacking and went to lunch at Girodano's. I took Dad on the "L." Ask him if he liked it. ha. Dad and Daniel went home the next morning which was the day I had this thing called institute day at the school. We met some of the professors, talked about professionalism, and got some basic training on some reading testing we will be doing in schools soon. It kind of reminds me of Diebels (sp?) from Bonjour last year. I went exploring across the street that night and discovered we are 3 minutes or so from the Lakeshore running.biking path and under 10 minutes from the lake. It's really pretty sweet. Tons of people out all the time and really pretty. I just joined the Lakeshore Pacers running club which runs Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings along the lakefront so I'm going to check that out on Tuesday.

Thursday we had orientation at the school and got our ids and heard all kinds of presentations. We got to talk to some teachers at lunch and then the second years tried to scare everyone again by giving is tips for the year. Seriously it was helpful though. I mean it's nice to see proof that they survived and they had nothing but good things to say about the professors.

Friday evening we decided to be adventurous and find our way to Grant Park since they do dancing in the park Thursday-Saturday in the summer. We wanted to grab dinner first and we went to this Greek place right by the red line on Sheridan and it was kind of a bummer because it took over 35 minutes and the food was only so-so. I really need to start that food blog. Took the red line into the loop and found Grant Park. Let's just say it was quite a different crowd from the belly-dancing crowd the week before...Felt a bit out of place during the um..jazzy, R&B type music so we left and checked out Millennium Park at night which was pretty cool. We checked out a pretty cool bar before heading back. And whoa, did heading back prove interesting. We hopped on the brown line because we saw it and knew we could transfer to red from there. So we get on and should have stayed on to Belmont but they announced that you could transfer at State so we got off early. Well, it turns out you can transfer at state but you have to pay. If you wait for Belmont you can transfer free. Technicalities! So we get off and luckily see the 146 express bus that heads straight to our apartment. So we just took that. But once again I didn't have correct change so I had to overpay. Total lameness.

Saturday, I got some stuff done online since we actually had internet. Then in the afternoon we decided to find our way to the Bucktown Arts Festival. We had to take two busses to get there. The neighborhood has a completely different feel than any of the others I'd been to so far. It's very artsy and more ethnic. The festival was pretty cool and had all kinds of art I liked but couldn't afford. I ate some orange chicken from a Chinese place which was kind of a disappointment in relation to the price. (C'mon Chicago, I thought you had good food!) We watched some hip hop dancers too before heading back successfully without getting lost even once!

Today I plan on finding the church nearby and then maybe going for a longer run as well as getting a few things for school done.

Wow I'm tired.

remind me to write tomorrow.