A Day That Did Not Lack in Excitement

Today was the day we finally left for Chicago. I got to school around 3:45 AM, and I was pretty confident that I had everything. My bags weighed in fine, and everything was going smoothly until around 5:00 AM, when Jahnvi, who had glasses on, was saying something. It came to my mind that Jahnvi doesn’t usually wear glasses, and as I thought about it I realized that I had forgotten my contact lenses at home. I kind of panicked at this realization because the shuttle to take us to the airport was supposed to come at any minute, so I made the impulse decision to sprint back to the house (with Don’s permission) to get them. While I was running, I was thinking about how some people put themselves through this type of physical torture voluntarily, which kind of distracted me from the burn in my lungs. I made it back to school in around 15 minutes, which is pretty impressive when you take into account that the return journey is mostly uphill. As I jogged in pantingly, my sense of fatigue was replaced with relief as I saw that the shuttle had yet to arrive. It ended up coming to get us around 20 minutes later, and from there on the journey to Oakland Airport was fairly straightforward. 

The view from the plane.

I was in a window seat next to Lindsay on the plane. The flight was fairly uneventful, but there was a cute baby sitting a few rows up that waved at us a couple of times. The only other event of note was the descent, which was very sharp and seemingly dangerously close to the ground.

My bedroom at Omni.

A look at the Centennial Wheel.

When we landed in Chicago, we rode in an SUV to the Omni Hotel, where check-in was pretty straightforward. The hotel shocked me with how extravagant it was. I’m the only boy on the trip, so I had a room to myself, and it was really nice to have some time to unwind after all of the hubbub earlier in the day. The bathroom had border-lit mirrors, and the headrest on the bed was backlit. All of the furniture was soft, and I took a quick 15-minute nap on the bed before we had to meet back down at the lobby. From there, we took a Lyft down to Navy Pier. 

The first thing we did at Navy Pier was eat. We all ordered pizza from a stall in the food court, and I was honestly not expecting much. When it came, however, everyone was pleasantly surprised. I’ve been watching a lot of Gordon Ramsay videos recently, and so I’ve started to pay more attention to the quality of the food I eat. Despite some grease that collected in the wrinkles of the cheese, the pizza was quite well done. 

After we ate, we walked around the entirety of the pier before getting on the Centennial Wheel. The Centennial Wheel was a great experience-we got to see all of Navy Pier from the sky, as well as more of Lake Michigan. As we boarded, I was expecting one, maybe two, times around the wheel, but we got to ride it for three full revolutions. That may not sound like much, but it feels like a really long time when traveling around 200 feet off the ground. When the ride was finished, we decided to walk to the 360 Observatory. 

Group photo while in line for Centennial Wheel.

The 360 Observatory was incredible. We had a view of Chicago from every possible angle. Being that high off the ground really put things into scale for me. It reminded me that despite how important I am to myself, to people who don’t know me I’m just another speck walking around on the street. After around 20 minutes of taking in the sights, we got on the Tilt ride. Basically, what happens on the Tilt is you hold on to a set of poles, and then you are lowered over the city with nothing but your grip and a pane of glass to keep you from death. The ride was exhilarating, and it was nice to be able to sort of feel what it’s like to hover in mid-air. Unfortunately, the scare factor kind of disappeared for me after my arms got tired and I had to support myself by putting my head against the glass. 

The view from the 360 Observatory.

We went back to the hotel after the 360 Observatory, and I didn’t do much but edit my photos and put up this blog. The first day of this trip has been packed with activities and fun, and it feels like a week has passed since this morning. Tomorrow we get our first taste of academics at a tour of Northwestern, and I’m excited for it.