What it means to start school again at 30

 Sunday, Sept 23 - Day II.101 (465)
Safe travels from NM, albeit delayed, to CO.

Monday, Sept 24 - Day II.102 (466) 
I'm thankful for all the help I got with my multiple car problems. 


Tuesday, Sept 25 - Day II.103 (467)
Safe travels from Omaha to Chicago. Home, again, kind of.

Wednesday, Sept 26 - Day II.104 (468)
Today I had lunch with my advisor. I know that I am lucky to work with a woman who already has tenure and multiple books out, and who is responsive and positive and completely has my back. I am very lucky, honored to work with her, and completely determined to make her proud of me.

 Thursday, Sept 27 - Day II.105 (469) 

Today was my first day of class again. I felt so childlike, in some respects.

Also, am grateful to my stellar boyfriend for all my school supplies (see above). 

Friday, Sept 28 - Day II.106 (470)
Sometimes you just need a night at home. It's been so hectic - I am grateful for the breather, before things get even more hectic.

Saturday, Sept 29 - Day II.107 (471)
I really do love the Rogers Park Fruit Market. Gotta love a place where you can get Vietnamese hot sauce, taro, feta and fresh thyme. I also went to Dominick's for the first time today. I think I like it better than Ralph's in LA...


Sunday, September 30 - Day II.108 (472)

If I'm honest, I didn't get the break I needed to be able to process how huge this shift in my life is; my transition was altogether too chaotic, terrible and all-around tardy to allow any space for that kind of reflecting. I don't feel at home here and this city just feels weird to me. There is something on edge about it in a way that I find disconcerting. I realized that I hadn't even talked about how this feels like my fake life - like I'm going to go back to USC, and to LA and my beloved community there - at some point. But this is my real life, despite what it feels like, and this is my real career, and everything matters about 1500 times more than it ever has before.

Now I'm grappling with the effects of a stressful move, while trying to gain ground and establish myself in my true profession. I'll get there. Tonight was the first night that I felt like I was owning myself, owning this decision, fitting into the capacious shoes set in front of me.  Let's be honest, this program is incredibly rigorous and cuts across subfields, so I'll be required to be proficient in biological anthropology and archaeology, both of which I have no background in & I'm diving in at the 401 level. I want, I need, to be successful at this.

So thank you, Micaela, for that.

Moving to Chicago, the final coda

Friday, Sept 14 - Day II.91 (456)
Chicago Files

Today, while still waiting for the movers to remotely arrive in a timely fashion and deliver my belongings (now that we are officially on the far side of my delivery window), I rode my bike farther down the lake shore. This time I went all the way to Navy Pier, past North Avenue Beach.

Saturday, Sept 15 - Day II.92 (457)
Chicago Files
I had to stay around my neighborhood today because of the movers delivering my mess. 
So I went for a run up to Evanston, where Northwestern is - it's about 2.9 miles, and I can run up the lake the whole way. 

 I also walked over to my fave coffee shop and got a coffee. Rogers Park has a mystery crafter, who just leaves these little guys all over. I love it!

Now that my stuff is here, I'll take off Sunday on my road trip down to New Mexico to visit my grandmother and attend Shane & Jesse's wedding (with a hot date on my arm! I'm such a lucky girl!).  So I'll post my gratitude from the road, and when I return to Chicago on the 25th, I am officially and for the foreseeable future a Chicagoan!

Poutin Stil

Day II.90 (455): Thursday, September 13
Chicago Files

I have located my local bar. Now I can really settle in.

I am starting to get my bearings here: where the Walgreens is, the Dominick's (big grocery chain), the fruit market, the train stop, the local coffee shop and the local bar...these things are key. Last night I met up with Shardul, a friend from NYU, and I picked a bar that was close to my apartment so I could walk there and home.

The bar is very laid back and has a Jack Russell terrier mascot who hangs out there, and even sits on the bar stools. This is definitely the kind of relaxed atmosphere that will help me survive grad school.

Day II.89 (454): Surmounting Bureaucracy

Chicago Files
Today was about bureaucracy. Everyone's. But particularly the Illinois DMV.

I am excited to get into why I'm here, and relieved to have the long lines and "take a number from the dispenser" do-you-have-15-irrelevant-form -collated-properly thing behind me...

Day 449 - 453: Baby steps in a new town

Day II.84 (449) - Friday, September 7
Chicago Files
I am definitely starting my Chicago Bucket list. I have at least seven restaurants on here already.
On the list:
Frontera Grill
The Girl & The Goat
Belly Shack
Koval Distillery
Goose Island Brewery
North Shore Distillery
How grateful I am to live in a place with so much to explore!

Day II.85 (450) - Saturday, September 8
Chicago Files

 When in Andersonville, check out the Brown Elephant thrift shop. It's quite the experience, housed in an old theater.

You come across some serious finds. Clearly.
Side note for gratitude: how grateful I am for this man, who makes me laugh. I'm so glad to spend time with him every chance I get, and we have a great time no matter what we do!

Day II.86 (451) - Sunday, September 9
Chicago Files
Today I learned two things about my new city:
1). Bears fans are for real. Everything you heard about them is true.
2). There is some seriously covet-worthy real estate in this town. Like this place!
(Of course the nerd in me would love to live in a conservation project)

Day II.87 (452) - Monday, September 10
Chicago Files
Chicago is a bike town. At least right now! We'll see how the two-wheelers hold up in the snow. I rode my bike from my apartment down the lakefront.
There's a golf course on the lake, and a cafe called the Clock Tower.

Day II.88 (453) - Tuesday, September 11
Chicago Files
Today I swam for the first time at Northwestern's pool. It's great - nice & big, with windows overlooking Lake Michigan.

I also visited the Roger's Park Fruit Market, at the corner of Clark and Rogers Ave. I highly recommend it: it reminds me of Three Guys in Brooklyn, my favorite place to shop for groceries in NYC. Perhaps it was the weird Jamaican spices and odd mix of immigrant foods (Asian, Caribbean, Hispanic) and delicious fresh produce, but whatever it is, it's my new go-to place in the neighborhood.