Chicago and Movie Marathons!

Hi Everyone!
Welcome to what is likely the penultimate blog from snowy Wisconsin!
You may have already seen the photos from Chicago so here is the accompanying blog! I’d just like to point out that this time in 2 weeks I will be home and I am so excited about it and...20 days till Christmas, YAY!
Last week classes finished on Wednesday afternoon for Thanksgiving break, Thanksgiving being Thursday the 27th of November. As my halls closed on Wednesday and the Chicago trip didn’t leave until Thursday morning I stayed the night at my host family’s house. We went out for dinner and then went to see Four Christmases afterwards a definite Oscar contender, Reese Witherspoon is exceptional and the screenplay was outstanding.
At 6.30 on Thursday morning we set off for Chicago and arrived there at 1 in the afternoon. I went with a friend for a walk around which is when I saw the Bean and got a general idea of the area. The hostel we stayed in was lovely and in a great location making everything really accessible.
Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday with the other international students took us to Chinatown where I had a very questionable Lemon Chicken. Luckily I didn’t see it again later that night; I miss Tai Pan in Northwood! As the bus wasn’t departing until 2 hours after we finished dinner I decided to leave Chinatown in favour of the Cinema! I went with my friend Kristine (from Latvia) and went to see Milk with Sean Penn. I pre planned all my movie going for Chicago, hoping to see all the movies that aren’t shown in Eau Claire in place of more intellectual movies such as the aforementioned Four Christmases! Milk was fantastic and Sean Penn was especially good, a sure nomination for the Oscars in February.
The day after Thanksgiving in America is known as Black Friday, the biggest shopping day in the year where all the stores have huge sales and often some opening before 3 in the morning! I left the hostel at 7.30 on Friday to explore and went for a walk around the shops which were nowhere near as bad as I expected, I got a hoody and a couple of pairs of jeans. After a lunch I went to the Art Institute for the afternoon which was great, however extremely hard to navigate. They are having work done to one of the main wings there and in addition to a terrible floor plan it made it really hard to find the exhibits I wanted to see. It also resulted in my getting locked out of the back of the gallery when I got lost and found myself in the construction site outside the building! Thankfully someone was around who managed to let me back in the building and send me in the right direction!
Me being me, on Friday night I went to see another movie called Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle who also directed Trainspotting. Milk was great don’t get me wrong but Slumdog was outstanding, with a very clever story and great performances it is one of my favourite films of the year so far. Slumdog Millionaire is to India what City of God was for Brazil.
On Saturday, my second full day in Chicago I left the hotel at 8.30 with a friend and we went up the Sears Tower which was awesome! Though it didn’t feel taller than the Empire State, likely because you are inside, the views were amazing.
After the Sears tower and a Starbucks run, I went to the Field Museum to check out a special exhibit called the Aztec World which mirrored a whole section of my Ancient Mexico and Central America class. The exhibition was really interesting and good revision as well! I checked out some of the other exhibits at the Field Museum which were also really good and then went to get some Dinner and to see another movie! 4 days, 4 movies, I know! And I went to see another movie today! On Saturday I saw Rachel Getting Married an independent film with Anne Hathaway in it as a recovering addict released from rehab to attend her sister’s wedding. Anne Hathaway was really good and there’s talk of an Oscar nod for her which sounds about right. After the movie I went for a late night walk around, a bit more shopping and eventually went to bed with very sore feet! I did however manage to find new insoles for my UGG boots which I was very excited about as they feel like they’re brand new again!
Sunday morning I went for breakfast and an early walk before we had to head back to Eau Claire but didn’t get much done as we had to leave at 11am.
Chicago was awesome though, really clean city and lots to see, even the tramps are friendly!
Only 12 days until I come home now and I’m really excited to get back.
There should be one more blog before I leave, hope everyone is well, see you all soon!
Hannah
Xxx
P.S. If you didn’t catch my sarcasm, to avoid my sending you to a really substandard Christmas movie, Four Christmases was crap! Go and see any of the other three instead.