Island, Bean, Beach, Food - Chicago

Memorial Day Weekend and I spent it in Chicago! I decided to go visit my best friend, Zee, from high school who goes to school in there. Took the Megabus over at 1 in the morning. The time doesn't bug me that much, it is just that I hate long bus rides. I find them incredibly uncomfortable. Same with airplane rides. Got to her place at 7 in the morning and crash for a few hours. Second best sleep over the weekend. Best is coming up. Showered and got ready to go out at around noon. Breakfast was a great Einstein's Cinnamon Sugar Bagel. We then headed to one of UChicago's Faternity parties - Island. 

Has anyone seen the show Greek? This reminded me of a Kappa Tau party. The pledges dug a moat in the backyard in which had a three legged turtle in it (wah? I don't know). There was a band playing, BBQ, and just a ton of silly people. I was looking around for Cappie. It was a lotta fun though. Met a bunch of people, I was someone's best friend for about five minutes, drank a lot, didn't get dunked in the moat thankfully, ice luged, and all that fun stuff. It was so....Greek =P

Me and Zee at Island! They had two locations for more errr refreshments.

Yes, we kinda match. Love her

Needless to say, we crashed mucho early. Before napping though we got Harold's Chicken! Great stuff I tell you. It is becoming a tradition of ours to get Harold's Chicken when I visit. It is basically fried chicken in this type of BBQ sauce, fries, and bread. Yummy.

Best sleep? That was nap after chicken. Knocked out like no other. Unfortunately, waking up wasn't fun.  

Into the City of Chicago - Millennium Park

This cool Dino in Millennium Park - It says Made in China on its belly.

Next morning (today), more like afternoon by the time we got up. Zee took me around Chicago. I've only been to the city one before and hadn't really seen anything past UChicago. It was a beautiful day and I was excited to be exploring the city. Zee was like my personal tour guide - minus the matching tshirts and tacky double decker buses (actually that would have been fun).

We went to Millennium Park - a must stop for all tourists of course. It had a lot of really cool sculptures and architecture. And speaking of cool sculptures - of course we had to go see...

The Bean!

Another staple of Chicago. It really is super cool. I of course hit my head on the Bean as we were trying to take cool reflection pictures. Bahh. Aside from the park we took a walk by the Chicago River, which I learned gets turned Green for St. Patty's day, Navy Pier (cute touristy place where I got a Chicago Keychain!) and North Ave Beach! 

  

Now when you say Chicago, I don't think Beach. I kind of forget that the Lakes are near by. But the beach was really nice! We went to North Av Beach where you are right next to the skyscrapers of the city. We sunbathed for awhile - I realized that I have a bandaid tan line on my leg - and just enjoyed the sun. Got to wear my new bathing suit! Yep, I am such a girl.

Me and Starfruit! Oooh I think I look a little tanner!

After the beach we headed to Chinatown! We took a pitstop at Startfruit, this very yummy froyo place. Technically I learned that it isn't froyo but Kefer. Either way, it was really refreshing especially on a 80 degree weather day. I got the pomegranate flavored one with chocolate chips and Zee got a smoothie. I want more. 

Chinatown was next! *insert Asian joke here*  It reminded me actually a bit of Chinatown in New York actually. We stopped at this rather popular restuarant for dinner. I got this Beef specialty noodle soup - it came in a bowl the size of a sink basin. OMG I just remembered that I have leftovers in the fridge. That makes me super excited.

Exhausted after a day of being a tourist but it was a very good weekend! Loved seeing my Zee and spending the weekend partying and sight seeing! Chicago is so fitting for her and I can see why she likes it so much. There is so much going on in this City that I definitely want to come back. Not in the winter - not a very friendly person when it is cold. 

Later Chicago!!!! 

Kicking off the Summer Bucket List

It was decided that this summer, since so many awesome people were staying at WashU, was going to be the Best Summer Ever. My friend Nate compiled a list of fun things that we wanted to do and see this summer! For most of us, we haven't seen most of St. Louis even though we have all been here for at least two years. Being in St. Louis was a new experience for me when I flew out here for college. I feel like I should take advantage of this place! So this is me documenting some of our adventures this summer


Cherokee Street

My friend and I decided one day take a trip to a St. Louis neighborhood because we had just gotten off of work and had nothing else to do. He had picked up a St. Louis magazine during work so we read through their attractions, and we decided to drive to the Cherokee-Lemp Historic District in St. Louis. Why? It sounded cool! This district is famous for its antique shops and it had a lot of its historic culture still infused in the neighbor hood. It was something different. We ended up stopping at the corner of Cherokee and California (a lot of the streets there are named after American states) and sat down for a Mexican meal! We ate outside on the sidewalk at this restaurant where they claim is "Where Mexico Lives!". A bit cheesy (plastic metal chairs, televisions with Spanish music videos that happened to just have the same guy in each video) but it was part of the fun. Great food, more authentic then most other Mexican places. Got a pina colada and in came in an actual pineapple! The waiter nicely warned me of the extra rum he added. 

We also checked out the grocery shop that was attached to the restaurant afterwards. It all looked very family owned and less touristy - which was cool. Yay for some St. Louis culture!

Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis

Once again, we were bored and did not have work! So me and three others decided to take a quick trip out into the city. Our first stop was to the St. Louis Basilica. I had never been there and it was stated as a must see for St. Louis. It was really beautiful. The entire ceiling and parts of the walls are covered in mosaics that depict different biblical stories and the details were meticulous. 

 It is a relatively new basilica. 1907 was the ground breaking and the work continued for 80 years. I know it isn't the biggest basilica ever built (not even close) but I haven't been to many and this one definitely made me feel dwarfed. After taking Architectural History this semester, I was able to understand a lot of the details of the building. Made me feel somewhat smart. This building was different because it is a modern cathedral that took traditional architectural characteristics. Definitely a cool place to check out if you are in St. Louis. Gorgeous to look at. 

Gooey Louie

Snack time! For those who don't know about Gooey Butter Cake, it is this marvelous cake, made by accident, that is famous in St. Louis. This cake, is more goo than cake. Sugary, buttery, yumminess. After the Cathedral Basilica, we drove to Gooey Loui, the shop where these delicious desserts are made and sold and all got a $2 sample cake. There are a ton of flavors - we got original, chocolate chippewa (chocolate chip), and a raspberry glaze one. All great! 

The shop itself is super cute, yellow and purple with the adorable Gooey Louie Character everywhere. It is family owned, everything is made from scratch (no mass productions), and as I found out on their website, they do deliver long distances. Maybe I'll send some home.  St. Louians LOVE this stuff. Highly recommended =)

We ended up driving to the St. Louis Art Museum, sat on Art Hill, and ate our Gooey Louie Cakes in content.

Photos from Toastedrav.com and marls.org

Syberg's  

After work tonight, we then decided to take a trip to Syberg's. It was recommended to us by our boss actually - she is very excited to be contributing to our Summer Bucket List. She did say that if we want the real St. Louis experience, we should take a six pack of beer and go hang out in a cemetery. 

Well tonight, we went to Syberg's. It is this sports bar that is famous for its mustard bbq sauce. Even though none of us got any! We did get wings - teryiaki, grilled, buffalo - and they were very good. I have pictures but they are stuck on my phone (my camera broke over spring break - saddest thing). It seemed like a chill spot with Yahtzee games on the table (why Yahtzee?) and Shark Bits (did not try it, sort of wish I did but I feel like I would have gotten a bit sick). Over all, I feel like if I lived around there, this would be a place to hang out on a simple weeknight. 

My First Tidbit

My First Blog Post. Unfortunately, nothing exciting to post about. I started a blog because...well because. I wanted to probably isn't the best of reasons but then again, who says I need one? Blogs to me are journals and I have tried countless times in my life to keep a steady journal about my life. Needless to say, I failed every time. So hopefully the blog can keep all the things I've wanted to say and hope to say during my life now.

To start of - It is the beginning of summer! My first summer away from home actually. That is a bit of lie. I've been to China for equally as long of a period but I was with my family. This time, I am living and working on my own and in a state that is far from home. I am interning at Washington University in St. Louis this summer in the Summer Conference Office.

Essentially I am helping to organize the hosting of all the various events that happen at WashU over the summer. I am one of six interns who are all my friends, I have plenty of other friends staying here this summer, and my boyfriend will soon be coming back as well. So I really, am not alone. Also, the compensation for this job is really good. I get housing paid for and am living in a three person modern suite to myself. I got money for food and get paid hourly. I am not complaining.

Picture of the St. Louis Arch - Fitting I thought

A part of this summer includes this Summer Bucket List. My friend decided to create one because we do have so much time off, we have nothing else to do, and we are all together so we want to make this a kick ass summer. So hopefully, along with my ramblings and tidbits, this blog will be used to document some of those adventures.