Friday 17^th of October

Let's go to the windy city! I woke up at 5.45 because at 6.50 we had to met Stephanie and the other exchange students from North Indiana at the train station. Unfortunately, our train was 30 minutes late so we had time to go buy breakfast at the gas station. Then I met Queen, from Vietnam, (I have no idea how to write her name in the right way but it sound like “queen” so I will call her like this). There also were Laura (spain), Laureen (germany), Tessje and Kendall who I already knew.

And of course my favorite, Stephanie! (our AC)

6 exchange students from North Indiana, ready to discover the windy city!

 Our train was pretty big, we had a lot more room in it than the swiss ones! I was really tired because I only slept 4 hours last night (Mason came in my bed and we talked a long time) but I was so exited to go to Chicago that I couldn't sleep! So I just talked with the other students and Stephanie about our life here. It was super to hear again the experience that other teenager are living in the same time as me ! After 3 long hours, we finally arrived in the Union Station..in CHICAGO!!! 

When we went out, it was like a movie: huge buildings, big roads, people walking very fast, taxis, shops... In fact I found that it looked exactly like New York...in a bit smaller! The weather wasn't as bad as I thought, of course it was cloudy but it was around 15 degrees celcius so not too bad for this season in Chicago! We took the subway to go leaving our bags at our hostel. The subway also is like in the movies: Long, grey, and hard to understand! There were around 6 different lines, by colors, in every direction...We bought a pass for 3 days because the subway in here is very expensive (2.50$ each time). After 15 minutes, we arrived in our station. Our hostel was 5 minutes away from the famous baseball field. Just in case, a hostel is the bottom of the hotel chain... Fancy hotel-hotel-youth hotel-hostel. But when we arrived we couldn't see our rooms because we were too early so we just left our bags in an empty one and we left to return to downtown. Everybody was hungry so we decided to go to the Hard Rock café. It was the first time I went to a Hard Rock café and my first time was in Chicago! I just loved it! There were clothes that stars wore on concerts all over the walls, rock musics on TV everywhere, signatures from celebrities...it was awesome! We commended hamburgers and french fries and it was yummy! When we finally left, just behind, there were a famous McDonald, on 2 floors..the biggest I've ever seen!

And just next to that, another restaurant very special.. When we came into, it was like if we just arrived in the jungle! There were trees everywhere, aquariums, plastic monkeys that moved, waterfalls, crocodiles...

the front of the restaurant

The other exchange students from South Indiana just arrived so we went to the Willis Tower to meet them. The Willis Tower is one of the biggest in Chicago (it's what I understood) and at the top there is like a glass box where you can stand and you can see all the city under you.

exchange students in chicago !

 
 

I was really exited to see it! But unfortunate there were too many people and the only way we could go was paying 40$. I stilll wanted to go but nobody in my group wanted so I didn't go (which I regret now). 4 girls in the group from South Indiana didn't want to go either so with them, we walked a bit around the Willis Tower and like we were all tired, we decided to sit in a Starbuck. When the other group was finally done, we all met to take a water taxi. In the group from South Indiana: 2 girls from Brazil, 2 girls form Thailand, 3 persons from Germany, 3 from Australia, 1 from Belgium, 1 from Poland and 2 form Korea. They all were very nice. With the boat, we navigated through Chicago on the Chicago River, we were in the middle of the city ! So beautiful! The boat drove us to Navy Pier. It's a

1,010 m long pier on the Chicago shoreline of Lake Michigan. We separated in different groups, I stayed with my group from NI. We first walked a bit on the pier. It was so beautiful! We saw all the city behind us, we were next to the lake... We decided to go buying souvenirs in the shopping dome. I bought a sweatshirt “Chicago” and christmas gifs for my dear brothers. Then we returned outside. We decided to do the Ferris wheel. All the city under us, with the first lights on the evening...how to describe it? This city is just amazing!

the ferris wheel behind me

We were hungry so we went back inside to buy some food and look at the shops. We also went to the botanic dome, a huge dome full of plants, water...it was so peaceful!

Like we had time left, we returned outside and...I saw the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! Chicago in the night. A dream. We could see all the city, in the night, with hundreds of lights everywhere. It was like on the postal cards, it was magic. We took a lot of picture to remember this incredible view and the chance we had to be here. Then we began to walk on the navy pier, watching the view, listening the music that the restaurants were playing... we finished our walk with a group hug, and we sat during a while to enjoy each second of this moment. I hope I will remember my all life what I felt at this moment..just happiness.

As it was time to go back, we took a group picture with all the 21 exchange students and we returned to the subway station.

all 21 of us plus the 3 ACs

The boys went to another hotel so we left them. When we arrived, we discovered the rooms... not the dream! The room on the basement was just next to the living room where there were a bunch of drunk guys... the rooms in the first floor were...dirty. There were boxes with chemical product and dead insects at the bottom of each bed, the sheets were grey with weird dirty sports. We wanted to take a shower but there weren't any towels. The bathroom was small with hairs everywhere and a shoe in the shower... Nobody was really exited about spending the night here but..not other option! There were french students in the hostel too! I wanted to talk to them but they were arguing so it wasn't the good moment to talk to them! Just as we were going to sleep, a guy came into a room to ask us...if we wanted some beers! Stephanie quickly answered them that we were under age and he left! Good night!