South Bend, Indy and Chicago… Vickie’s Tour of the Midwest

Well, I’ve been pretty busy the last couple of weeks, and I’m really excited to see Sissy tomorrow when she swings through Valpo on her way to Iowa, and then picks me back up Sunday and I get to see what life is like in Maryland. Three weeks ago (seriously, the time FLIES by) I went over to the University of Notre Dame to visit my friend Lisa Bunn because it was her birthday. She and I worked together at Cold Stone this summer and discovered that we also went to Nike Soccer Camp together when we were little. She’s pretty much the only person that I know from home within a 500 mile radius of me and since it had been almost three months since I’d seen anyone I knew, I was excited to see her. Plus she’s one of the most optimistic people I know and I knew we’d have a good time. Seeing the Notre Dame campus made me realize just how much I wish Valpo had cool architecture- but the Christopher Center (the library) looks pretty cool, and the plans for the new student union will make us look a little more modern and a little less 1960s. It was really fun to sit and talk with her for a couple of hours. She went home for their fall break so she caught me up on all of the Cold Stone gossip and we bonded in our mutual dislike of the Midwestern landscape. I was planning to spend the night out there but remembered at the last minute that I had to work the late shift and had to catch the last train home. Oh well, just gives me reason to head out there at another time.


Happy Birthday Lisa!!!

The next day I dragged my friend Beth, who lives across the hall, into Chicago to see Mat Kearney play the House of Blues. I’d seen him play at a church in Canby last summer, but it was a very acoustic show. I love his music and it sounds even better with a full band. Beth had never really heard of him, but she ended up liking his music and asked to borrow my CDs when we got back. The weirdest thing was getting off the train and walking down Michigan Ave. and realizing that we really are growing up. Neither of us had been to the city without our parents before and we were excited to think that we’re now big bad adults. We also stopped for some McDonalds, which I haven’t had since I got here, and it was just what I remembered- delicious. Overall it was a really great trip into the city- I decided we don’t do that enough.

The next weekend Beth, Katie and I went down to Indianapolis to see RENT! on stage. It was PHENOMINAL! We’d looked into getting tickets after we watched the movie about a month earlier, saw that it was playing in Indy and decided it was worth it to go. Even though it’s not the same cast as the movie it’s still amazing. To hear those voices in real life just makes the characters come alive, and I’d already fallen in love with the story. We hit up Circle Center which left Beth a little paranoid (she’s definitely a small town girl) and I enjoyed the best cup of hot chocolate ever… gotta love Godiva.


This is me and Katie outside of The Murat Theater in Indy.

Other than the fun weekend adventures, my time has been spent sleeping, reading, studying, watching movies (if you haven’t seen The Departed yet you should.. it’s really good.) and getting soaked in this terrible weather. If you think it rains a lot in Oregon.. psh, try living out here. They try to tell me that it isn’t always this bad, but from what I’ve seen the rain never stops. And it’s cold and windy, which just makes walking to class miserable. Everyone is getting excited about going home tomorrow, and while I’m a little sad to have to wait another month, I’m really excited to see Maryland and meet Billy’s family again. Somehow he got us tickets to the Maryland/Wake Forest football game next Saturday and I’m really looking forward to experience football at a big school. 91,000 people is a helluva lot. I think our football team won 3 games all season, but I never wanted to sit in the rain and watch them play. Our basketball team seems to be doing well, and is fun to watch. I’m officially a member of VUCRU, which is our student section- complete with matching t-shirts.

As you can see, life at Valpo is good. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving week, and I look forward to seeing many of you soon!!!

Much love-