The Snow Must Go On

It’s hard to believe, but we’ve already been in the city for four weeks! We’re all beginning to settle into our routines and internships, though it took a little longer than expected to figure out a normal week’s routine as a result of this little snowstorm that blew through Chicago last week—maybe you heard about it?

One of my responsibilities at Chicago Athlete is twittering. On Monday, I logged onto Twitter and saw our timeline filled with tweets about an impending blizzard. As a born and raised Michigander, I’ll admit I blew it all off as hype. I’ve heard plenty of doom-and-gloom winter weather forecasts in my life and have seen most of them end up turning into a few flurries, so my expectations for the storm were pretty low. As the storm approached, it became clear that the storm would live up to the predictions. The Chicago Athlete offices closed down early on Tuesday, as did much of the city. By the time I got back to my apartment it was snowing pretty hard. The weather just got crazier as the night went on, complete with thundersnow!

Our first day of classes was cancelled on Wednesday due to the weather, so my roommates and I made the most of what will likely be our only snow day in college. Two of my roommates cooked a fantastic breakfast while I watched the blizzard get more and more intense until I literally could not see out my window anymore. Here’s my normal view:

And here was my view around 9 a.m. the morning of Snowpocalypse:

Later we went outside just to see what the city looked like covered in 20.4 inches of snow. In a word: dead. There’s usually a lot of traffic around our apartment, but on Wednesday you could look up and down the road and literally not see one single vehicle. I never thought I would see the day when Chicago was as quiet as Holland, Michigan!

A lot of the city remained closed on Thursday, but I did make it out to my internship. We’ve been working on the annual issue, which includes listings of nearly all the endurance sport events and clubs in the general Chicago area. I spent a lot of last week checking on contact information for clubs and stores, and finishing all that on Friday was a great feeling. I also got to write two articles for the issue profiling the magazine’s athletes of the year, which was a really great experience. Writing articles that give readers the chance to learn more about athletes are my favorite kind so I really enjoyed that.

One of the cool opportunities we have through the Chicago Semester is the chance to go to various art events during the time we’re here. We were supposed to go to the Art Institute last Thursday but that was delayed until tonight. I haven’t been to the Art Institute since I was little and I’m excited to go again now that I’m old enough to appreciate it.

Swept Away To The Windy City

Hello! My name is Bethany. I’m a junior at Hope College, where I’m majoring in English and minoring in Spanish and Communication, and I’ll be giving you a taste of what it’s like to live and intern in Chicago this semester.

We spent our first week in Chicago at the Hotel Allegro for orientation. Monday and Tuesday consisted of sessions on transportation, interviewing, and how to make the most of living in the city. The harder work for us students began on Wednesday with interviews and housing appointments. I had two interviews on Wednesday, both in northern suburbs of Chicago. I was pretty nervous about getting to my interviews because my experience with public transportation up to that point had been very limited and always guided. Thankfully, two other girls were headed in my direction Wednesday morning, so we rode the train together. I spent most of my morning and afternoon either commuting or interviewing, but both of my interviews went really well. As soon as I got back into the city, I had to get right back on another train and head down to my housing appointment with my roommates. After we picked our apartment and signed our lease, we went to the Chicago Semester offices for some Giordano’s Pizza: the perfect way to end such a busy day! Thursday was much simpler for me: I had one interview in the morning, and it was on the same road as our hotel. On Friday we talked with our internship coordinators and officially decided where we would be working this semester. I went with Chicago Athlete Magazine, a running magazine that covers just the Chicago area. I’ll be doing both writing and public relations for them, which I am very excited about.

As anyone who follows the NFL knows, the Bears played the Packers in the NFC championship last Sunday in Chicago. I’ve never been a huge fan of the NFL, but even I was pretty excited about the game. It would’ve been hard to not care with sights like this outside your window:

Orientation continued through the first part of this week at the Chicago Semester offices. After about a week and a half of orientation, we had a day off before our internships began. My roommates and I headed up north to check out Lincoln Park Zoo. It was definitely chilly but completely worth it.

Those of us who aren’t student teachers, social work students, or nursing students started our internships on Thursday. My commute is a bit brutal—about an hour and a half each way—but I’m really happy at the magazine so it’s definitely worth it.