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.