Adventure Around Every Corner

by Katie Flood

After living in the city for just around a month now, Chicago still continues to amaze me. There is never a lack of things to do and sometimes you find yourself in the midst of a cultural experience without planning.

           

Last weekend was Mexican Independence Day and the town of Pilsen celebrated this holiday right outside La Casa. I was hanging out in my apartment when I started to see crowds of people lining up outside on the street. I had not realized what weekend it was, so it didn’t occur to me why there were people lined up for a parade. I jumped at the opportunity, ran downstairs, and found myself in the midst of an Independence Day celebration. After the parade, the community made its way to the little plaza outside of my building, where there were folk singers and dancers, and vendors. My friends and I spent the entire day being immersed in this traditional holiday that was literally happening right outside our door. My Chicago experience has been filled with sporadic moments like these and those have been the moments I have enjoyed most.

This weekend, my friends and I decided to cook a meal together. We all chipped in a little bit, and created some yummy turkey enchiladas. It was nice to sit down and have a proper meal with friends. Although I like living and working on my own, I usually end up cooking individual meals for myself, so it was nice to eat with other people. My friends and I decided we liked this experience so much that we were going to try and make this a regular occurrence.

On Saturday, we had ourselves an adventure and headed to the Apple Festival in Lincoln Square. We browsed for a little bit, and explored the new area, then decided that we wanted to do something different; go to the Taco Festival in Lakeview. We stayed for a short-while in Lakeview, and then hopped back on the train and headed down towards Chinatown, where we browsed the shops, bakeries, peeked in the public library, and took some very touristy pictures. We then ate a delicious dinner at Portillos, a Chicago-area favorite located near the Gold Coast. Together we covered a lot of ground on Saturday. It was exciting to see so many places in such a short period of time. It was a great way to spend what would have otherwise been an average Saturday afternoon.

My weekends here in Chicago are always filled with excitement and good company.