Monday, January 12, 2009

Chicagoland...

Well, we arrived in the great city of Chicago on Friday night, to a light dusting snow and a TINY apartment! After I got over the shock of the small apartment, we started unpacking my things and trying to organize everything. We went out to dinner, and I was feeling a little overwhelmed. I told Matt that I felt like country mouse goes to the city! Although I've been to Chicago several times, the thought of actually living there seemed a little stressful. Once we settled in and got things situated on Saturday, I was starting to feel much better. Saturday evening we went to dinner with a couple that Matt knows from church, Blake and Julie. Blake and I were actually at OC at the same time, although I didn't know him really well. It was good to have friends to hang out with, and helped me to feel a little more comfortable. Sunday, we went to church and I was warmly welcomed with many hugs from everyone! Since Matt has been here for a few months, everyone has been expecting me to come. My first weekend in Chicago also brought over a foot of snow. One of the snowiest weekends they have had all winter! This week there is supposed to be a blizzard...and there hasn't been a blizzard in 8 years! So, I'm quickly being introduced to Chicago winters! Matt and I are spending this week in the small town of Galena, IL for a little vacation before he starts back to school. It's nice to have a few days together to reconnect, after spending a semester apart. Here are a few pictures from our first weekend in Chicago:

Me in front of our apartment building (I'll post pictures of the inside of the apartment when we get back to Chicago)
















Matt and I on the snowy streets of Chicago:















Oh, I forgot to mention that we parked Matt's truck at the church building for the weekend when we got to Chicago to avoid the expensive parking fees downtown. We're planning to leave it in Missouri at his Aunt's house for the semester, but we needed it to get my stuff to Chicago and then to travel to Galena. When we went out to get in the truck after church on Sunday morning, this is what we found:















After quite a bit of shoveling (I did help, I just paused to take some pictures), we finally got out of the church parking lot! With snow like this, I see why most people walk everywhere! It's too much trouble to shovel your car out and then try to drive on the snowy streets. Besides, it's fun to stomp around in the snow!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh girl~ You have got to be having a brain freeze! I can't imagine how daunting it would be to be in a new place and then a blizzard on top of it all. You are in my prayers, but I know your smile will bring it all around to others.