Chicago

I went to Chicago this past weekend, both to visit some friends and also to do some major Peace Corps supply shopping.
I had a really good time! On Friday Amanda (my roomate from my study abroad in France) and I had dinner and watched movies with her parents who live in a suburb of the city, and on Saturday we went out with our friend Morgan (also from the study abroad). We kept up our tradition of drinking lots of wine and eating lots of cheese :)
Yesterday the three of us went out to brunch (I had something called "breakfast pasta", it was delicious) and then I spent about 2 hours in Morgan's outdoor store and bought a TON of PC supplies. I got my backpack, which is really light, a headlamp and flashlight, some camelback water bottles, some of those hideous but practical close-toed tennis shoe sandals, a quick dry towel, a travel pillow, lots of quick dry undergarments, some more Africa-appropriate clothing, a travel alarm clock, and a bunch more things that I am forgetting. The bill was $505, but Morgan brought it down to about $400 for me which was AWESOME. It was a total bummer to say goodbye to her and Amanda, but they are pretty adamant about coming to visit me! They are both young and working so they might be able to afford it! We already know that we travel well together from France :)
Our bus ride home was long and we left late and got stuck in traffic, but I met this totally cool guy and we talked the whole time so it went by pretty quickly. If you happen to be reading this Wesley, please send me an email or something! I would love to chat again sometime!
This week I have to finish my scrapbook to take to Benin with me, and finish shopping. Next weekend I am spending two days in South Haven with my aunt and cousin, and the next week I have to pack, move out of my apartment :(, and then Cam comes! Time is FLYING by- I leave 2 weeks from tomorrow! Call me if you want to hang out sometime before then!