Since we found out my friend Alex had an internship in Chicago for the summer, Hannah, Steph, and I talked about going to visit her. The summer was coming to a close and we still hadn't made plans to go to Chicago. I took it upon myself to change this. Hannah and Steph were both already busy, but I was determined to go see Alex even if it meant going alone.
Saturday morning August 4 my dad drove me to the little train station in Crawfordsville and we sat there waiting for the train and it's scheduled arrival of 6:58 am. Maybe 7 minutes before the clock would say 6:58 I had been studying the paper in my hand and realized what I had printed was the receipt and would not withstand as a ticket. I told my dad this and we raced home as quickly as possible, turned on the lap top and logged into my email, found the hidden attachment which was my ticket, hooked it up and printed it, and zoomed right back down to the train station. When we got there we saw that the small crowd of people that were there only minutes earlier were no where to be seen. As we drove to the other side of the parking lot we saw two men who informed us the train was running about an hour behind. Even though this was a bummer, it was much better than hearing that the train I was supposed to be riding to visit my friend Alex had left without me! We went back home again until it was time for the train to actually arrive.
I got on the train which ended up being even more than an hour late. I had never been on a train before then and found it very similar to an airplane. Like with the seats and the aisles. I followed the ticket stub I was handed to seat 30 I believe and sat down by an older woman. Little did I know that after sitting beside her for the ride to Chicago I would come to basically know her life story. Really. (including doing dissections in her high school biology, her first husband being hit by a car, her daughters, and her lottery tickets) And have some meaningful discussion about being lucky to have parents that are alive and to not take them from granted.
I arrived at the train station in Chicago before Alex did and set off to try and find the brown line. Once I realized this meant I had to leave the train station, it took a while for me just to figure out how to exit the station and get outside.
Then I started walking around carrying my packed adidas duffel bag and closed umbrella. I must have looked out of place and lost, which wasn't any stretch of the truth, because a man who was walking with him daughter and wife asked if I was lost. I'm pretty sure he was no more familiar with Chicago than I was, and ended up actually sending me in the right direction. Eventually I got on track, following my iPhone, and after walking a little while down a few streets saw Alex walking towards me. Alex has been one of my best friends since I was a freshman in high school, but I think this was the happiest I had ever been to see her!
We walked then rode the L (I think) for a little while until we got off at her stop. I liked the higher perspective of the city.
Before going to her apartment we stopped at a nearby Subway for lunch. It was fun sitting on the barstools facing the windows and watching and observing all of the busy people walking by.
After lunch we walked to her apartment. Even though it was little, it was so cute! However, it was lacking air conditioning and in the first week of August of an especially dry and hot summer, this was definitely obvious. I wasn't sure how I would even fall asleep that night. But I didn't worry too much about that because not long after we got there we got ready and walked to the beach!
[everything written above this point was from an unfinished draft started towards the beginning of September. The rest I'm finishing up now in January..]
The beach was a short walk from Alex's apartment. We laid our towels on the sand and laid on top of them until we could no longer bear the heat, and cooled off in the lake. (Which I was happy to find resembled the ocean much more than it did the previous lakes I had swam in before). We spent our hours at the beach soaking up lots of sunshine while talking about past relationships, our expectations for the men of our future relationships, working out and being fit, making friends/meeting new people, the idea that maybe if I go to college and fake that I'm outgoing rather than shy I will eventually just become outgoing and make friends easier, Alex told me a lot about her recent trip to Italy and all of the things she preferred about Italy vs America, sailing and boating, and trying to figure out all of the relationships between the groups of people around us at the beach.
We went back to her apartment to rinse off and watched White Collar until we were hungry enough to go to dinner. We walked to an Italian restaurant. It was so tasty. I'm not sure if it was from being out in the sun all day, or because the food was just so good, but I ate my entire plate of tortellini!
We finished the night by watching movies back at her apartment and rejoicing over the much needed thunderstorm that cooled off her un-airconditioned apartment.
Alex and I- along with the other three friends from our group Steph, Becca, and Hannah- have a tradition of chocolate chip pancakes. I brought the ingredients and Alex made them for our breakfast. They were also really yummy.
We went back to the beach for another perfect day of laying out, right up until it was time for me to get my stuff and head to the train station.
Alex came with me, thank goodness because I know I couldn't navigate the L, or the train station by myself. This time I got a seat by myself on the train and watched the world go by as the sun was on its way to setting and I was on my way to home. I was so happy for the time spent with such a great friend!
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