Been a while... Sorry!

Although it's been over a month, not a TON has happened, but I'll update on what has happened.

1.  I have a place to live next year!  All sophomores have to live on campus, so my two friends and I are living in a triple.  In our triple, we have a kitchen, a bedroom, and a living area.  We are most excited for the kitchen: full refrigerator, oven, stove, cabinets, etc... Summer project will be to making a recipe book.  We are very excited for healthy, homemade food!

2.  I went home for Spring Break.  Pretty relaxing and local.  I mostly visited friends, did fun errands with my mom, did some photography with my dad, family hikes, and lots of hilly runs with my mom.

3.  As of this week......... I'M REGISTERED FOR THE CHICAGO MARATHON! The race is in October, and I was able to register late because I joined with a charity, Girls in the Game.  This charity promotes healthy and active lifestyles for young girls around Chicago.  I'm really excited to have a goal up ahead, and something to train for.

That's most of the big news.  I will try to post more frequently, as long as school doesn't get too crazy again.  As of today, I only have 5 weeks of school left, aka 23 days of classes left. And in only a few weeks the pair of Carls (dad and brother) will be here

Trip to the Museum

On the bus

Last weekend we had to go pickup our free cupcakes, and decided to make an adventure out of it.  After picking up our cupcakes (in the freezing cold weather), we hopped back on the bus and headed down to the Art Institute of Chicago.  

Jumana being silly

We walked through the snow, puddles, and wind, then were able to enjoy the last "Free Museum Day" of the season.  I saw some amazing sculpture and paintings and artifacts, but I doubt I even skimmed the surface.  We saw stones and jewelry from the Egyptians, Impressionist paintings (Monet, Cézanne, Manet, Renoir...), some interesting modern art (a whole canvas painted black) and a very cool exhibit on knight's armor.  

Monet

We spent two and a half hours enjoying al of that (for free!), and headed out to dinner once the museum closed.  A fun downtown trip!!

Pictures of the Snow

Here are a few pictures I took during my Snow Day. Enjoy!

Knee-deep in snow!

30 yards out on Lake Michigan,
 Chicago skyline in the back

My friend Ally and I had a blast going exploring around campus, trekking through knee-deep snow, making snow angels etc...

Snow Angel!

Results of lots of wind and lots of snow

More Snow!!

Blizzards, SNOW DAY, and More Cupcakes!

I'm in the middle...happy but pained faces

As I'm sure everyone knows by now.... there was a BLIZZARD in Chicago!  It was actually lots of fun, and I am currently experiencing my very first SNOW DAY!  It started snowing yesterday afternoon but was mostly really really windy.  Classes were cancelled after 4:15, but my Bio Lab went until 5:30, so I got to walk back in the storm.  Pretty crazy when you have to hold on to a pole to keep from skating down the sidewalk :)  But the rest of the night was a blast, since it was basically a Friday night on a Tuesday!  We watched movies, and knitted lots.  Around 12:30 AM, we were super intrigued and decided to go outside.  The snow being blown off the busy (and empty) street went about knee deep, and our faces were semi-frozen and iced over.  But it was a blast!  

And to top it all off, I got tagged in another cupcake!  This time it's chocolate strawberry.  So now I get to just relax, get ahead on my work, and enjoy the piles and piles and piles of snow out my window.  I can't complain. 

Cupcakes!!

So this weekend Ally and I headed to downtown to do some exploring.  We took the buses, and conquered them! We usually take the "L" trains, but this way was faster and less cold.  We travelled to Navy Pier where Snow Days in Chicago was taking place.  They had lots of snow/ice sculptures, and sled dogs. Basically a winter celebration.  And the snow made it super festive!  Ally and I decided that the sculpture of the Native American was by far out favorite.  We also looked around inside Navy Pier and enjoyed the touristy shops and souvenirs, and enjoyed the warmth for a bit.   

We then headed back towards Michigan Avenue to pick up our free cupcakes.  A cupcake boutique each Tuesday posts pictures of cupcakes on their Facebook and if you can tag yourself in that picture, you get a free cupcake!  It's not quite as easy as you would think.  Only 50 people can be tagged per photo, and each photo usually fill up in under 30 seconds.  So you have to be paying close attention.  Both Ally and I were tagged for the first time, so we went and picked up our Lemon Meringue cupcake.  It was quite delicious!

Back to School

Sorry for not blogging much since December... School got crazy there at the end with finals etc. And I promise to also blog about my break in CA soon, once I get my pictures from back home.

A week ago I flew back to Chicago to start my second semester.  This semester I am taking the same classes as last semester, but instead of Theology I'm taking a French class.  So that adds up to 2 Honor's classes, Bio, Chem, and French.  After my first week, everything has gone smoothly and I am pretty excited about this semester.

And the cold hasn't changed one bit.  Yesterday I woke up to it being -1 out with a windchill of -17.  But that was a super cold day.  Today I went for a wonderful run towards Evanston and survived despite it being 17and windy and icy out.  But I must admit I am excited for it to start warming up again :)

Pictures from break to come soon.  Stay warm!