Read every line.

Since I entered CreComm last fall, I have started looking carefully at everything I read. I question what the writer was thinking, where they obtained their information, and what circumstances surrounded the story. But more than anything, I search for spelling and grammatical errors.

Writing a grammatically and technically perfect piece of writing is hard work. It takes a lot of time and dedication, and a person really has to know what to look for when trying to edit.
In class last week, we were talking about the fact that basic spelling and grammar really isn’t taught effectively in school. Most students learn the parts of speech early, and have a refresher course in high school. That’s not nearly enough exposure, and the number of twenty-something’s who don't know what a noun or adjective is astounds me.

With that being said, I have included a few grammar sites that I think are quite helpful...

http://www.grammarbook.com/english_rules.asp
GrammarBook.com - This site breaks down basic grammar and punctuation rules. If you're confused about when to use a comma or colon, check it out!

http://www.splashesfromtheriver.com/spelling/spelling_rules.htm
Splashes From the River - This site explains some basic spelling rules. It's worth a read, and even if everything seems common sense, the refresher is good.

http://www.creativeteachingsite.com/humorgrammar.htm
Humorous Grammar Rules - This site is funny, but the rules make sense.

http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/branches/elearning/tsl/resources/subject_area/ELA/ELARR/Spelling.shtml
Spelling - This site is decent enough. Read the poem

Hopefully some of these websites will help. Maybe not. At the very least, they are an interesting read.

P.S. If there are spelling or grammatical errors in this blog, I quit.

Summer is the time to read

I love to read, and one of the most depressing aspects of being a full-time student is the lack of time available to read throughout the year. Don’t get me wrong – I read a LOT at school. But by the time I get home, finish my homework, start more homework, and finish THAT homework, I am too exhausted to pick up a book. Summer is my time to catch up on reading, and so far, I’m catching up quickly.

I have been out of school for just over a month, and I am proud to say that I have read 17 novels thus far. First, I tackled the Outlander series for probably the 20th time. I usually read Diana Gabaldon’s series two or three times a year, and I have yet to get bored of it.

After the Outlander series, I decided to re-read a few classics. I started with Middlemarch – my all-time favourite novel – and moved on to Pride & Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, and Little Women.

I also re-read Scar Tissue, and I think I read that book once or twice a year as well. It’s an engrossing story, and is told so well. After Scar Tissue, I re-read The Heroin Diaries – which is NOT told as well, in my opinion. I personally believe parts of the story have been fictionalized, but who knows.

Lately, I’m on a law/crime/spy kick. I read a variety of John Grisham novels, including The King of Torts, The Broker, and The Associate. Now I just need to see the movies for some of them (project, Jen). I read a few Jonathan Kellerman novels after that, and highly recommend The Innocent Man. It’s a true crime story about two men who were wrongly accused of murder, yet were sentenced to time in prison. One of them was actually sentenced to death row, and he narrowly escaped it.

Currently, I’m working through a collection of novels by James Patterson. I finished Along Came A Spider and Kiss The Girls – both of which were made into movies – and am working on Beach Road at the moment. It’s pretty good.

My goal is to read 50 books this summer. This is in addition to researching my IPP, writing my IPP, and submitting various other materials for publication. Sure, I can do it all. I just need to stop sleeping.

Let me be now, o, oh, let me be...

Last night, I went to the Burton Cumming's Theatre and saw Xavier Rudd perform. He is a too-cute-for-words Australian folk singer, and the concert was superb. I am not going to write a full review about the show, but I wanted to mention a few things that blew me away...

• IT WAS LONG - Everyone in the audience definitely got their money's worth. He must have played for at least two hours, and had tons of energy throughout the entire show. Some shows are so short they leave the audience feeling cheated; Rudd made the audience feel like they got what they deserved.
• HE PLAYED CRAZY INSTRUMENTS - Most of them I could identify, but Jeff had to explain what the didgeridoo and mahovina slide guitar were. I was blown away when Rudd began to play three didgeridoo's AND the drums simultaneously. Now that is talent.
• AUSSIES DON'T WEAR SHOES - When I was in Europe last year, we had a few people from Australia on our tour. Whenever possible, they would take off their shoes. Rudd didn't wear shoes at all last night. I don't get it. What if you step on something?
• HE PULLED GIRLS ONSTAGE - Yeah, and I wasn't one of them. They got to dance with him. He hugged them. Enough said. I'm bitter.
• HIS BAND ROCKED - Rudd had two other men with him. One played bass guitar; the other percussion. They both rocked. Absolutely rocked.

Xavier Rudd, I salute you. Hopefully you come back soon, when I have floor seats, and I will have the chance to ask you in-person why you don't wear shoes. Or I'll just hug you. That works too...

Rock on, research.

It has become obvious that my IPP will not begin successfully unless I start to do some serious research. And I don’t mean simply sitting in front of a computer screen and typing keywords into Google. I’m talking about getting out there, in the world, the real world, and doing some leg work.

I finally signed up for a library card two weeks ago, which was one small step for womankind, but now I have to spend the hours sitting in the library learning about Winnipeg. I also have to wander the areas of Winnipeg I will be writing about, because a picture will only get a person so far.

And so it begins...

My CreComm classmate – Samantha Pitsanuk – took pity on me and agreed to spend last Friday wandering around the downtown area checking things out. I had a number of locations I wanted to visit on my list, but it quickly became obvious that I would not get to them all. It was necessary to pick what was most important, and we started our day by walking down Main Street – disposable coffee cups in hand – in the direction of Winnipeg’s Union Station.

If you have never entered Union Station, I suggest you do so. Immediately. It is beautiful, and so often overlooked. Rail travel is nowhere near as popular or economical as it used to be, and I think that’s really sad. There is something very romantic about trains, which is one reason why I decided to include rail travel in my IPP.

The entryway is a large, circular room with marble floors and marble walls. A huge skylight sits high in the centre, and the entire room is framed by a second-storey walkway around the circle. Sam and I managed to find our way up to the second level, but a few people were giving us curious glances when we started to take pictures. After passing through the entryway, there is the waiting room, baggage claim, and staircase to the train platforms. It is all very old and very interesting. The train station opened in 1911, and it’s incredible to think of how many people have walked across the weathered, marble floors.

We next stopped at Upper Fort Garry – or what’s left of it. I am excited that The Forks North Portage Partnership is creating a historical site people will actually be excited to visit, because that wall is pretty old. There are large boards with photographs at the site currently, and they are fun to look at. Yes, there are people sleeping on benches nearby, but if you spend any amount of time downtown, you get used to it.

The Fort Garry Hotel was a short walk away, so Sam and I decided we needed to visit it as well. And plan my theoretical wedding. I have never been inside the hotel, and when I stepped through the revolving door I felt like I was walking into a scene from The Shining (is that on your movie list J-Han?). It`s truly magnificent, and I understand why people choose to be married there.

Our research day ended with lunch and a relaxing stroll through the Exchange District. By the time we reached the car, I realized I had more questions to answer than when I started. I know of at least twenty other pieces of information I have to research, and the list of places to visit grows by the minute. I guess that's the way you work through a project like this. Keep on going, and eventually, you're done.

Easy to say, hard to do... I have 6000 words written, and a long, long way to go...

Thanks for the lovely Friday, Sam. It looks like there will be many more in the future!

University essays... I don't miss you.

In CreComm, we are taught to write. Now, I don’t mean that we aren’t able to write. We just don’t know how to write in specific formats until we are properly trained. Journalism news stories, public relations news releases, and advertising copy. These are just some of the things a first-year CreComm student becomes acquainted with, and we are worked hard to refine each medium. Out of every class and every style I have been introduced to this past year, I must admit that I found writing for journalism to be the most difficult.

I had just graduated with a history degree, and the four years preceding my entry into CreComm were spent writing essay after essay after essay. University professors are specific about what they want to see in university calibre essays, and what they really want are words. Lots and lots of words. Big words, little words, simple words, complex words. It doesn’t matter. Throw a 15,000 word essay at a professor and you’re good to go. Things are not so simple in CreComm, and I found myself struggling at the beginning of the year to adapt to the difference.

I have spent the past eight months in journalism class learning to cut out unnecessary adjectives, construct stories in inverted pyramid style, and refrain from editorializing. My first story of the year was a testament to my university days, and despite being quite embarrassed about the piece, I will share what I wrote. We were given an assignment in which we had to interview a classmate and write about them. I really wanted to impress my instructor, so the following was my lead:

It was with the early morning traffic and first shift change of the day that Thomas Shirtliffe entered the world peacefully on January 24, 1990, at 6:30 a.m.

Ouch. That’s pretty much as wordy and watered-down as imaginable, and there is unecessary stuff floating everywhere in that sentence. I’m not even going to touch the fact that the sentence itself is crap. The point I’m trying to make is that I was used to making sentences long, drawn out, and full of descriptive details. That seemed to be how one was supposed to write in university.

My instructors comment about the lead was as follows: Why is this significant or interesting?

U huh. He’s got a point. When writing a history essay, many of the details can be uninteresting or downright boring. But professors want those details, so students deliver.

When writing a journalism story, everything that is not necessary or relevant should be omitted. After that, the story should be edited, revised, and cut some more. If your best friend’s, sister’s, next door neighbour’s grandmother didn’t have anything interesting to say, don’t quote her in the story. Don’t use a phrase like “his achievement level blossomed and flourished by leaps and bounds” when “he improved” will suffice. Finally, don’t assume things and include them as fact. How do I know if there was traffic the morning Thom was born? What if the shift change was at five-thirty, and not six-thirty? Why did I think writing that was a good idea in the first place? Granted, you’re not supposed to make things up when writing most essays either, but whenwriting for journalism,a falsified detail is the best way to be shown the door.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to attend university, and learn to write essays. I am also glad that I started attending Red River College, and have now learned how to edit, chop, dissect, and otherwise mutilate a piece of writing until it contains only the most important words. It has made me a better writer, and has taught me that it isn’t always necessary for a sentence to be long and detailed for it to be interesting. Hopefully, by the end of my summer class, I will be the best editor I can possibly be, and I will be able to axe any piece of writing to perfection.

Before I end this post, I want to include another example of my own writing. Just before class ended for the year, we were given the same assignment as at the beginning of the year. We interviewed a classmate and wrote about them – again – and the point of the exercise was to see if our skills had improved. Here’s what I wrote for my lead the second time around:

Sports are an integral part of life for many men and women throughout the world, and for Keith McCullough, they are also a necessity.

At least I didn’t mention his birth date, time of birth, or circumstances surrounding his birth. I think that’s progress.

Aqua Books hosts awesome events

Aqua Books has been a favourite hangout spot for me since I started Creative Communications last fall. Its combination of books and food fulfills pretty much every basic need, and its proximity to campus means I'm never more than a ten minute walk from a wealth of creativity. The bookstore also hosts over 200 events each year, and tonight I witnessed one of them. In celebration of the May Works 2010 Festival, I spent the evening listening to epic poetry and foot-tapping, head-bobbing music. Watching the performances gave me a much needed boost to continue writing the collection of short stories I have been slaving over for the past month. Sometimes the best way to find one's inner creativity is through the celebration of another person's creativity, and the "Bread and Roses" artistic evening gave me exactly what I needed.

Poet Ron Romanowski kicked off the evening with readings from two of his books, including Insurrection, a collection of poetry about the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike. I purchased this book from McNally Robinson a few months ago, and it's definitely worth a read. What drew me to this collection in particular was the historical aspect. I am currently in the research stage of my IPP, and most of the stories are set in Winnipeg. I was curious to see how another Winnipegger approached writing about the city, and was not disappointed. Romanowski also read a few new pieces, which will be published next spring. His delivery was honest, straightforward, and heartfelt, and I believe words on a page really come alive when they are read aloud by the person who has written them.

Following Romanowski's poetry reading was a musical performance from Liliana Romanowski - Ron's wife - and Ferruccio Moscarda - Liliana's father. They performed a collection of songs together, and brought the audience through both the "bread" and "roses" aspects of the evening. Liliana's vocals were very impressive, and she is currently training with an opera singer at the University of Manitoba. Moscarda accompanied her on guitar. After listening to him, I wanted nothing more than to run home and play my own guitar. Which I will. After writing this blog. My favourite part of the performance was when father and daughter sang an Italian love song together. There is something about song in foreign languages that simply can't compare to English. Maybe that's why I love the opera.

Finally, John Baillie read his poetry, and this man is absolutely hilarious. His poetry is great, but his delivery is simply superb. I have not laughed that hard in a long time, and he seems like the kind of interesting, animated individual you would want to buy a beer and talk to for hours. Writing is definitely an art, and the way Baillie constructs sentences to be both humorous and informative is artistry at its finest. I could learn a thing or two from this man.

The evening was fantastic, and I am impressed by how confidently and gracefully each of the presenters took the stage and shared their passions. I will strive to be able to present my work with such flair, and hopefully one day it will be me who has both the microphone and attention of an entire room. Watching fellow Winnipeggers do what they love is the perfect way to spend an evening.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some more writing to do...

Yes, we have a navy. True story.

There's always room for shameless self-promotion on my blog, and what follows is a link to the online edition of Canada's History magazine. My internship there ended in April, but items I wrote are still being posted. Check it out!

http://www.canadashistory.ca/getdoc/dc3159a0-85f4-4c9e-8fd3-9847f8f65fc8/default.aspx

Writing would be easy in a perfect world

It has been a few weeks since school ended, and I am slowly beginning the process of working on my IPP (Independent Professional Project, for those who have just tuned in. It's basically like a thesis). I initially believed it was going to be easy, but have quickly discovered that writing a book is HARD WORK. After a serious difference of opinion with my plot, my main character rebelled, and I realized I was lacking a timeline that put everything into perspective. The absence of research was also a problem - as my story is mainly based on fact - and I had yet to enter a library or archive to collect information. I seemed to be walking in circles, and I was making zero progress.

But, like many things in life, the light bulb goes on eventually...

After many gruelling hours, numerous pots of coffee, and various creative expletives I feel I am finally on track. My first step in the right direction was forcing myself to sit down and write out a detailed timeline of events. As I mentioned above, my book will be based around real history. Events happened when they happened, and the dates are forever locked down, so all I needed to do was find out how old my main character was during each event and BAM! I`ve got myself a timeline. The only frustrating part was calculating the age of my main character throughout the course of the timeline. I hate math. With a passion. Hate. It.

Research will be key if my book is to be successful, and I want events and situations to seem as real as possible. I want to be able to describe in detail what streets looked like, how people dressed, and how they travelled from point A to point B. I want a reader to be able to envision the settings I create, and later look at a picture and have it more or less represent what they imagined. To achieve this, I will be camping out at both the Manitoba Archives and the Centennial Public Library for days, and days, and days. I will be searching for photographs, mostly, but will also read as many local history books as possible. Unfortunately, local history books at the library are not allowed to be removed, so I plan to get real comfortable on the third floor. It`s going to be exciting... Anything can happen at the library. I already ran into my radio instructor - Gary Moir - last week. Maybe he`ll help me research...

Ah yes, I forgot to mention my library card. I was in possession of one when I lived in Calgary, but haven`t needed one in Winnipeg. I finally decided it was time I joined the book-borrowing masses, and got my first Manitoba library card last week. It`s a half a step forward, and right now, every movement counts.

So, what now...

This week, my plan is to do some serious research and start writing. Today, for example, I am forcing myself to sit in front of my computer and write whatever enters my mind. You can`t force creativity, but sometimes I try to speed it up a bit. I may hate what I come up with, but at least it`s a start. Once I get going, the words will flow. Getting started is always the hardest part.

Wish me luck!

Funny billboard errors never cease to amuse

This summer, I am taking a course called Editing for Print and Online Media. Each week, my classmates and I are required to write a blog entry about something related to the course. For these entries, the possibilities are endless. I can write an in-depth expose about my hatred of the semi-colon, discuss the horrors of an auto fail, or rant about adjectives. Or, I can continue with what I have compiled below, and let pictures do the talking.

I felt it would be fun to include a few photos of billboards and signs that have very obvious – and stupid – spelling errors. If I was responsible for editing ANY of examples below, and made such obvious errors, I would quit my job on the spot, move to Mexico, purchase a small hut to live in, and spend my days alone with a pet crab musing about how I failed at life. Enjoy!

Winnipeg is tiny...

...when compared to the largest cities in the world. After visiting Chicago, I became curious about the populations of various cities around the globe, and decided to compile a list of the top ten largest cities. The statistics I found are as of 2010, and the totals have been rounded either up or down. Numbers reflect the entire metropolitan area - not just the city centre - and also include suburbs.

1. Tokyo - Yokohama, Japan: 33,200,000
2. New York Metropolitan Area, United States: 17,800,000
3. Sao Paulo, Brazil: 17,700,000
4. Seoul-Incheon, South Korea: 17,500,000
5. Mexico City, Mexico: 17,400,000
6. Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto, Japan: 16,425,000
7. Manila, Phillipines: 14,750,000
8. Mumbai, India (formerly Bombay): 14,350,000
9. Jakarta, Indonesia: 14,250,000
10. Lagos, Nigeria: 13,400,000

To put things into perspective, Paris is number 20 on the list, with 9,645,000. Chicago is the third-largest city in the United States, and has over nine million residents in the metropolitan area. In Winnipeg there are just over 740,000 people in the metropolitan area (which includes West & East St. Paul, Headingley, St. Francois Xavier, etc...)

We are literally just a dot on the globe...

Chicago: Part Two

I ended my last post at the Willis Tower, because the next part of my trip is a good story that deserves a lengthy explanation. Lauren and I were desperate to purchase Chicago Blackhawks t-shirts and gear, as the Chicago vs. Vancouver game was later that evening. We parted from our group, and quickly made a break for the nearest souvenir shop. Unfortunately, every shop worth visiting closed at six p.m. That meant that we wouldn’t be wearing authentic shirts out that night, and needed to come up with a backup plan.

Before I go any further with my story, I need to explain something. The entire day, Lauren and I were very careful about crossing the street. After witnessing a nearly fatal incident involving a pedestrian and a taxi, we weren’t taking any chances. Everyone else strolled casually across intersections – walk symbol or lack thereof – but Lauren and I were vigilant with our crosswalk navigation, and thankfully, we weren’t taken out by a rushing Chicago resident. After parting with our friends, however, we were on a deadline and became increasingly daring with our street crossing methods. At one point, we raced across half of North Michigan Ave, jumped the boulevard, and raced across the other side... Oh yeah, we’re wild.

To make a long story short, Walgreens saved our life. Every single souvenir store we visited that was OPEN did not sell Blackhawks shirts. We ran to roughly five, which is not fun when your feet are maimed beyond recognition from a day of walking. After exhausting out resources, we entered Walgreens, and found red shirts that said “ONE GOAL” at the top and “CHICAGO” at the bottom. I still don’t know what ONE GOAL is referring to exactly, but we thankfully found a solution to our problem. We each bought a shirt and a sharpie marker. We purposefully walked back to the hotel, and got to work. If we were going to come up with something, it might as well be good.

Lauren and I each wrote “BLACKHAWKS” on the front of our shirts, and “TOEWS, 19” on the back. We brought the markers to Timothy O’Toole’s – the bar we visited to watch the game that night – and let people write whatever they want all over our shirts. I think a few people we were with were slightly embarrassed about our “MacGyvered” attire, but a woman working at the bar actually asked to take our picture. She explained that she was going to put our photo up on the wall of the bar, and she also gave us free Blackhawks merchandise for being awesome fans. I got a t-shirt that says “Hockey Night in Chicago,” and Lauren got a hat. Not bad for two girls, two shirts, and two sharpie’s. Thank you Walgreens! You saved us!

The next day, I went on a tour that explored the seedy and corrupt underworld that was the twenties and thirties of Chicago. Put plainly, I checked out Al Capone’s stomping grounds. With a few friends, we were whisked away on a bus that toured the slightly shady areas of Chicago. We visited Chinatown, Little Italy, and South Michigan Ave, to name a few. We passed the Schoenhofen Brewery, which was Al Capone’s beer brewery. The building still stands, and still brews beer today. We also drove by May Capone’s sisters house, where she lived until she passed away last year. I couldn’t imagine having tour buses driving by my house every day. That would get exhausting.

There were two highlights for me during the tour. The first was a visit to Notre Dame Church, the site of a huge gangster shoot out. At the time, the entire front of the church was riddled with bullet holes. Most were cleaned up – because no one really wants to attend services in a shot up building – but one hole was left in the wall. Apparently, every couple that is married in the church has their picture taken with their fingers in the bullet hole. They do this a moment after saying I do, and it is a local Chicago tradition. I thought that was pretty funny. I would do it...

The second highlight of the tour was driving past the Biograph Theatre. Anyone who has seen the movie Public Enemies will automatically know what I am talking about, but for those who are unsure, I will elaborate. John Dillinger was a notorious criminal in the thirties, and it was at the Biograph that he was shot and killed by FBI agents on the night of July 22, 1934. He was given up to police by a Romanian prostitute - Anna Sage – who was also known as the “woman in red.” Dillinger fell and bled out on a manhole in front of an alley, roughly three metres away from the entrance to the theatre, and it was a public spectacle. People dipped their clothing, newspapers, or whatever else they could find in Dillinger’s blood to either sell or keep as a souvenir. Photographers crowded around the body, fighting for the best angle to snap a picture. The theatre became immediately famous, and people like me visit it every day to catch a glimpse of where a historical icon took his last step.

In the film – Public Enemies – the street was completely re-created to look exactly as it did on the night of the shooting. Using old photos, cinematographers and set designers reconstructed building facades, strategically placed automobiles, and ensured the same products and messages were displayed in storefront windows. It was an enormous undertaking, but re-creating the street really made the scene in the film come alive. Today, the buildings are modern, and the only hint that something important went down at the Biograph is a plaque on the wall explaining the property has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On our tour, we also drove by the site of The Oprah Winfrey Show. There really isn’t anything interesting to report, and unfortunately I did not have a personal sighting of the television diva myself. Three second year CreComm students were lucky enough to score tickets to the show, but I was only able to view the building from the outside. Something interesting to note, however, is that a long line of taxis lined one side of the building. The drivers sit in their cars all day long, and when Oprah needs something, they speed away to run her errands. I can’t imagine how sinfully boring it would be to wait all day to run an errand. Oh well, it’s Oprah. She’s practically God.

In the afternoon, a group of us accompanied Kenton and Melanie to Ketchum PR, an agency that agreed to show us around and explain some of the secrets of the trade. This visit was actually one of the main reasons why the Chicago trip was planned in the first place, and I wasn’t missing it for the world. The agency is located on the 37th floor of an absolutely beautiful building, and the view out the windows is breathtaking. Ketchum PR is probably best known globally for the Cat Cam promotion, where cameras were attached to cat`s collars to see what they did when their owners were away. I hope I will have the opportunity to work at a place like Ketchum when I graduate...so... hire me, hire me, HIRE ME!

Our last day in Chicago included a trip to Navy Pier and the worlds coldest architectural boat tour in the morning, and shopping in the afternoon. I wandered the Magnificent Mile with Sam, where we became acquainted with an iPad and fell in love with Tiffany & Co. I tried to fight the beautiful jewellery impulse for as long as possible when Sam and I were in Tiffany's, but she's a bad influence, and I caved. I am now the proud owner of a Tiffany`s necklace, and it was some of the best money I have ever spent. Sam and I took waaayyy too many photos outside the store, and skipped down the street in celebration. It was a great way to end my trip, and I will always have something to remind me of my time in Chicago.

There are so many other things that I would love to mention, such as the two hours I spent in the amusement park at the Mall of America, or the frigidly cold baseball game I attended at US Cellular Field, but i'll leave those stories for later. If I had to sum up my trip to Chicago in one word, it would be "interesting," and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Thanks everyone, I had a blast!

Chicago: Part One

Well.. Chicago was definitely not what I expected, but my three days there were fantastic. Our hotel was on East Ontario Street in the heart of downtown, and the location was perfect. Two blocks away was North Michigan Avenue... which is also the Magnificent Mile, for any of you expensive shop lovers out there.

As soon as we arrived, Kenton and Melanie (our fearless leaders) took us on a walk to Millennium Park. It was a lovely, scenic journey down North Michigan Ave, and we were able to get our first glimpses of the city. Some of the more important sites that we passed along the way include the Chicago Tribune office, the NBC office, the river (which is gorgeous), and the library. There were also many people directing traffic with light sticks and safety vests, which I found amusing throughout the entire trip. So many drivers are rude, abrasive, and do not pay attention, meaning it is actually necessary to employ people to direct cars on the roads. Lauren and I can attest to the fact that drivers in Chicago are scary, as we watched a cab almost hit a pedestrian on a few occasions. Thankfully, no one in our group was taken out by a vehicle, and we all made it to Millennium Park in one piece.

The main attraction at the park is Cloud Gate, also known locally as "The Bean." It is a public sculpture by British artist Anish Kapoor, and is 66 feet long and 33 feet high. It looks like a giant drop of mercury, and its mirrored surface offers a lovely view of Chicago's skyline. Also in the park is a really interesting and very modern outdoor theatre. Samantha has decided she is going to get married there.

Later in the evening, a group of us decided to go wandering to see what the city looks like at night. I think this was one of my favourite parts of the trip. I love to wander around places I've never been before, get lost, and see what I discover. We walked down North Michigan Ave, down a variety of side streets, and ended up underneath the sky train. For anyone who is familiar with the film The Dark Knight (pppffftt, who isn't?) and interesting fact to note is that the entire movie was filmed in Chicago. So was Batman Begins, What Women Want, Home Alone, and hundreds more. Chicago actually fills in for New York City in some cases. Anyway, we ended up in an area where The Dark Knight was filmed, and it felt surreal. I watched the movie before I left, and could picture scenes with the skyline and sky train in my head. It might sounds silly, but there is something fascinating about standing in the same spot where actors, producers, directors, and camera crews came together to create masterpieces.

The following morning we walked to the Art Institute of Chicago, which is something I was looking forward to for months. The building was massive, and there were so many things to see. I will admit, however, that I skipped quite a few rooms. I was looking for one specific area, and that was the Impressionist room. When I was in Europe last summer, I saw hundreds of impressionist paintings, but that was a year ago and I needed my fix again. Therefore, I spent a few hours slowly walking around the Art Institute and falling back in love with some of the worlds greatest painters. Here is a list of some of the famous artists that I saw:

• Paul Cezanne
• Edgar Degas
• VINCENT VAN GOGH (He had a number of paintings at the Institute, but my two favourites were The Bedroom and Self-Portrait. I'm getting giddy just thinking about them...)
• Edouard Manet
• Claude Monet (Another awesome moment. There were so many Monet paintings that I can't begin to count...BUT, the actual, official, famous, BEAUTIFUL Water Lillies was there!)
• Edvard Munch
• Pierre-Auguste Renoir
• Georges Seurat (The famous A Sunday on La Grande Jatte - 1884 was the painting in the film Ferris Bueler's Day Off...)
• Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
• And the list goes on and on and on...

After the museum, a group of us decided to go to the Chicago Zoo. We also decided to walk, not realizing how far of a journey it actually was. Roughly an hour later, we reached our destination. The zoo was fun, and Meag had an interesting encounter with a monkey, but the walk there was spectacular. We travelled along a bike path with Lake Michigan on one side and downtown Chicago on the other. It's easy to forget there is a huge lake nearby when surrounded by countless skyscrapers. There is even a beach, which I'm sure is packed in the summer. If I had more time - and if it didn't rain for the rest of the trip - I would have rented a bike and pedalled as far along the path as possible.

We took a bus from the zoo to the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), but got off early in order to complete a small mission. On television, KFC was advertising the "Double Down" sandwich, which is literally a pile of crap in between two pieces of chicken that substitute for a bun. Disgusting, but a necessary experience. Apparently. During our wanderings the night before, a member of our group found a KFC under the sky train. I'm not going to name any names, but this individual was determined to have a Double Down, and was convinced the KFC he found was open. As a group, after the zoo, we wandered various side streets until we found the restaurant in question. There was one slight problem. It was closed. But it wasn't just closed. It had been SHUT DOWN, and a Japanese Restaurant is being built in it's place. It was a tragic moment, but after a brief Popeye's stop we eagerly pushed forward to the tower and an elevator ride 108 storeys in the sky.

The Willis Tower is the fifth highest building in the world, and it stretches 1451 feet tall. A one minute elevator ride took us to the Sky deck, where we experienced one of the most beautiful views of the city. There are also three glass balconies at one end, and daring individuals can actually step OUT the side of the building. The balconies are glass, and completely enclosed.

So... what to do next. I was standing on a piece of glass off the side of the tallest building I have ever seen to date. There were people all around me freaking out. The building was slightly swaying. I needed to do something both interesting and memorable. I waited until the balcony was empty, and stretched out face down on the glass floor. Beside me, Lauren did the same, and I must say it was AWESOME. In the picture you can actually see through the glass to the ground below. The cars were small... it was slightly frightening... but we did it!