I can’t believe that I am going on vacation with my family in three days. I can’t believe my internship is over in two days! Where did this summer go? I’m about to go back to ISU for my final year of college.

WOW -

I’m trying not to get nervous - I have a final presentation tomorrow about my internship which will be in front of the VP of our department, as well as my entire team. I hope it won’t be too nerve wracking, but I know that I will be incredibly nervous all day tomorrow right up until I present.

Crap.

In order to vent some of my nerves, I have created a list of things I have learned while living up here in Chicago -

1. There are 3,473 ways to “flip someone the bird”. I’ve committed approximately 3,178 of them during my time in Chicago driving around and saw all 3,473 ways committed.

2. It is possible to eat a double-cheeseburger meal from McDonalds before you even drive 5 miles.

3. It is also possible to be in a McDonald’s drive-thru for more than 5 seconds.

3. Getting drunk and going on a 3AM run to Steak-N-Shake and not being able to find said Steak-N-Shake is fun for all parties involved.

4. There are 27 ways to pronounce my name (Jillian).

5. People SUCK at driving in the suburbs.

6. It can take up to 39 minutes to drive 4 miles.

7. NO talking allowed in ANY stores while waiting in line. Pretty soon no shopping and no looking.

8. Groceries cost double then what you will normally pay.

9. Whatever you are used to paying for gas, also double it.

10. Clapping at the end of a movie in the Movie Theatre is encouraged, and everyone does it.

11. Rush Hour in Chicago is bumper-to-bumper traffic on the EXPRESSWAY (not-so-express-like). You can take a nap for 30 minutes and wake up only to find you haven’t moved yet.

12. Point and laugh at the tourists in downtown Chicago - it’s alright, we were all there at one time.

13. It’s possible for Google Maps to point you to a Family Video, and when you drive there with a bunch of interns, you find that Google Maps told you that said Family Video is in the middle of a newly-constructed pond.

So yesterday we went to the Shedd Aquarium. I was sad because I knew it would be my last time seeing downtown Chicago for another nine months, but it was also well worth the trip.

We walked the ENTIRE distance from Union Station to the Aquarium, and trust me when I say that it is a LONG walk, considering that the Aquarium is right on the lake (actually a little ways out onto the lake) and a long ways down the shore line as well all the way down Lake Shore Drive!

Click on Any Picture to Enlarge it!

First off, while we were walking towards the Aquarium, under the bridge on Adam’s street, we saw some “set” from a movie. We guessed that it was from the new Batman movie because of this burnt-out helicopter shell and the large number of movie trailers practically blocking the entire street.

Besides having a LOT of fish (duh, it’s an AQUARIUIM!), they also had a lot of other animals as well. The first stop on the tour are SNAKES! IN A TREE!

Next stop is the Komodo Dragon. The Komodo had a HUGE tank to itself, and here he was laying in a pool, as a jet of water poured over him constantly. It was a temporary exhibit on his trip to his more permanent exhibit in Connecticut or something. Maybe it was Texas. California?

And this Japanese King Crab definitely looked like he was THE King. He stood at attention like that at the front of his tank for all those who wished to take pictures of him.

What would an aquarium trip be without FISH? And the most interesting fish at that. Fish that could swallow me whole, fish who lived completely in the dark. Smaller fish being fed to bigger fish, and then we have the “Advil Fish”. These guys just look like they needed a whole bottle of Advil, the poor fishes!

And now: the coolest iguana! I enjoyed taking pictures of the lizards because well, they stay put! As compared to the fish picture, like the above “Advil Fish”, you know how many pictures I had to take in order to get one of a clear fish in the center? A million. Yeah, that many.

Oh Chicago, how I will miss you - the sky was PERFECT as we came out from the museum to walk back to the train station. We had a really great view of the Chicago skyline because we were so far out into the lake. Just to the right and out of scene in this picture are the hundreds of boats docked all down the Lake Shore Drive shoreline.

Hopefully we will be reunited again, Chicago, and I hope to take more pictures of you in the future!