Columbia College

I have to start off by saying that Chicago is amazing. Everything there is exactly everything I want to be surrounded by. I was blown away at how beautiful the city, the school, the architecture, the parks, and generally the entire atmosphere is.

Tuesday: Our flight left around 8, and we got to Chicago around 930. The airport isnt as big as I thought it would be. (I think Minneapolis is bigger) Still, it was hard to get around. It was busy as hell when we got there. I immediately started taking pictures inside the airport (which is totally illegal) so I had to be sneaky about it. We walked to our terminal and waited for the shuttle to go to our hotel. It was literally 7mins away. We arrive at this hotel, and I am in awe. My mom said she got it for $79 a night on hotwire.com. It was called Sheridan Gateway Sweets. I again, took more pictures and went all the way to the 11th floor. It was huuuuge! We got to our room and its like two rooms in one. There was a living room area with a desk, couch, chairs, refrigerator, sink, and a flat screen tv. Then in the other room was the beds, ANOTHER flat screen tv, and the usual bathroom. It was crazy. We didn't really know what to do the rest of the night so we went down to the pool/hot tub/sauna and just chilled there for an hr or so. We met this guy from Portland, who was telling us all about the city. It sounded really cool. I'm definitely going to try to check it out sometime. Then of course, we just went to sleep early.

Wednesday: My mom woke up at a ridiculous 7:20 am, and went to go work out. I fell back asleep until an hr later where I woke up and took a shower (And my mom STILL wasnt done getting ready). We ended up eating breakfast at the hotel which was a really bad idea. It was $12.50 for their buffet, and it wasnt even that good. Ridiculous shit. So then we took the shuttle to the airport, and then had to take the train. My mom thought the college was 20mins away, but it turned out it was an hour away. So...that kinda sucked. Once we got there, my mom THOUGHT the address was 600 N Michigan Ave, but when we arrived there, it was a Verizon Wireless building. We had to look up the address again, and it turned out it was south, not north. So we had to walk about a mile to get there. We finally got there 10mins before the tour. The admissions builiding itself, it fuckin nuts. All of their furniture, and the way its styled is awesome. So we took the tour, and we went to the Photography program first. The elevators had the Columbia "C" on the bottom, and we took it up to the 10th floor. We went in the main area where they keep all their supplies, student photos, and sit and eat lunch. Their dark rooms were also in this area. Let me tell you.....the black & white dark room itself is fuckin huge. They have atleast 50 enlargers, all spread out in different areas. (About 5 times the size of Metro's) CRAAAAZY SHIT!! I was blown away. They had student work all along the walls, and that too blew me away. Next we went to check out other areas that the other kids that were with me wanted to see. There was a dude from Afganistan who was interested in film & video, so I got to see that too. That was insane. Their studios are huge, and they also have seperate private studios you can check out anytime. We turned down another hall and it was just filled with Mac's, with nice white stools next to them. These Mac's were all 38 inch, and they were everywhere. Next we got to see the Art department. (Mostly painting, welding, and jewelry making.) Those studios were really sweet. They have wood floors, huge windows over looking the city, and isles, and paints everywhere. It was really cool to see. It made me wish I could draw/paint. =] Then we went to their journalism department, (which was another thing I wanted to see). It was also huge. Outside of the studio they had all red carpet everywhere, on the walls, the ceiling, you name it. I loved it. The studio itself was for broadcast journalism (that I'm not interested in at all), but it was cool to see. I picked up their magazine, and newspaper, and got to read some cool shit. The last place we went was the music and production department, (for a kid from Chicago that wants to go into music production and management) we only got to see one studio, from the outside, because there was a class going on, but it was pretty sweet. I guess they have their own private studios, some that have standard Bohemia type pianos, and some that you can just fuck around in anytime. After the tour, we went back to Admissions and got to ask questions about whatever for an hour, and by that time it was too late to see the dance department. So...that really sucked. We just kind of walked around a lot after that. Got to see the water towers, Millenium Park, Grant Park, Chicago Bean, (which are all not even 3 blocks away from the school) Chicago River, The Gap, XXI, and other shopping areas. It was the shit! I took pictures of everything from the people, to the architecture, to the activities going on in the street, the homeless, the over the top p.d.a.'s I saw, the guy jerkin himself off in the train, the business people, the students, and EVERYTHING! I wanted to get some night pictures so I made my mom wait till dark. Her knees and feet were hurting, and it made it difficult for her to walk, but I really didn't care. I wanted to capture as much as I could of the city while I was there. The Gap, and XXI are the biggest fuckin stores I saw there. The Gap was 4 stories high, and had every single one in them. I got a chance to talk to the manager and see how they run things and everything, so that was cool. She said I could easily transfer here, but I would have to start off as an employee (of course) but it's all good. XXI (Forever 21) was RIDICULOUS! It was only 2 stories, but it was insane how big that store was. I seriously got lost and turned around in there. I was amazed. I didn't bring a whole lot of money with me so I didn't wanna blow it all on clothes, (cuz I knew I would if I tried to shop at all), so I just got one shirt, and we left. By that time it was dark, and I got to take some more pictures of everything al lit up. It was the coolest thing ever. By that time my mom was dying, so we had to start heading back. We decided to take the bus even if it did cost, and the lady told us that our train tickets worked for the bus also. (Woooooow...so we could've taken the bus everywhere all along). We got back to the hotel around 11:30 and were hungry as fuck. The room service was waaaay too expensive so we ordered from some Mexican restraunt that was near by. Turned out to be really shitty food, and didn't settle with our stomaches very well. =[

Thursday: We slept in a little bit later and when we woke up, my legs were hurting (And still are). We decided to try to go see the dance department. The lady we had called to give us a tour never returned our calls (which really pissed me off). So when we got there, the guy at the desk told us we wouldn't be able to take a tour, that tours were done in the mornings, and we wouldnt be able to see the stage or anything because they were working on fixing lights, and stuff like that. When I heard this, my heart just dropped. I wanted to scream. My mom got all mad and said her usual, " Well were here from Omaha and we called several times to get a tour in and no one called us back, so can we please get some information here or something this is our last day here." So naturally the guy called someone and this lady came and showed us around. She let us see the stage, and the studios. The stage wasn't as big as I thought it would be, but it was pretty cool. Their studios blew me away. They're just full of windows surrounding it over-looking the city. They mostly focus on modern dance, not really ballet, tap or jazz. I told her I was thinking of having dance as a minor and she told me everything I can do with that minor. I take classes on how to learn how to choreograph, take simple ballet classes, yoga, and tap. With that minor I can choreograph a dance for their upcoming shows. How fuckin sweet is that? After that we just kind of walked around on different streets

Friday: Our flight was at 8:40, but ended up being delayed because of weather/no pilot. So we got home around 11:30 and I wasn't looking forward to it at all. The weather was super nice and sunny, but I didn't want to come home at all. I came back to same feeling I've been having.

Overall, my attitude is slowly going to change. I have something to look forward to now. I want to do this. I want to go to Chicago, be on my own, and do my thing. Everything I saw is everything I want to be surrounded by. The art, music, photography, dance, it's all there in the package. I really wouldn't have to drive anywhere either. To live on campus, would cost me 12 grand a year. Fuuuuuck that.

The only negative things I see are financial things.
Gas prices are at 4.39 right now.
Sales tax is 9.25% and shooting up to 11% next year.
Train/bus tickets are $20 for a week.
Rent costs are going to be anywhere from 800-1200 just for 2, or 3 bedrooms.

I would have to live further away, try to find a roommate, but I could probably get by working at the Gap. I would probably get paid anywhere form 9-11 an hr, and since they bring in 16000 for each department, I'm guaranteed as many hours as I want.

I want to do this, and this year I'll have to work my ass off, apply for as many scholarships as possible, and save as much money as possible, but it'll be worth it.

Ace.