And then there were three

Hey all, sorry I haven't blogged in such a long time, so here we go.

The last week and a half of orientation has flown by. I don't really remember all that was said or done, but I do remember it was super fun.
There is one thing at is embedded in my mind is last Friday. Dorothea and I went to the Shedd Aquarium, it was a pretty good time. I think we had more fun making fun of the fish than actually looking at them and reading about them. After the aquarium we headed to meet up with the rest of the group. We were all to meet at a restaurant called Cafe Too for our final goodbye meal as a group. Cafe Too is a restaurant that takes homeless people who qualify and train them in the cooking arts. The meal consisted of 3 courses. For the first course I had portabella and goat cheese on bread, which was exceptional. For the second course I had ribeye, which was quite possibly the best ribeye I have ever had in my life. For the last course I had a chocolate tart that had coffee beans in it, and it was amazing.
To end the night Krista took us on a walk to a mystery location. The night was cold, but we trudged on because we were anxious to see where we ended up. There had been some talk of going to the Hancock Tower, but as we continued to walk, it became apparent that the top of the Hancock tower was not our final destination. We continued to walk, we heard the crashing of waves on the shore. We climbed up a small hill and found ourselves on the shoreline. It was gorgeous. We climbed down the steps that led to the beach. Krista told us to sit, so we sat in a large circle. She proceeded to tell us that we were going to pray for each team. So each team got together and stood in the middle of the large group while the rest of the teams put their hands on the team in the middle and prayed. After each team took their turn in the middle, we circled up again and sang.
When we finished, we took some pictures, broke off into groups and headed home. My group consisted of Craig, Krista, Tyler, Lee, Becca, Kristen and myself. We walked for what seemed like ages until we finally reached the "L". At this point we were all tired and freezing, so it was a silent ride on the "L" and the walk home from the "L". We finally reached home and went to bed. The next day rolled around and I said my goodbyes to the England team again, then left with my family for the day. We didn't really have a set plan, so we found ourselves in Millennium Park, my "second home". After walking around, playing in the fountain and taking random pictures in the bean, our parking time expired, so we left with a new mission, which was to go to the Hancock Tower. We drove and drove and drove and still no Hancock Tower. We eventually found ourselves in Greektown and on a normal day that would have been fine with me, but we really wanted to go to the top of the Hancock Tower, so we followed random streets and eventually found ourselves at the base of the Hancock Tower.
We parked and headed to the lower level of the tower. We walked into the Northface store that is at the bottom of the tower. This turned out to be a bad idea because I have a strange obsession with Northface. After prying me away from the store we wandered around until we found the elevator that would take us tot he lounge on the 96th floor. We reached the top and looked around. The view was amazing, but we didn't really want to pay for food, so we went to the facilities, as it were the view in the women's washroom was beautiful.
After taking numerous pictures, we got bored and made the descent. We left and headed for our next destination, which was Navy Pier, but not before purchasing gloves and an ear warmer from the Northface store. We made it to Navy Pier and decided to eat at Bubba Gumps, which was great. After satisfying our hunger, we walked around, took tons of random pictures and decided to head back to the hotel my family was staying at. After stopping there for a short while, we headed to IKEA to get the Swedish cookies that I adore so much. For supper, we went to Mr. Greek's to get Gyros. We went back to the house and partook in the Gyros, which were delicious as usual. After that my family decided to head back to their hotel, so we made plans to meet the next morning at 11.
I went to bed satisfied and awoke the next morning and began my usual routine. It was then that I realized that sometime was different, we were missing Rachel, Kristen and Lee. It was a very strange feeling, but it was one that I would all to soon become accustom to. Any who my parents came to pick me up and we went to get deep dish at Giordano's and then got dessert at Artopolis. After we finished, I said my goodbye's to my parents and spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry and other various activities.
The next morning came about and it was time to say goodbye to the Brazil team. It was very sad to see them go, but also good because it meant that they would be beginning the next chapter in their adventure. It was during this time that it was said "And then there was 9... soon the be 3". It was then that it hit me, that after Tuesday there would only be 3 people in the house, which was a very strange thought. Any who, it was shortly after the Brazil team left, that Sam and Bethany found out that their visas had been approved, which led to a Swedish team "Happy Dance". After the dancing was over, the rest of the day was spent with the Paraguay team. That night as a final goodbye, we went to a deep dish place called Gino's, which was delicious.
The next morning was spent saying goodbye to the Paraguay team before we set out for our first service project. As soon as the Paraguay team rounded the corner, the Swede team in unison utter those 5 words... "And then there were 3". After standing there for a while we headed to Vital Bridges, which is a food pantry that helps HIV/AIDS victims. Instead of giving them random food items, they give them food that goes with their medications. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and I can't wait to go back again on Friday. When we finished around 4, we headed home and walked into an empty house. We even walked into the house and called out hello before we realized that no one was there to respond. It was the strangest feeling knowing that the house had once been full of people and is now only occupied by 3. It was kind of depressing, but we have some how found a way to manage. The rest of the night was spent at a Battlestar Galatica forum, which was very interesting.
Today, we went back to GADS Hill. It was really fun being able to play with the children again. I got to go back into the class that I had been with before. It was really exciting to see the kids again. The day went by super fast, and soon it was time to head back. We were all exhausted when we got back, but we needed to get some food so we wouldn't go hungry, so we got some food. When we got back, Sam and I crashed for a while and by the time we got up, it was supper time. The rest of the night was spent relaxing and watching movies which was really nice.

On a different note, WE ARE LEAVING FOR SWEDEN ON MONDAY AT 4:25 P.M. and we will be arriving in STOCKHOLM around 7:45 am Sweden time have a lay over there until 11:10 am and then arriving in Lulea around 12:30 and then driving for about 2 hours until we reach JOKKMOKK!!! If you can't tell I'm super excited!!

Well this is my life thus far and I will update again soon.

-alyssa