8 Hours in Chicago

This past week has been a bit of a whirlwind.  I had a job interview on Wednesday in Chicago!  I had spoken with the company a few times over the phone and they decided to fly  me out to meet in person.  It was an early day, with a 5:45 AM flight at an airport over an hour from my house.

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I accidentally parked in the wrong garage and had to walk the entire length of the airport to get to my terminal!  I was so glad I had brought flats in addition to my heels!  Otherwise, travel was going relatively well.  I was in downtown Chicago by 8AM local time.

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I had been up since 3 and my interview wasn’t until 10 so I decided to grab some second breakfast.  There was a Peet’s Coffee in the first floor of the Wrigley Building so I sat down and had some oatmeal and coffee.  It was beautiful out so I sat on their patio.

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The oatmeal came with nuts, dried blueberries, and brown sugar (but they were out so mine was without).  It was nice and filling.  After breakfast, I went for a walk to kill some time but decided to sit and have tea so I wouldn’t wear myself out.  The interview I think went well.  They were looking for someone with more experience so that is a downside but otherwise, I think I could be a good fit.  The hardest part is that I would have to move to Chicago.  I know it is nice but I would miss friends and family.

After the interview, I decided to grab some lunch at Shake Shack.  I was way too hungry to try and find someplace local and cute.  My brain was pretty fried from talking to people for 3 hours straight.

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It was exactly what I needed!  Then it was more walking around downtown.  I was so exhausted though that I actually just sat in a Starbucks, reading a magazine and charging my phone for a while.  Getting up at 3AM is tough!  I did take some time to walk down by the water for a while.  There is a small river that runs through the city into Lake Michigan.

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My flight was at 6:30 so I decided to grab a cab around 4 to have plenty of time to get back to the airport.  Well, it took me 6 cabs to get a ride!  No one would take me!  The traffic to Midway Airport is atrocious and I finally found a nice guy who said okay.  THANK GOODNESS.

I was freaking out because my bank card wasn’t working all day, but I had just enough cash for the ride and I found an ATM at the airport for money for dinner.  Since I was in Chicago, I figured I could either get deep dish pizza or a hot dog.

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This was the most amazing hot dog ever!  THERE’S A PICKLE SPEAR ON IT!!!  Haha, actually my favorite part was the “Chicago Style Relish”.  It was really fresh and delicious.  Finally, it was time to board but the copilot was MIA and we had to wait like 45 minutes before we took off.  The pilot made up the time though and we landed only a few minutes after our schedule time!

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The drive home was actually pretty creepy.  I decided to use back roads instead of the highway so I could stop and get a soda to keep me awake but the power was out everywhere!  The storm the night before had reeked havoc on poor little South Jersey.  The road I was on has tons of businesses but it was all dark and scary.  I made it home safe!

Overall, my little day trip was just okay.  I didn’t get to see much of the city to get any kind of feel for it.  Also, no Verizon service in the morning (good thing I kind of know the way to the airport), parking in the wrong garage, wonky eating times, my bank card being blocked, cabbies refusing to drive me to the airport, the power being out, the flight home running late…  It wasn’t a bad day but it wasn’t really very good either.  Kind of glad it when was over!

I decided Thursday that I wanted to just check out from life a bit and met a friend at the beach.

2015-06-25 14.26.52Another thing I would miss about NJ

When I got home I was super excited to see a package from BeachBody had arrived but they sent me the wrong product!  I was so bummed!  After an annoying conversation with customer service, I managed to get them to help me out in getting the correct product hopefully before Kristen’s group challenge starts on July 1st.  This post is long enough so I’ll cover my plans for the 21 Day Fix in another post!  Happy Friday!

Any thoughts on living in Chicago?

6 thoughts on “8 Hours in Chicago

  1. Congrats on getting an interview and what great experience, with the phone interviews and then an in-depth face-to-face!

    Onto important things: I grew up putting a pickle spear in a hot dog. Thought that was their main purpose… (Otherwise they’re whole for snacking or coins for sandwiches, right?).

    While I’m certainly an Ozark Hillbilly, I started life with. Great Lakes accent (mammy & birth mother lived in the border with Canada in MI). Maybe it’s actually an upper Midwest thing?!

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