Viaje Vendoso: Chicago Spanish Trip

I guess since Stephanie already mentioned that I might reveal some details about my Spanish trip, I probably should write about it. The Mediapolis Spanish IV Class, consisting of nearly 30 high school seniors, went to Chicago on Thursday and Friday, and it was a great experience for most if not all. They were two very long, eventful days.

Group picture in the hotel lobby.
L-R, Front: Aubrey, Rory, Allegra, Mrs. Delzell, Emily, Allison, Ally, and Kensley; Back: Brody, Jade, Caleb, Becca, Patrick, Ben (the reflective jacket), Myself, Jared, Andrew, Kortni, Nick, Jessica, Blake, Sarah, Haley, and Lincoln.

First, I woke up at the nice hour of 4:30 in the morning on Thursday to get to the school by 5:30, which was the scheduled departure time. We took a school bus to Galesburg, IL, where we boarded a train that dropped us off right at Union Station in downtown Chicago. That was the first time within my memory that I rode a train, so it was definitely a fun experience.

Playing cards in the dining car of the train.

Then, we all flagged down taxi cabs that took us to our Double Tree Hilton Hotel. We checked in at about 10:00, then had about 30 minutes of downtime before we walked to Ed Debevic's for lunch. It's a restaurant where the waiters try to be rude, so it is not like your normal eatery with the waiters trying to butter you up to get good tips.

Eating out at Ed Debevic's.
L-R: Jared, Ben, Me, Patrick (hidden), Caleb, Blake, Brody, and Nick

Then the waitresses/waiter danced for us a little bit before we headed out and walked to a dance studio, where we learned how to salsa dance. At first, it was hard to do all the fancy movements that our dance instructor was doing, but after spending an hour practicing, I think we all got it down. Actually, some of the students were so excited about the salsa dance that they danced in the hotel lobby. Anyway, after dancing, we walked back to our hotel where we relaxed and prepared for our evening activities.

In the evening, we ate out at Emilio's Tapas, a Hispanic restaurant with great food. While we were eating, some flamenco dancers entertained us, and they really got everyone in the Spanish culture mood.

The flamenco dancers in the foreground and the singer/guitar player in the background

Some class members enjoy the food and the flamenco dancers at Emilio's Tapas.
L-R: Brody (face turned), Kortni, Haley, Rory, and half of Andrew

The incredible paella at Emilio's Tapas.

After supper, we all went to the Cadillac Theater for the musical Jekyll & Hyde, a tragedy with lots of details that are hard to explain in a short time (maybe that's why the musical took 3 hours...). Although it was a sad ending, the theater looked great and the music and acting were great, too. After the musical, we took a subway to the John Hancock Observatory Tower, but we were too late, so we didn't get to go up to the top at night. But, we did get our cheesecake at the bottom of the tower from the Cheesecake Factory, so all was not lost. Then we went back to our hotel, ate our cheesecake, and went to our rooms to sleep. Most fell asleep around midnight.

An anxious crowd awaits the "decadent" cheesecake.
Front to Back, Left to Right: Jared, Becca, Allison, Jade, Emily, Aubrey, Sarah, Brody, Patrick 

The next day, we left the hotel nice and early again at 6:30 and walked to XOCO's, where we enjoyed some authentic hot chocolate and churros. They were kind enough to open their doors 30 minutes early so we could come in, eat our churros, drink our hot chocolate, and still stay on our tight schedule, so we were very thankful for that. The first sip of the hot chocolate was great! The second sip was good. The next sip was alright. Then, it was so filling that it got harder to sip with every drink. It was really thick chocolate, so none of us were very used to it. But, I did enjoy the authenticity of it. Also, the churros were amazing and I don't believe there was a single crumb left on anybody's plate by the time we were finished.

The churros and hot chocolate at XOCO's.

After that, we went to the Pilsen village, a Hispanic community, where we got a tour of some of the many murals in the town and enjoyed the atmosphere of a Hispanic place. There was an art museum in the community that we went to after the tour, so we were able to view Hispanic artwork.

Our tour guide explains the symbolism of this massive mural of a big guy. 

A cool-looking thing at the art museum.

Next, we hopped on a bus that took us to De Colores, another authentic Spanish restaurant, for lunch. The food there was great, and I enjoyed it all!

My half-eaten meal at De Colores...I was hungry so I forgot to take a picture of my food before eating. 

Then we took another bus to downtown Chicago (Michigan Avenue) for two hours of shopping/sight-seeing. Since we didn't get to go to the top of the John Hancock Tower the night before, we decided to do that during our shopping time. It was a beautiful view of the city of Chicago alongside Lake Michigan. We also got to ride on the world's fastest elevator.

A view of "The Windy City" from the top of the John Hancock Observatory Tower. 

Ben and Jared think hard about all the buildings.

They asked some of us to help wash windows at the top of the  John Hancock Tower... 

They regretted it later.

For the next hour and a half, we split into groups and did our own things. My group went to Hershey's, where we saw a 5-lb. Hershey's Bar, and the Ghirardelli chocolate store across the street, then bought some T-shirts at a shirt store and grabbed supper on-the-go at Jimmy John's. We also went into Microsoft and got to preview the new Microsoft Surface. That was pretty neat.

The 5-lb. Hershey's Chocolate Bar.

After that, we all re-collected at the hotel lobby at 4:20 pm and took taxis to Union Station. It was during rush hour, so we all got to experience the craziness of Chicago and taxi drivers during rush hour. We boarded another train back to Galesburg, where we got back on a school bus and came home. We got back at about 10:30 pm.

Once again, it was a great trip and I think everyone enjoyed it. Many thanks to the chaperones and Mrs. Delzell, our Spanish teacher, for all their hard work and efforts to make this trip a success!

The Chicago River, a Chicago Skyline, and the Amazing Javier all in one picture.