Chicago, IL. Day One.

Current location: Archana Swamy's house, Naperville, IL

hiii! Yup I'm not exactly in Chicago, but in Naperville, which is about 45 minutes away by the Metro. Archu's got a lovely house and she and her family are WONDERFUL people!

Actually she's an e-friend. I know. It's scary to trust someone you've only spoken to online. But she and her mom were awesomely nice and invited us to stay at their place when I said we were coming to Chicago! Despite never having met me before! I did speak to them from Waterloo on the phone, and send lots of emails. Took a risk there. But Indians - that too Brahmins - from Chennai, so just took the chance. It paid off. They're great people :)

Anyway, after reaching Chicago and picking up Janny, we just roamed around for a while. First impression was that it looked exactly like Raffles Place in Singapore! Tall buildings, office people running around. Lots of busy streets. Very much like Raffles Place. The weather was pretty decent. Not too hot or cold. But we were carrying two huge backpacks so it wasn't too easy to really enjoy the sights with all that weight on our backs.

Suan Tin and I with our front and backpacks in downtown Chicago

The main (and famous) roads here are Michigan Avenue, State Street, Grand Avenue, etc. Anyway we were just walking around, and we found a HUGE Macy's Store which conveniently had a Visitors Centre. So we went in to gather some information about what all we could see in 3-4 days, most interesting spots in downtown Chicago, eating places, and stuff. And the woman there was really nice and let us keep our bags there in their cloak room! For free! That felt so good. Giving up our heavy loads. Then, we left for the Field Museum which she said had free entry today.

But it wasn't free. Wasn't too expensive either. We got the student discount, making it $7 rather than $12. That's when I realised I didn't have my student passes with me! Neither Waterloo's nor NUS. God. I really hope I manage without it for the rest of the trip. It's usually half-priced and will really save some cash. But anyway. The Museum was nice - our first one. So we looked around with lots of enthusiasm. Nice exhibits.

Janny and I navigating our way through the Rock Exhibit.

We had to rush coz the museum was closing. We only had about 2 hours, but we managed to finish most of it. Oh! The really surprising thing was, we bumped into Artemis there! Again! Well actually Suan Tin did. So when I ran into them, they were in some serious conversation, and Suan Tin said that basically she'd split from her travelling pal so she invited her to join us. I guess I'm ok with it, as long as everyone cooperates. So now we have a group of 4 for the rest of the US trip.

Anyway, after the Field Museum, we decided to just walk around that area to take in the greenery of Grant Park and surrounding area. Lovely greenery. Seriously. I've never seen grass this green before. And now the weather was getting surprisingly cold! Had to borrow Janny's spare sweater as I'd left mine at Macy's. That's when I found out why Chicago's known as the Windy City.

With Chicago's skyline in the background, the tallest of the lot being Sears Tower.

Soon it became a little too cold for us, considering we weren't exactly prepared for it. So around 7-ish and after a bit more exploring (the department stores mainly) and collecting our stuff from Macy's, we went to Union Station to take the Metro to Naperville. I was pretty excited to meet Archu. Gave her a call and told her we were on the way there.

Grinning baekkishly in the train. Oh and that's the size of my backpack, and it was lighter than the others'!

Once we reached Naperville, we got off and met Archu and her mom at the station. We drove back and here I am, in their house. And they've got two dogs. Incredibly cute but SO SCARILY TOOTHY. Toby and Fluffy! Their house is awesome. Big and roomy. Lots of space for us 4! I'm really grateful :) Tomorrow, Archu's gonna come with us to Navy Pier, and other places downtown. I should probably go sleep now. So will write again tomorrow! Goodnight :)

Journey to Chicago, IL.

hiii! Oh yes. Current location: On the train (Amtrak) to Chicago!

The train's suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere. Okay scenery. But a few houses scattered around. And the best part is, these houses have WIRELESS! Technology. Wow. I just managed to get on MSN to say hi to amma but I couldn't get her reply coz the signal is weak. But I'm still so surprised that there's a signal in the first place!

Anyway, we got to the station early, with lots of help from Yui Ern and Wei Yi. This photo was taken while waiting for the train.

Waiting for the train at Lafayette's Amtrak station.

Me inside the train.

It's really comfortable here. Much better than Greyhound. If only it wasn't so expensive! Luckily it's only about US$17 from Lafayette to Chicago. Otherwise the prices are at least 30 bucks! The other two got a $3 discount coz they've got ISIC cards, but I didn't get one coz I don't think we'll need it for any other journeys.

K, anyway, I'm gonna continue looking out at the lovely scenery. Hailin's sleeping behind me. And Suan Tin's also on the computer now. She just managed a voice chat too! Cool.

Looking forward to meeting Archu and her family in Chicago soon! I've gotten Chinni Aunty's number so I'll call her after reaching to find out plans. They live about 45 minutes away from Downtown Chicago. So we'll be looking around downtown till evening, say 7, and then leaving for their house. Can't wait! As soon as we reach Union Station, we'll be heading to the Greyhound terminal to pick up Hailin's ISE pal, Janny. She'll be with us in Chicago, after which she'll return to Canada I think. It'll be nice to meet her too! Lots of new friends :)

Right now the trees outside are wonderfully green. I think we might get our first taste of proper spring here. Oh, and also change our watches to ET-1 again! IN follows ET (Eastern Time) too. So it's a little confusing. Ok then, byee!

Lafayette, IN and Indianapolis, IN

Current location: Yui Ern's apartment, Lafayette, IN.

I should probably mention why we're in Indiana, when there's nothing much to see here but corn fields. That's basically what we saw on our way here. It's mainly for Hailin to keep all her luggage at her (and now our) friend Yui Ern's apartment which is where we are now. She's got quite a few friends who are undergrads at Purdue University.

So we arrived this morning (23rd), and met one of them, Xinhui. She took us around the campus for a quick tour in her really cool sports car, and then we headed off for lunch at Fazoli's. Yeah, Italian food of course!

That's Xinhui's very cool car, and me just showing off.

Anyway, after lunch, we went back to their apartment to freshen up a little. Xinhui had to leave, but Yui Ern and her boyfriend Wei Yi joined us, to drive us down to Indianapolis (roughly 2 hour long ride). Nothing much there too. We went to the mall, and most importantly, I've gotten myself a Cingular prepaid card with Yui Ern's help.

Oh I must talk about this, coz I'm quite happy with the purchase. Cingular (AT&T) didn't charge for the SIM card at all! I just paid a $15 credit which will get deducted whenever I use the phone. And best part is that the rates are the same all over the US! A great deal I think. Only thing is, it's 25c per minute, so I hope I don't run out of credit really fast.

Ok, so after buying the pay-as-you-go card, and a fridge magnet to start the collection, we went to one of the more important sights in Indiana, the Central Canal and the Indiana State Museum (which was closed). All 5 of us just spent some time strolling by the canal and enjoying the light cool breeze.

Hailin, Yui Ern, Suan Tin and I sitting by the canal

After about 2 hours there, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The personalized service was very impressive! And the free bread which they served before the meal was simply Deeelicious! Good thing, for once, I wisely bought just cheesecake. A brownie cheesecake which was heavenly and filled up my stomach more than any average dinner usually would.

Ooh I just realised I have a photo of it!

A Brownie Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory

REALLY YUM. So after filling up our stomachs, we left Indianapolis to return to Lafayette. I must really thank Yui Ern again for all the help, and giving us a place to stay tonight! Thanks a lot :) There's gonna be 3 of us sleeping in the living room, and pretty much occupying all the place in this apartment. Anyway, next (earlyyyy) morning, we have to leave for Chicago, so gotta go sleep now! Train leaves at 8am. Goodnight!

Transit at Chicago, IL

Current location: Chicago Greyhound station.

Hailin and I looking pretty tired after a looong journey.

Anyway I'd only slept around 4ish but woke up around 0630 sharp coz like I'd said earlier, I wanted to be alert. Unfortunately, and very unexpectedly, there was a HUGE jam on the way to Chicago. At 7am! Who'd have thought! So we reached here only at 0745 instead of 0700. We were getting pretty worried coz our next bus is supposed to leave at 0815. Or that's what it says on the ticket. Little did we know that Chicago's an hour behind Eastern Standard Time! So we still have about 45 minutes in the station.

I just made a quick phone call home. Amma was surprised coz she wasn't expecting a call! :) Oh ya I forgot. Artemis and Yangli ended up taking the same bus as us! I didn't even know they left yesterday too. Artemis said they missed the bus they were supposed to take at Detroit, so they took the next bus, which was ours. So they've also come to Chicago. But unlike us, they're gonna stay here, whereas we'll be leaving for Indiana. Nice to see familiar faces though. And what a coincidence!

Ok, gotta go now. We'd better start queueing up for the bus!

Kitchener, ON to Lafayette, IN.

Exams ended yesterday or day before for most of us, so we decided to leave today (22nd) in the evening. We, meaning Hailin, Suan Tin and me. We'd already booked our Greyhound tickets - with companion fare AND student fare. The Greyhound-counter-woman got so confused that we ended up not paying tax at all! :D So these tickets were about CAD$80+ from Kitchener to Lafayette, IN.

I'm feeling so sad to leave Waterloo. It's been a wonderful home for us for four whole months. I am so definitely gonna miss it. So I got Hongwu to help me take some photos before leaving.

That's me in my room, which was completely stripped of, well, everything. All packed up.

Suan Tin and I in our backyard. None of us had stepped out before. All that snow made it quite impossible to walk in without getting stuck!

Outside our beloved apartment.

So after taking lots of photos and checking the house a million times to make sure we didn't leave anything behind, our landlord, Donald, drove us to the St। Charles bus terminal at Kitchener. We gave him a framed photo of us - his three Singaporean tenants and him - in the hall when he'd joined us for dessert one day. So it was all very emotional :(

After reaching the terminal around 6.30pm, we met our friends Steven and Ningyin (who've settled in Kitchener. Originally from Singapore!) to bid them goodbye, and Ningyin gave us some delicious home-made cookies! Since I didn't even pack anything for the journey (unlike Suan Tin and Hailin who've brought loads of snacks), the cookies were my only form of sustenance. That, and water.

We started our journey around 1930. Our bus-mates are thankfully very decent. Soon it was time to sleep, lights went out and all that.

But I just couldn't sleep. Was really REALLY worried about Customs. Everyone had warned (and thereby scared) me by saying how they're very particular about showing proof that we would be leaving US at the checkpoint. And I haven't bought my ticket back to Canada since the date isn't confirmed yet. So I just kept thinking the worst and wondering what would happen if they didn't let me cross the border. I have a multiple-entry visa and all that so visa isn't a problem at all. But the return ticket! Aaargh. The other two are Singaporeans - so no visa also - and both have tickets showing them returning to Singapore.

Finally around 2am, we reached the Windsor-Detroit border. All of us got off the bus with our luggage and entered the dingy little office. We were greeted by really mean faces, which definitely didn't help my anxiety. Seriously. A little smile from the Customs officers would have done wonders to my nervous system at that time. So armed with an incomplete address of Hailin's friend who we're gonna stay with for one night, I approached the officer.

She started asking me some completely irrelevant questions. I don't remember most of it. But I'm pretty sure they had no connection to my US trip. Luckily at that time, she had to go off inside, and I was transferred to another guy. Still no smile, but at least he asked decent stuff about what I was gonna do in US and all that. And why I didn't have my return ticket. Thankfully my voice was steady and I just answered everything truthfully. He gave me clearance! :D But the actual stamping of the visa had to be done by that meano woman so I had to wait for her to come back. And she started barking again, but my knight-in-shiny-armour-for-that-moment said he'd already allowed me to go to US :D And meano woman actually looked disappointed! She reluctantly stamped my visa allowing me to stay in the States till 22nd October 2007.

God, I am so SOOOO relieved. Just smsed amma and appa telling them everything is fine. The weird thing is, Suan Tin and Hailin's "interviews" actually took longer than mine! We think it's probably coz of the recent VT shooting which was committed by a Korean.

Alright, now that all that is over, I'm gonna sleep now. Have to wake up around 0630 coz we've got a transfer at Chicago around 7am. Have to be alert for that! I've heard weird things about the Chicago Greyhound station. Will continue tomorrow.