I set out with a couple of primary objectives (I can´t shake the consulting thing):
- To spend the Summer in Chicago and actually be there for more than 48hrs at a time
- To travel around the world with an outline itinerary of Europe > Asia > Australia > New Zealand
The Summer in Chicago has flown by - it has been so much fun to be in Chicago, actually pretending that I live here. Highlights of my 2 months include:
- Daily 5am workouts with JJ, with many half-finished/half-forgotten conversations on the evil stairmaster
- Refreshing my Spanish skills (hoping no-one would notice me hiding behind my book in a class room of 4!)
- A visit from my sister Annabel and reintroducing myself to the tourist sites of Chicago
- Getting patio furniture and a pool on my roof deck (doesn´t sound so good when you explain it´s an inflatable kids paddling pool)
- Starring (ok being an extra in the back of a bar scene) in the new batman movie
- Losing almost 30lbs thanks to some serious support from my friends and a regular arse-kicking from my trainer Heide
- Taking bags and bags of clothes which are now too big to the Salvation Army
- Training to be a volunteer for the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago
- Being in Chicago and being able to go out on school-nights!
- Planning and booking my travels for the rest of my sabbatical which include - Spain, Romania(habitat for humanity), Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii
- Getting my shots for the rest of my travels (not really a highlight - but the service at the Northwestern Hospital Travel Clinic really deserves a mention - they were fantastic, even though they couldn´t find a hospital they would recommend to me in the whole of Romania!
- Not going to O´Hare once
- Not knowing what day it is and not caring!
