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| From left to right: Dr. Sarah Peters (Honors Student Association Faculty Sponsor); Jiajun Lin (Business); Elsa Moseley (Political Science); Erin Dempsey (Biology); Sidney Lewis (English; above); Robin Clymer (Physics, below); Tyler Whitney (Biology); Darby Heard (Biology/Studio Art). |
Friday, March 16th, seven ECU Honorables joined me and HSA faculty Sponsor Dr. Sarah Peters at 6:45 a.m. to embark on a four-day, three-night adventure in Chicago. This was the first Honors Journey for six of the students and the second for Darby, who went on our 2016 trip to San Francisco, and the third for Sidney, who was on our trips to Massachusetts in 2017 and New York City in 2015. The hero of the day was Honors faculty member Dr. Preston Draper who drove us to DFW and picked us up at midnight three days later.
When we got back, I asked everyone three questions: What was your favorite experience on the trip? What was your favorite food? And did you experience any memorable firsts? Here are their answers:
FAVORITE EXPERIENCE: Darby: Seeing the musical Hamilton at the CIBC theatre (honorable mentions: the Chicago Architecture Foundation tour; the Devil in the White City tour; and a free day spent exploring the city and shopping for fancy pens with Dr. Peters); Tyler: Hamilton! (honorable mention: Devil in the White City Tour); Robin: Hamilton! (honorable mention: seeing "Dream Freaks Fall from Outer Space" at the Second City comedy club); Sidney Lewis: the Devil in the White City Tour, the American Writers Museum, and seeing the start of Route 66--also trying many new foods!; Erin: the massive, intense St. Patrick's Day celebration; Elsa: Hamilton! and the Devil in the White City Tour; Jiajun: Hamilton, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the American Writers Museum; Dr. Peters: Hamilton! (honorable mention: The Art Institute, the American Writers Museum, running around with Darby on Monday--especially the not-losing-her-phone-at-Chipotle part).
FAVORITE FOOD: Darby: Cajun food at Heaven on Seven and Greek food at the Greek Islands restaurant in Greektown; Tyler: a breakfast sandwich with doughnuts in the place of bread, and the saganaki (flaming cheese) and potatoes at Greek Islands; Robin: everything at Greek Islands, especially the psarasoupa; Sidney: the Chicago-style deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's, the Chicago-style hot dog at Portillo's, and the best breakfast of her life (!) at Lou Mitchell's; Erin: the deep dish pizza at Malnati's; Elsa: Hong Kong/Cantonese-style food in Chinatown and the deep dish pizza at Malnati's; Jiajun: the Hong Kong/Cantonese-style food in Chinatown (especially the shrimp dumplings and Hong Kong-style roast duck); Dr. Peters: Heaven on Seven and its assortment of hot sauces ("it's food and a project!") and everything at the Greek Islands.
MEMORABLE FIRSTS AND MOSTS: first taxi ride (Tyler); first subway ride (Sidney); most steps in a day (Tyler); first doughnut sandwich (Tyler); first Greek restaurant (Tyler, Sidney); first Chicago-style deep dish pizza (Tyler, Sidney, Erin, Robin, Elsa); first St. Patrick's Day celebration (Sidney); first Chicago-style hot dog (Sidney and Erin); first live Improv show (Erin, Robin, and Elsa); first fountain pen purchase (Darby); first serial killer tour (several); first architecture tour (several); first time to lean out of a skyscraper (Elsa and Jiajun at the John Hancock Building's 94th floor Tilt!), first time to try Hong Kong-style Chinese food (Elsa), nicest hotel room (Elsa and others); first time seeing a TSA agent use an xray on a banana (Dr. Peters); first time to use a typewriter (Elsa and others); first time seeing a river dyed green (everyone!).
