All That Jazz!

Shalom and good day to you, my fellow Hillcats!

I am Colter Sharon and I am a sophomore majoring in History and I am reporting live from Gotham...uh...Chicago.

The time is now 12:35 at night and while this is technically the second day of the trip, I'm just now getting to set down to tell you about the beginning of this journey. We left our little Harvard on the Hill at precisely 7:30 am (after I arrived late) and began the long and trying journey up into the section of the country that we Oklahomans simply refer to as "up there". After a few hours of dozing, horsing around, and trying to pass time, we heard the valued words "We're here." Here, of course, was our first stop: St. Louis.

After having lunch on the banks of the Mississippi River, we took a little detour and took pictures of the famed Gateway Arch. To me this amazing experience was also an ironic one. This arch symbolizes the opening of the great frontier, our land, Okie land. Once we crossed the river, we would be in "Old America". Suddenly, everything changed for me as I had a startling revelation: this is real.

After another agonizing period in the beloved (cough) RSU van, we finally reached the Chicago Metropolitan Area at about 7:00. This was pretty funny as we had yet to see one sky scraper and were finally informed that we were still forty miles away from the Loop (downtown). Epic fail! With that in mind, we decided to make the best of a bad situation and ordered two pizzas from Gino's. Now, most of you might be wondering why this is so special. Well, let me just say that Gino's is no Pizza Hut! This pizza is quite possibly the best pizza on the face of the planet. Deep dish, corn meal crust, and one big piece of Italian sausage covering the whole pie! Three words: Oh. My. God.

After getting our pizza and hotel rooms, we set out for a introduction to the Windy City. In the course of an hour and a half, we saw the Sears Tower, Millennium Park, The Chicago Theatre, the Picasso in Daley Plaza, and much, much more. As one of my classmates recalled, "You could write a novel after this one night." Indeed, she was right, and we've only just begun...

I'll be filling you guys in later if I don't pass out from all of this first.