Turkey Time!

There have been so many fun things to do this November that I hardly have time to catch my breath!

Earlier in the month a large group of CSers went to the Bulls opening game of the season. Chicago Semester is intentional about organizing several social events for its students and the Bulls game was definitely a big hit. Although the Bulls lost it brought me back to when I was a little girl and dreamed of being the first female player for the Bulls. It was strange how much smaller the United Center seemed after all these years.

Only a couple days later I frequented the United Center again to see “So You Think You Can Dance?” on tour. I must admit I didn’t watch the show this summer but my roommate, Jackie, got tickets to go for her birthday and invited me to be her date. Afterwards we hung around by the tour busses and got pictures with several of the dancers. Neil was my absolute favorite and was runner up in the contest. Awesome!

Saturday was one of the busiest days of my internship. It was our Befriend-a-Family Thanksgiving Drive! I was the first person each client saw as they walked through the door to receive their blessings. It was fun because the clients all remembered me and were so excited when they said, “Hi Miss Heidi!” Many of the other volunteers that do not have such a direct relationship with our clients do not experience this. My responsibility for our Christmas programming is to assist with the clientele component and another group of volunteers manages the benefactor component. My only disappointment was that there wasn’t as much organization as there should have been on the benefactor side, which made it difficult to ensure all participants were appropriately serviced for gifts. It was definitely a good practice run before Christmas!

Immediately after the Thanksgiving Pick-up I drove up to Michigan to spend the remainder of the weekend at Hope College. One of my greatest anxieties is my transition from Chicago Semester back to Hope College next semester. The two learning environments are so different but I trust it will go smoothly. The big event of the weekend was a Thanksgiving Dinner we hosted at our apartment on Sunday afternoon. I was in charge of the green bean casserole because green beans are my favorite food. We had such a spread of food there was no possible way we could eat it all.

Oh, and I had another pleasant surprise. A former CSer that I shared a class with last year invited me out for coffee a couple weeks from now. She had a fabulous experience at her internship through Chicago Semester and was hired by the site! I could tell by her voice that she is very excited about the work that she is doing and I look forward to seeing her again!

I can’t believe there are only a couple weeks left?!!