Crazy cold, crazy busy, but crazy good too!

Erin Walters - Irving Park Chicago International Charter School

This week in one word: crazy. Crazy cold, crazy busy, but crazy good too! All of the student teachers started to more seriously work on Ed TPA assignments since we need to start recording our lessons soon, which is starting to seem a little scary. The work itself isn’t scary, but the thought that the seemingly ambiguous task is all of a sudden a reality already is scary. Time is going so fast!

However, there are a lot of things you can do in Chicago to help you through stressful work. One of those things is eating donuts. There are so many amazing donut places around downtown that it should be illegal to not try at least three of them while living here. My family came and visited me this weekend, so I decided this called for checking off one of those three shops. Bright and early on Saturday morning—you have to go early or they’ll sell out—Molly and I set out to try Do-Rite Donuts. Trust me, they are worth the morning trip to the Loop. There were so many different kinds that I ended up with a dozen different donuts. My favorite was probably the apple pie donut or the inside outside upside donut, which entailed a chocolate and peanut covered bottom and espresso cream in the center. So, so good.

I also got to check out the Shedd this weekend! It was insanely busy, so I think it is worth it to go early rather than later like my family and I ended up doing as we did not have much time to look around, but even the hour or so we spent there was so amazing. There are a plethora of crazy fish in this world and getting to see them all in one building was both breathtaking and fun. I would love to go back yet while I am here to see more, but from what I did see I would have to say that my favorite, and I think my nieces’ favorite too, were the Jellyfish. They’re so graceful, and the way they put different lights on them to reflect was beautiful.

Finally, and probably the best way to end any excursion with family in Chicago, we went to Lou Malnati’s Pizza for dinner. The wait was crazy long, I think thanks to Valentine’s Day, but the food was so worth it. I’ve tried a couple different pizza places so far, but Lou’s has been my favorite. It’s dangerously close to Canterbury, but I can’t say I find anything wrong with going once a month or so. The pizza is fresh, warm, and so worth it. Also, with the right amount of people, it only ends up being around $10 a person!

 

I did teach this week too, I swear! However, I had so many great adventures too that I thought it was worth sharing more about those this week.

Until next time,

Erin