"Chilling Out" in Chicago

After a wonderful time with friends at Stanford during Christmas I was all the more excited about my trip to Chicago for about 10 days.. I was  a little worried because until Christmas the weather was extremely bad with snow storms and temperature falling to -20 deg C.. But by God's grace till today (I'm still in Chicago..till Jan 5th) the temperature hasn't fallen below -6 deg C and infact most of the days it has been positive

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K..the main purpose of me coming to Chicago is to attend a conference called Following Christ 2008, a conference for the Graduate students, faculty and professional conducted by the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, USA. My frie

nds at Stanford told that it's gonna be a life changing experience( yes it was!!) meeting people of faith from across the world and getting to listen to some of the best biblical speakers in the world. I will write an other detailed blog regarding the conference..but in this I will focus only on my personal time in Chicago....

Since the conference schedule was a bit tight I figured out that it's better get to Chicago a couple of days earlier..so that I can get around the city..Although it was a christmas day I chose to fly on 25th as it can save upto 200$ on your flight ticket:-) It's gonna be my first experiences in Snow.. and infact sub zero temperatures... The first time I hit the streets of Chicago...I experienced the freezing temp (-6 C) and the slippery snow on the road.. I chose to stay in a Hostel called HI Chicago..because it was the cheapest I could find..but it wasn't until the next day I realized that this stay would make my stay in Chicago a memorable one with one of the best friend

ship in my life..

I never expected a Hostel to have such good facilities...but I must say that HI Chicago was better in many ways compared to the other HOtels I have stayed in US so for..I got to stay in 6 bed dorm..The Hostel has free break fast, WiFi, a full fledged Kitchen to cook your own stuff and above all it's certainly a wonderful place to get friends form all over the world.... I didn't have any specific plans the next day..but to just stroll across the city...It was the next morning I met this Japanese guy who was in my dorm...He asked if i wanted to join with him and few others in the dorm to go for sight seeing..I was all the more happy because I have always wanted to interact with people from different countries and culture..because I have found it a valuable source for making good friendships and learning.. So we initially started as a group to visit the famous "Field Museum". But after entering the Museum each of us had a different preferences and split into group of two... I paired with the Japanese guy and we started going around the museum and to many other places...

We spent a lot of time just strolling around the Chicago downtown..sharing thoughts about each others culture..He is a senior  undergrad student from William & Mary college in Virginia.. Since his dorm closes during the winter break he visits different places in US until the college reopens...(thats pretty coool!!)  I spent time with him for the next two days..We generally had no pla

ns and kept walking around the city and when we found some interesting land marks we would just stop by and spend some time there...But most of the time we exchanged views about our cultures, economy, the educational system..our personal interests and goals...He is an exchange student from Kyoto University in Japan...and is very interested in business..He is of the view the although Japan is currently one of the biggest economy in the world..but he is skeptical about it's future because of its rigidity towards globalization.. He spoke better english than most other Japanese I have interacted with and I would say he was quite sharp and that kept our discussions very interesting...Those two days were certainly some of the best moments I have shared with a person whom I have met for the first time and I decided that I would choose to stay in hostels during all my vacations..to make wonderful friends and to learn about different cultures....It was truly the most memorable days....

After all the strolling in the streets of Chicago...I got all set for the conference...I moved into the Marriott Hotels in Chicago...and would follow all the experiences that I had during the conference in my next blog.....:-)