Lasting Impressions: A Lovely End to the Weekend

Some trinkets and instruments from Tibet

Never before have I been to a place so humid that when you step outside your glasses fog up and you feel like your entire body is sticky. But, weather aside, today was absolutely wondrous. Not even the humidity could put a damper on the fun I had, since most of it occurred indoors under the protection of air conditioning.

In just one day I got through three of the things that I had been hoping to do on this trip: the Art Institute of Chicago, the Field Museum of Natural History, and the reflection pool outside of our dorms. I was mostly concerned that I wouldn't get to see the museums, since I couldn't make any of the RA trips to them and would likely be too swamped with homework over the last week of class to go on a weekday. Luckily, I was able to fit both museums into one day with the help of a few of my friends.

A miniature California living room, 1850-75

Art from the
Byzantine Empire

First was the Art Institute of Chicago. This is definitely one of the best places I have visited in Chicago so far, and I feel like I could have spent days there just taking it all in. The place seemed to have everything -- art in all different mediums representing an array of different time periods and areas of the globe. One of my favorite exhibits was Impressionism, which contained the work of greats such as Vincent van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Claude Monet. I also loved the Thorne Miniature Rooms, which were scale models of rooms from different places and eras and would have been any child's dollhouse dream. We also met Jeremy's grandparents there, so that's two people's grandparents in two days!

Monet, Branch of the Seine near Giverny (Mist)

After the Art Institute we took a short lunch break before going to the Field Museum. While not as incredible as the Art Institute, it was still a ton of fun. We arrived just in time to get in before admission was closed, and had about an hour and a half to explore the museum. We spent a lot of time in the Ancient America's exhibit, which looked at the Americas from the Ice Age to the Aztec Empire.

Even though I was so tired from walking around all day, I still decided to take the short walk over to the reflecting pool that is right next to our dorms. Although everyone had mentioned it, and I had seen it several times, I had never made it all the way over there. The reflecting pool is basically just a pool with thin sheet of water, which is serene and lovely on a hot day. I was very happy to have finally visited it in person.

Facing Touch, a woven image

Even after all this, I made it back to the dorms in time to get dinner at the dinning commons, sign in for early curfew, and have a relaxing evening. What a great way to spend my last weekend in Chicago!