Question: What do you get when you combine two roommates who just happen to be matching, Lincoln Park Zoo, a Oz themed park, twisty bamboo, and the ‘L’?

Answer: One fabulous Saturday.

I’ve always wanted to go to Chinatown in Chicago, and this past weekend, I finally got the chance to! My roommate and I took the train into Union Station and started out our fun filled Saturday at Lincoln Park Zoo. I know it’s kind of odd, but one of my favorite places in the world are Zoo’s. I’m not quite sure why…it’s just how it is!

Anyway, after the Zoo we headed to a park we had heard about. It’s called Oz Park, named after, you guessed it, The Wizard of Oz. There were absolutely beautiful gardens with some decently scary statues of Oz characters.

So once we were done at Oz Park, we took the L down to Chinatown. And let me tell you, if you haven’t been yet, you should really go! There’s tons of super inexpensive fun gifts and things to see. We both got this awesome twisty bamboo for only a couple of dollars, it was pretty sweet. Honestly though, it’s quite the cultural experience, there are tons of places to get food, and there are even authentic markets! One that we went into had live soft shell turtles just hanging out next to the meat counter for people to buy!!

Moral of the story: Take adventures, If you hear about something cool in the City, grab a friend or two, to the CTA Trip Planner, map out where you want to go, and then just do it! When else are you going to be able to just hang out with friends and do random stuff like this?! College is the time! Embrace it!

Okay, so I won’t lie, after my trip to Africa, the summer promised to be quite boring. It was filled with work, work, and more work! However, I got a pleasant surprise at the beginning of August. Two of my best friends from NCC drove down from Wisconsin to Nebraska to visit me!! It was probably one of the highlights of my summer! I mean, seriously, how awesome are your friends when they drive 6 hours just to see you for a weekend! It was even better because one of my friends is studying abroad in Costa Rica right now, so it was the last time I would be able to see her until winter term.

I bet you’re wondering what we occupied our time with, I know I’d be wondering that. Well, Omaha is a magical place filled with…well…we have a great football team and an amazing Zoo! But seriously, we went to the zoo, and did random fun things all weekend.

I think that I had a major realization about friendships while they were in Omaha. The friends you make in college are not the people who replace your high school friends, and although you will have some friends from high school that you will keep in touch with for life, your college friends are the ones that will be with you ‘till the end. They turn into your family, and are often closer, better friends than you have ever had before, simply because when you are away from home, all you have is each other.

Moral of the story? If you’re shy, step out of your comfort zone and make friends, talk to everyone, because some of those friendships could be some of the best relationships you ever enter into!