THE Chicago && THE South Bend

4 Months ago, Sam asked me to be his date to a college roommate's wedding.  "Sure! Sounds fun" I told him. Later on, he told me that it was going to be held not only on the campus of the university he attended, but in the Basilica on the university's campus. What!? Ok, so let me get this straight...we've known each other for HOW LONG and you want to whisk me away for a weekend?! "Done and DONE" I told him. So we had been discussing and planning this little weekend get-away for the last four months and I think we got the biggest bang for our buck...

THURSDAY:

I hurriedly left work at 12:00:01 pm and arrived at Sam's house packed an ready to head to the air port.  We calmly drove to the air port, parked, checked in, checked out bags, and moseyed on over to the Delta Sky Club. (as you will find out more and more, sam is kind of a big deal and he gets special treatment almost anywhere we go. hows that for B.A.M.F?) in the lounge, we sip on our free booze and eat the tasty treats provided and stumbled over to our gate. The flight was only an hour and a half so while i napped sam was doing other awesome things for our trip (ie, making dinner reservations via his computer / air card..etc etc) So we arrive in Chicago and we pick up the rental car. Now...sam has traveled once or twice so he knows all the tricks in almost every city in almost every state of the US. That being the case, he knew that the Hertz rental car was right outside of the airport doors and ever other car rental business was quite a ways to walk. Where do you think we got the car from? Also, please note that because sam is a baller, we got this rental car for chizzzeap! Instead of taking the car to the hotel and parking it for a mere $60 a night, we left it at the air port and took the train to our hotel. (Thank God for decent public transportation in a big city...ATL take notes please) We go through the revolving doors into the most elaborate and extravagant hotel lobby i've ever been in in my entire life. Palmer Hilton Hotel? Yes, please. As we were checking in the matradee behind the counter told sam that we had been upgraded to the "executive suite". Our exclusive executive elevators were separate from all other floors and we were provided with 24 hour snacks and drinks in the executive lounge. Also, our room had 2 bathrooms. count em. not 1, but 2 bathrooms. his and hers. LADIES, CAN I GET AN AMEN!? We freshened up and proceeded to walk around the city of Chicago for 2 hours until our dinner reservations at Rockit Bar.  We saw all kinds of classics in the city: The Bean, Trump Tower, Chicago Theater, etc etc

Well....walking made us thirsty. So we stopped in a some little Mexican cantina for a margarita and some chips and guac. We posted up at the bar and scarfed down our drinks.  We then stumbled over to THE rockit bar. This adorable little restaurant was slammed full of people anxiously waiting to get a table. Thank god sam's a rock star and we had reservations. table for 2?! yep! We sat down in our quaint little booth and we had the most outstanding server. He was really on his game. We ordered the "rockit pockets" for an appetizer (yes we just ate quac but hey...we're in the chicago) which are

chopped steak, american cheese, sauteed onions, in a crispy wrap. Delish! then we decided to share the Rockit Burger which is kobe beef, melted brie, fried shallots, medjool date aioli, red onion on a brioche bun served with the best damn sweet potato fries you will ever put in your mouth. literally. the best. ALSO we ordered a side of their famous mac and cheese. oh em gee. heaven.  We then rolled ourselves to a cab and go up to our suite and passed out , went into a food coma, feel asleep.

FRIDAY

The next morning we ate our fancy executive breakfast in the hotel, showered and picked up the rental car from the air port, after of course, walking around the city some more. (*side note, it was raining and my jeans got wet... HAD to buy a new pair....right?!)  THEN we ate at the world famous, food network recognized, UNO pizzeria. I HAD to have chicago style pizza before we left. DUH! So we ordered the smallest deep dish pizza we could and only ate half of it. YUMMM I LOVE THIS PIZZA! what's not to love? cheese? goooood.

We drove the boring scenic drive to south bend and checked into our hotel. I was super anxious to see the campus so we headed over to Notre Dame and walked around the campus for about 2 hours. That was the speed tour. We saw all the dorms, the bookstore, the grotto, the library, and the stadium. The campus had an extremely different feel to it.  Something was different. You could just feel the presence of God as you walked around.

The Gratto: Exibit A of Holyness

It was very refreshing to be on a campus that didn't seem to be surrounded by boozing or partying to other 'college' things, but about excelling in learning to produce well educated members of society that will one day run our country (all the while having a blast). I loved every second of being on the campus.  The architeture was impecible and the people were friendly.  It was so different than any other campus. You could feel the pride in every student you walked by. You could feel the joy of them that they were there..attending one of the most difficult universites to get into.  You could feel the traditions. It was unlike anything I'd ever experienced!  I'm so happy to know that Sam was a part of something that great!  We then went into the book store so I could deck out my life with ND apparel.  The bookstore mind you was 2 stories... I got a shirt, a cup and a sticker for my car! (look who's the best girlfriend NOW!!!)

The bookstore

Then we freshened up and headed over to Stretch's house (i dont actually know his real name...everyone just  calls him stretch). We were welcomed by a group of 7 guys and 1 girl who handed us 40's and told us to catch up. So we started chugging as sam was catching up with all his old college friends / roommates. I was getting to know everyone and these guys seemed to be a real stand up group! I was really treated like a lady and well respected. It felt good to be around such a well- groomed group of gentleman!  A couple of rounds of beer pong later, I finished my first 40 and kept drinking. We figured it was time to head over to the 'welcome reception'. We piled up and headed to the hotel that we were staying at which also happened to be where the welcome reception, reception, and send off reception were taking place. How convenient! We socialized and sam caught up with more buddies from college and introduced me to more and more people. (please note i could not tell you these peoples names if my life depeneded on it. i did find that a good rule of thumb for notre dame grades are matthew and mark... go figure!) The welcome reception was complete with PIZZA. perfect to go with my 40 and other booze. I got to know some of these guys and was really enjoying my time in the bend! We planned on going out with a bunch of people to a shitty college great local bar. I wanted to put my jacket in the hotel room and change shoes before we went out so sam and i headed up to the room; once arrived, i came out of the bathroom and sam was face down on the bed snooring. welp. there  goes our night out! It was quite alright. I was pooped from the 6 miles we had walked that day in the chicago and on the campus.

SATURDAY:

We woke miracerously without a hang over but still before anyone attending the wedding even thought about moving so we headed over to a GEM in south bend: Nick's patio. If you haven't heard, this place is 24 hours and if an Ihop and denny's had a baby, this would be the illigitamate child. We didn't need menus as sam knew what we'd be ordering; the house croissant of coure! I wanted mine with sausage instead of ham. Ok so picture this... GIGANTIC croissant fILLED to the brim with cheesy scrambled eggs, and as much ham / sausage you can fit in to counteract the bread /eggs served over a mountain of pan fried hash browns. AMAZEBALLS. I ate almost the entire thing (with a side of bacon of course) and proceeded to have my 3rd food baby of the trip.

Yep. That's real.

We eventually made it back to Stretch's house and watched part of wedding crashers (only appropriate for a wedding day) and then eventually showered and got gussied up for the wedding. Sam put on his brand spankin new suit and was looking SHARRRRP! mmm mmm that boy! We met up with some buddies and headed over to the bascillica for the wedding. Sam purposefully did not take me into the church on our tour of the campus so that i'd be stunned when we walked in for the wedding. and right he was! this place was gorgeous! The wedding was beautiful and the bride looked stunning. All the groomsmen were handsome and everyone looked wonderful.

 

Now...PARTY TIME! we had about an hour and a half before the cocktail hour and reception began so we headed to some local pub decked out in ND get up to grab one of sam's favorite burgers and some bud light. can i get a hell yea?! 3 buckets of beer later, we headed over to the cocktail hour and reception. We drank, we laughed, we ate, we danced the night away. We look ridiculous pictures in the photo booth and enjoyed every minute of the night. Even when the fire marshall came in to make us leave because "the fog machine set off the fire detector", sam and stretch started chanting the fight song so it made it all the better. I know have many many Zahm hall songs stuck in my head so let me know if you'd like to hear one.

SUNDAY

We had to check out of the hotel and head downstairs for the send off reception. After we got some energy back from the gallon of coffee we drank, we socialized more with more of sam's buddies and said our good byes. These people seemed like my friends now! I feel like I'm apart of the ND tradition and yes, it's official. I'm an ND girlfriend. They made me feel welcome and apart of everything. You'd thought I'd known them for 9 years too. We got back to the air port, dropped off the rental car, checked our bags and sat in the terminal to reminise about the weekend. I think it's pretty stinkin cool to go on a 4 day vacation with your boyfriend and 1) not fight, 2) not hate each other after 3) know boundaries, spacial/ personal space issues and respect them and be able to work well together and 4) talk about your next trip together while still on a trip.

I can't wait to do it all again!