Weekend Report

Friday- Ern arrived to Chigao around midday and we had lunch at a French place called La Creperie. I'm not much of a Francophile (mostly due to the fact that I don't speak any French and am afraid of mispronouncing menu items...this is also why I don't eat gyros) but it was a great place- I had a Niçoise salad, a banana dessert crepe, and half a bottle of wine. After that, we walked around the Wrigley area for a bit and eventually stopped in at one of Chicago's many beer gardens. As you can see in the photos, Ern loves crepes and wine, and I love flowers. I also love brown t-shirts and jeans, as you may have observe in photos from this weekend.

Saturday- Most of you are probably aware that I went to Notre Dame. Before this weekend, I hadn't been back to a game since 2002. So, it's true that the Irish are having their worst season...um, ever, but nevertheless, I was really looking forward to heading back to campus for a football weekend with college friends. Despite minimal planning on our collective part, we ended up securing a place to stay, tickets to the game, and invitations to multiple tailgaters, so everything worked out perfectly. We rolled in to the stadium in the late morning, and the tailgating began. There was beer, and grilled processed meats, and all sorts of tailgater games (sort of like reindeer games, with fewer elves): cups, football tossing, and some sort of beanbag game that is apparently all the rage with the kids these days, at least in the Midwest. Tailgate photos:

Amanda, demonstrating that weird bean bag game:

Our host for the weekend, Kevin:

Me, spotting "the shirt" from our freshman year. Every year a different shirt is sold to the students. My four years featured the most hideous shirts of all time, and this version was the worst of all- a pink lighting bolt with the giant floating head of Knute Rockne. The second photo is that guy getting mad at me for making fun of his shirt.

Now, onto the stadium. Note the golden dome and the basilica in the background:

Unfortunately, the Irish lost to Michigan State, but did manage to score a couple of offensive touchdowns, so that's an improvement. After the game, we returned to the tailgater for more beer and games and a spontaneous parking lot dance party to "Twist and Shout." The only thing missing was Matthew Broderick in a sweater vest. We then ate some Mexican food for dinner and went out to the Backer. We only stayed for an hour, but did manage to spot "Twenty Dollar Deficit," the name we gave the annoying guy to whom we sold our extra ticket for a $20 loss, getting kicked out by the bouncers.

Sunday- It was a beautiful day, so we walked around campus for a while enjoying the scenery. We ate at the dining hall and visited our old dorm, where we were spotted by Sister Sue. It's always funny explaining to people that didn't go to Notre Dame that there was indeed a nun who lived in our dorm. More pictures:

Finally, we ended the day at the bookstore to purchase new ND paraphernalia, where I was annoyed by three things:

1. ND Crocs. I hated them so much that I couldn't even take a picture. They were gold, by the way.

2. The fact that there are only two changing rooms in the entire building. It's a new building, you'd think that a university that loves making money as much as ND does would make a sales point more consumer-friendly.

3. This sign: