Holy Crap! It's been a crazy week! I left Aspen for college on Monday. It was sad and I don't think that its sunk in yet.

Packing up the car to go was quite an adventure all by itself. I had too huge purple duffels full of clothes and way more random assorted boxes than I had originally planned. But Steve is a genie with the car and he got most of it in the trunk area. Then we were able to put everything that we needed access to during the trip in the backseat.

The drive was fine. On the first day I was really tire, so I tried to sleep as much as possible. I watched some Sports Night and we listened to some music. We ate breakfast at the Golden Burro Cafe in Leadville. It was kinda weird...There were these "Please keep your children under control signs every few feet and a strange and slightly angry help wanted sign saying that people with facial tattoos or no clocks or watches or who only wanted money for drugs and were going to quit with notice or who only wanted money to pay for concert tickets and would be asking for a lot of time off need not apply. We stopped for the night in Omaha, Nebraska and ate at a ....well I can't remember the name of it, but they had decent pie. It was late when we got there, but I have to say a far as I could tell there is nothing in Omaha. Steve is not terrifically good at following the GPS, but with my help we only got lost once (and I was asleep when it happened so I had nothing to do with it). The second day was pretty simple. There was a tiny bit of confusion when we were almost to Glenview, but we straightened it out and arrived without getting lost. We talked more this day about politics and life and what I thought it was good. Steve and I got along fine and everything went well, but I prefer driving with mom, because with her you can listen to music and talk.

When we arrived in Glenview, I saw Lucas for the second time. Lucas is my 13 month old cousin who is the size of a two year old. He is very mobile. I was staying in the basement of my grandparents' house in Glenview on the pullout couch in front of a giant television. It was fun.

The day after I got to town (Wednesday), I went to visit my friend Sydney at Lake Forest College. I was driven to the North Glenview train station and got on a train heading north. I stayed on the train for three stops getting off at the fourth a station called Lake Forest. I looked around for my friend and found no one waiting. I called her and she said she was waiting at the train station. I looked again and still couldn't find her. Finally she went inside and asked the man if there were two Lake Forest stations. It turns out there were. I was at the West Lake Forest station and she was at the Downtown Lake Forest station. I ended up having to take a cab to get to her. We walked from the downtown train station to her dorm. I looked around her dorm and met her roommate. Then we went and ate in the dining hall (they had really good caesar salad). We talked a lot. She was having a hard time adjusting, but it seems to be a little better now that classes have started. When we were done hanging out, I had to take a cab back to the West Lake Forest station to take a train back to Glenview. I got back to Glenview and had to shower again because we were taking Christmas pictures. I had a mini breakdown for like no reason at all. My Aunt Nancy made dinner and it was very good and we all took fantabulous pictures. My Uncle Tim, Aunt Nancy and their kids Lily and Jack got me a bin with stuff for my room. We also celebrated the birthdays of Aunt Nancy, Uncle Brian and Lucas.

The next day (Thursday) was the big shopping day. My mom and Steve and I went to Pearle Vision, Costco and Target. First we went to Costco. We bought this awesome Shag blanket and lightbulbs and lots of batteries. Then we went to Pearle Vision to look at glasses. There were one pair at Costco that were okay, but nothing I really liked. We had been in Pearle Vision for about half an hour when the salesperson suggested that we pop the sunglass lenses out of a pair of Ray Bans and I was sold. After my mom had a little altercation with the salesperson we bought my glasses. Then we went to Target. We bought so much at Target it was ridiculous. We did two laps!! After Target we went to Steak and Shake for a late lunch. I had chicken fingers, because we were going to eat dinner in a short while and I didn't want to be too full.

We went to Giordano's for dinner and I dropped a piece of pizza in my lap. I am such a klutz. When we got back to the house, we organized the cars and made plans for the morning.

Friday was Moving Day!!!!!! We got up and were out the door by 7:15am. We drove from my Grandparents' house to my dorm. We had to do it in two cars and two people per car. We got to the University Center around 8:30am (half an hour early) and pulled right into the alley where we were given two carts and assisted in packing all of our stuff into it. While my family and the RAs did that I was instructed on where to take my bike. Then I met my family at the elevators and we all went up to my floor and were guided to my room. I was the first one here, so I got to pick my side of the room. I chose the side closest to the windows, which face south just like my windows at home. I unpacked my books and DVDs and made my bed. Then I went down to finish the official check-in process. We had to walk around and get our card stamped at each station. I got my key card for my room and my key for my closet (I'm not really sure why I need a key for my closet, but okay). I also got my mailbox combo and let me tell you, these mailboxes are not easy to open. I finished my process and was unpacking the rest of my stuff when my roommate arrived. She brought her entire family: mom, step-dad, grandmother, older sister, younger sister, younger brother, and two cousins. She didn't however bring much stuff. I have so much here to make me comfortable and remind me of home and then I look out the window and remember how far away I am. I stuffed everything in my closet and then we went to Target again. There is a two story Target in downtown Chicago and we got cubbies to put by the refrigerator for food and under my desk for drawers. We got a harp for my lamp and little drawers for on top of my desk and several more bins for toiletries and stuff. After we got my room all set up, we took pictures for my grandma and for Facebook. Papa had to leave to go help my grandmother babysit Lucas. My mom and step-dad and I went to Girodano's for dinner again. Then they walked me back to my room and I signed them in as guests and they came up for a little while and then I walked them out.

On Saturday, I got up around 9am and called my mom. She said that they were going to pick up my new glasses and then come down. When she got here she arrived with another shelving unit and another bin for under my bed. We set up the other shelving unit and then went to go get my books. First we stopped and I opened a bank account, because my previous bank only has locations in Colorado. Then we walked over to the bookstore and found that we needed a printed copy of my schedule and we didn't have it. Instead we logged on to Oasis with my mom's Blackberry. We got all my school books, and I didn't rent them I bought them. I found out that for First Year Seminar I'm reading Frankenstein, Things Fall Apart and The House on Mango Street. I read The House on Mango Street my freshman year of high school and Things Fall Apart my junior year. I just find that really funny. Then we walked back to my dorm, so that I could drop off my books. Then we walked all the way across the world to go to Maggiano's for lunch. After lunch we stopped at Pearle Vision and got my glasses adjusted. Then we went to Navy Pier. We were at Navy Pier for maybe an hour before I got fed up. I was tired and there were a tone of people, so we made our way back to my dorm. I said goodbye to parents and that was hard. I 'm going to miss them. I came back upstairs and went to dinner at the cafeteria and then I watched Sports Night. Now it is time for bed goodnight.