Chicago architecture!

I am still exploring this wonderful city.. The more I get to know it, the better I realize what an exclusive city Chicago is. Chicago has got everything, except for a River Island :(
I think it's really exclusive that a city as big as Chicago has both skyscrapers ordinated tightly and a beach. There are not a lot of big cities which have that. Its like, you look left and see Miami beach, look right you see New York. And apparently Chicago has 3 of the highest buildings in America. The top 5: first is Willis tower, second is Trump tower, number 3 and 4 is dedicated to NY and number 5 is the Aon tower. Look it up on Wikipedia (Tallest buildings in the US). Chicago is also known for their architecture. I love France, I love France for it's food, it's charms and especially its architecture. And what I love even more about Chicago is that they also have french architecture. The french Parisian buildings, but 5 stories higher. It's really cool to see.

 The building on the right is my favorite. And the one with the gold statue is also cool

Focussing on the river. 

Also I started jogging systematically again, really weird but I still am in good shape. I can still hit the track for 1 hour straight :) I guess I am a natural sportswoman. I run on the lake shore, that's a long street alongside the lake. A lot of people run alongside lake shore, there's a park, the beach and sports clubs where they play al different kinds of sports. Again you have left Miami and right New York. I really love running that track.

Michigan avenue is the best street for label lovers, like me. With major department stores like Bloomingdale, Nordstrom, Saks fifth avenue, Neiman Marcus and Barneys the famous Louis Vuitton, Valentino and Jimmy Choo are just the start of what you are looking for and I didn't mention the label stores yet which are just a block away. Slowly but easily I am falling in love with Chi-town.

As you can see in my picture, Chi-town also has a river! During St. Patricks day, I don't know who; colours the river green. But it's really cool to see. I'll add a picture to this blog soon.

I love the food in Chicago. Like I've said before, I have been vegetarian the past view weeks. But Chi-town has the best vegetarian food. And starting today I am eating meat again and I swear I just love chicken... I wish I could eat chicken everyday. But I might go back to being vegetarian pretty soon...

 I love these parking lots, some of them go 20 stories high! Imagine the road to the top floor could be 4 miles.

 ING Bank in Chitown!! Too bad I have ABN Amro

 Eating Pasta at Lake view! 10 minutes walking from my apartment...

Almost a month

I'm almost a month in Chicago. Time flies!

They say moving abroad changes you, it makes you a different person. I've already moved to a far away place, leaving my loved ones behind and now I am doing it again. You must think it should be easier for me to get along and not to . But I am experiencing that the feeling of leaving everything behind doesn't change. I miss the Netherlands. I miss my friends, I miss the structure, the food and even the rain.. I miss my uncle, my other family, the parties. Ohh man..
Don't get me wrong, I really like it here! I've already made loads of friends and the weather here is great! The sun is shining, it has been 70 + degrees Fahrenheit (I have no idea what that is in celsius but it's "not wearing a jacket" warm). But I am working full-time (40+ hours per week) and do not have a lot of time to hang out during the week. Traveling to my internship takes me about 1,5 hour one way, this makes the time I have left per day even less. But weekends are all about walking around in Chi-town and eating healthy vegetarian stuff and shopping and going out and meeting new people. American's are really friendly, although nothing tops Japan, but yeah they do beat the shit out of the Dutch when it comes to being friendly. "Have a good one" that's how we greet people here, meaning have a great day. The American city people are also not as fat as the Dutch promote. Nah, I haven't seen extreme overweight people in Chi-town. I've heard its more a southern America kind of thing, like going to Alabama is eating friend peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. What the hell...!

Now I am going to tell you a little bit about my research. I am trying to find out what protein causes heart growth when patients get a myocard infarction (or heart attack). This is really interesting, since the results of my research project can be an onset to a new medication. If they can find a blocker to this protein, patients heart can be protected against a heart attack and they won't have to live with the damage a heart attack can cause. So yeah, I am trying to make a change in the world ;). I am working with the mouse's heart to get results and to find the answer to my question. And for that I have to anesthetize them. Slowly I am improving my skills to do the surgery, although I still can't stand killing them.

But yeah moving abroad does change you. I went from hating mice to thinking they are way to cute to kill them, I went from being totally into hip hop to totally being into techno (hard style), I went from a meat loving person to a vegetarian. But 1 thing will probably never change, I still love shopping :) and for this America is perfect! And probably none of these changes are permanent ;)

 The system in which I hang the mouses heart and try to keep it alive 

Silly me showing where I hang the mouse's heart