First Week at Chicago Program: Arts, Entrepreneurship & Urban Studies!

Hi everyone!  I’m Julie Ruano, business manager at Chicago Program and official blogger for the program.  I’ll keep you posted on what’s happening at Chicago Program each week.

The fall semester of the Chicago Program opened on Labor Day, with 37 students from 14 different campuses moving into three neighborhoods in Chicago:  Logan Square (a vibrant community on the northwest side of Chicago), Hyde Park (Chicago home of President Obama is located here, on the southeast side of Chicago) and the Gold Coast (a neighborhood  with numerous high rises and a bustling shopping district on the Near North Side of Chicago).

 

Highlights of the week included exploring Chicago's neighborhoods for a “scavenger hunt.”

First day of the semester, 37 students on the Chicago Program along with 14 Newberry seminar students “ventured forth onto the sunny streets to get a taste – figuratively and literally – of the city they’ll call home for the next 15 weeks.  Splitting up into eight groups, they embarked on a “scavenger hunt.”

  The assignment: figure out how to take the bus to their designated neighborhood, see some sites, chat with residents to find out what they think about their neighborhoods, and bring back food to share for a potluck dinner.”  

 You can read more about the Chicago Program scavenger hunt at http://www.acm.edu/features/feature/83?&programid=18&program=chicago  .





Thursday  we enjoyed an entertaining boat ride as we toured the city via the Chicago River and Lake Michigan.

From out on Lake Michigan, we watched a glorious sunset over the Chicago skyline.

Students received their first Friday Memo today, a weekly email with program updates and reminders, suggestions for "cheap eats," museum information, as well as a list of events going on in Chicago this weekend. 

Have a great first weekend in Chicago, everyone!