Exploring Chicago!!

Most of you must think that consultants travel all the time, however, this is just not the case for me. Unlike my other IBM GBS fellow interns who have been traveling to clients, I have been assigned to work on two bid and proposal projects, both of which unfortunately don’t require traveling. So, basically, I have spent most of my internship working in IBM Chicago downtown office in the Loop and right across Deloitte building. Actually, out of 18 interns of GBS this year, I am the only one working in IBM office and don’t travel. Although not ideal and different from what I have expected, it allowed me to explore Chicago a little bit more and deeper. It is truly an amazing city in terms of whatever you name it, although a little windy sometimes, but just sometimes, not always. As I have been to almost all the major big cities in US, I can say that Chicago is second to none.

Since I live in the Chicago suburbs, I commute between work and home by Amtrak train, and one way trip takes around 45 minutes if I catch an express train, otherwise it will be 1.5 hours. If you have seen the new movie ‘Source Code’, you should know how the Amtrak train in Chicago looks like. It is comfortable and safe, although not too new. Actually, it is pretty convenient for those who live in suburbs and work in downtown Chicago. You know, the traffic in Chicago during rush hours can be really bad and parking fees is just crazy.

During the past one and half months, I have been to lots of wonderful parks, museums, restaurants, and bars in Chicago. However, nothing is comparable to the experience on the national day weekend. I went boating on Michigan Lake with a few friends! It was really a unique and hilarious experience for me. Prior to that, I had never been on a private boat before. It was just great to look at the skyscrapers of Chicago from another angel and enjoy the sun shine a little bit after spending most of my time in office since my internship starts. Unfortunately I had been made fun of having the so called farm’s tan after whole day exposure to sun; I should have taken my t-shirt off!! Need to work out a little bit though!!