Somehow I made it all the way into my Junior year not knowing about the annual SAC Chicago Shopping Trip. It only costs $5, and that $5 gets you a bus ride to Chicago for an entire day. I had so much fun on the trip last year that I knew I had to get my name in as soon as possible this year.
This was the first time in a while where being up at 8:00 AM didn’t bother me so much, and my apartment mate and I both made sure to have a couple cups of coffee before we left. The ride itself only took a couple of hours and before we knew it we were walking around Michigan Avenue.
We had lunch at Portillo’s, a super good hotdog place that we don’t have here in Michigan, and I made sure to follow my friend Greg’s order to a T (see the video below). After we ate lunch we decided that it was time to find more coffee. We spent way too long looking for somewhere that wasn’t Starbucks, but after a while we just gave up and went to Starbucks.
Feeling more awake we decided it was time to shop. We hit every store we possibly could on Michigan Avenue, and we took a few pictures on the bridge. We put in our names for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, and by the time we were done it was almost time to head home. I don’t remember the ride back because I basically passed out as soon as I sat down.
I think it’s really cool and really unique that Hope give students this opportunity every year with basically no barrier of entry related to cost. It’s definitely one of those cool experiences that you can only have at Hope.