The Big Reveal

It's not really that big. I just jumped on a train and went to Chicago where I was picked up and brought to Northern Illinois University to spend a few days with someone I met at the safety conference I went to in Kentucky Nov. 6th, 7th, and 8th. It was cool. I don't get to see other schools very often. I spent a lot of time in the engineering building because he's a computer technician there and I tagged along.

My adventure started right away Monday morning. My train was scheduled to leave at 7:35am. I had arranged a ride to the train the week prior and called the night before to make sure he was still on. We decided he'd pick me up at 6:50am. When 6:50 rolled around, he wasn't here. I tried to call and he didn't answer. I called about three times and finally noticed I had a voicemail from him at 2:30am. "Hey JP, it's Gootz, call me back." Son of a... I called his roommate to see if he could go wake him up and his roommate, Rob, was nice enough to not only answer the phone and get out of bed, but he actually just got up and gave me a ride himself (Gootz has proven himself very unreliable). With no time to waste, I grabbed my stuff and at least walked out to the road when Rob was close. It was about 7:15am. I'm freaking out at this point. We were cutting it close the entire way and fighting morning traffic into the city. We finally get to the train and what do you know? It's parked on the street and people are boarding... from the other side. I took it upon myself to get out and do a little run around the entire thing and I got on... with about 3 minutes to spare. Whew...

The train ride was pretty cool. I sat next to a gentleman who used to be a professor at Grand Valley in the engineering department. He is teaching at a different school now and lives in Holland. I told him all about my (short) past experiences with moving to California and my future internship... we talked almost the entire way. He was an interesting person.

Is there any such thing as too friendly? I think I make new friends everywhere I go...

Into Chicago I came. (The NIU guy is Matt). Matt's sister was waiting to pick me up. Equipped with a phone number and zero knowledge of what she looks like, I was off into Union Station in search of a stranger. I found her within 3 minutes I think. Impressive?

From the station she made the 1.5 hour drive in less than an hour. A little nerve-racking but I think she was comfortable driving, which helps put me at ease.

As far as the actual visit... nothing much happened. Like I said, I hung out in the engineering building every day. I met his boss. One of his professors. I got to see the safety classrooms. Walked around the campus (it's really spread out). Walked to rent some movies. Not only was the weather bad, but he doesn't have a car. I did a LOT of walking.

Before I knew it, I was on my way back to good old Michigan. The ride back was long but alas, I'm back and in good condition.

Did you know to take a train from Grand Rapids to Chicago is only $14 one way and $14 back between Monday and Friday?