It’s
been a while since I’ve been able to sit down and write down about some of the
excitements of life at Western. The last few weeks have been full of new
experiences for me. A lot of them were amazing, a couple of them life changing
and some of them reminding me that life is precious and fragile. I have been looking forward to writing this blog
because it always brings me back to the positive parts of my experience here in
Macomb. As always, I hope it brings a smile to your faces and throws some
positive vibes out into the universe. After all, we could all use a little bit
more sass and a lot more laughter.
In
typical fashion, my objective of this blog is to share with my Canadian peeps
(read: fan base) some of the hidden gems of Illinois. By the end of these next
2 years, the Illinois tourism board will be paying me for bringing in so many
Canuck tourists. The beginning of fall has shown me what it means to live in
the Land of Lincoln and that Homecoming is not a joke, it’s real life.
Recently
my cohort and I took a field trip to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. We
went to hear speeches from the Illinois Board of Education and to learn a bit
more about current topics in higher education for the State. So that was fun, and we spent the
morning doing that, followed by a tour of the parliament building. Both were
interesting and beneficial, but neither compared to the excitement of eating
Chipotle for lunch. Neighbouring cities of Macomb be warned: if you have a
Starbucks, a Chipotle or any other chain fast-food other than Taco Bell or
McDonalds, Western students will swarm. I have recently been exposed to Panera,
a Tim Hortons-esc comfort food restaurant as well as Portillos, where they
serve poppy seed muffins as a side dish to your salad (out of fairness,
they’re famous for hotdogs).
I digress, so after stuffing our faces with burrito bowls and guacamole, we
headed to the Lincoln Museum. For those of you who don’t know, Lincoln was born
in Illinois and is nothing if not a National Treasure. I will admit that I
was a bit sceptical about the museum since history has never really been my
thing and all that food had made me sleepy. Not to mention my first experience was trying to get through the revolving door (I don't do revolving doors). I was completely surprised to see
that this museum is what can only be described as a mini-version of Disneyland
for President Lincoln fans. This place is complete with shows, interactive Lincoln
trivia, wax-figures, recreations of the white house and Lincoln’s childhood
home and memorabilia from the President’s life (..and that's not even half of it). This place was seriously
extravagant. I learned a lot, mostly reinforcing that Americans continue to be
far and away more patriotic than Canadians. Could you imagine anyone ever
building a museum about a great Prime Minister? What would that even consist
of? These questions are still running through my head and it makes me laugh
just thinking about a wax figure of Stephen Harper. Land of Lincoln, love your style.
Homecoming:
not just a football game. This is a serious, week-long competition between
campus organizations. This year, the theme was "A Hero’s Homecoming: Who’s Your
Hero?. A glimpse into the week: there were a lot of tights and capes, camouflage
and fire fighter costumes. For those of you, like me, who were not familiar
with homecoming except for what Hollywood has shown us, here is a list of the
events:
· -Paint the
Paws: Paint giant yellow paws on the roadways around campus.
· -Spirit Game:
Wear purple and go support the WIU Women’s Volleyball Team.
· - Paint the
Town: Paint the window of a business in the square, representing your group and
the theme.
· -Rocky’s Boat
Regatta: Build a cardboard boat that can support 2 people across a lake, twice.
· -Dec the
Campus: Paint the window of a building on campus, representing your group and
the theme.
· -Variety Show:
Essentially a talent show
· -Yell Like
Hell: Come up with a cheerleading routine, and yell like hell.
· -Homecoming
Parade: Build a float, work it out
· -Homecoming
Football Game: This is what I’m used to.
Yup.
This is real life. Students put hours and hundreds of dollars into this week,
organizers and participants alike.
It
was an amazing week for me that demonstrated so much student pride for the
institution. I should also mention that
at every event there was a philanthropy project happening called Rocky’s
Jail Break. You could pay to put people in jail in order to raise money for a
charity called Fallen Heroes-supporting families of those who have fallen in
the line of duty. If you paid extra, you could also have people wear costumes,
such as a taco, a hot dog and a princess. I was put in jail twice, the first
time for being Canadian. I apologized repeatedly for this and they let me out
early for good behaviour. Both times I had to wear a princess costume, luckily
I obviously came prepared and was already wearing my ball gown so I didn't need a costume. Story of my life.
A
special shout out to J-Anne who came to visit 2 weeks ago and experienced the Macomb
nightlife first hand. She also cooked a delicious thanksgiving dinner. For
everyone who doesn’t know what Canadian thanksgiving is for, because I didn’t-
it is simply because we are thankful for veterans, for each other and the
blessings of life in Canada. This day wasn’t actually fixed until 1957, either.
Yup. I’m learning more about Canada than I have in years. Who would have
thought. J-Anne, thanks for always being ready for anything and embracing all
life has to offer. Macomb misses you already.
GGLI,
hollyd
