Saaaay "PwC!"

In front of the PwC Chicago Office :)

Oh maaaan, job training is awesome! When I last posted on Saturday morning, I was just rushing off for a day of community service at the YMCA with the rest of the new PwC hires. We came back around 6pm, and since we didn't have to report to work till Monday morning, five of my friends and I booked a hotel room in downtown Chicago for the night and hopped into a limo for a 90 minute ride into the city. Ready for fun!

That's Lake Michigan you're looking at!

I won't get into details about Saturday night till the next post because most of the pictures were not taken on my camera, and I'm still waiting to get those from Mariela. Make sure to check back soon! It was, however, a rather devilishly fun night with dinner at Giordano's and then dancing and other stuff at Excalibur till 4am.

Hangovers and all, all six of us woke up around noon on Sunday, ready for a day of sightseeing! Hailing from Jersey, Puerto Rico, Virginia and Hawaii, none of us had ever set foot in Chicago so there was plenty of excitement to go around. We started off with breakfast at Portillo's. I couldn't decide between the Italian Beef Sandwich or the Chicago dog, (thanks for the tip Alan! :), but eventually decided on the Chicago dog as I also wanted a chocolate milkshake and I was still digesting Giordano's deep dish leftovers (soooo delicious, will tell about it next post!) from a middle of the night/morning craving.

At 1pm on a Sunday, Portillo's was noisy, busy and very, very energetic!

Ahhh, and here it is, my very first Chicago dog! $2.09 is a small price to pay for this darling, fully equipped with mustard, relish, chopped onions, tomatoes, pickle and duo of sport peppers. As I have a tendency to say in real life, "it is soooo good!" Oddly enough, my favourite part was the ripe tomato slices nestled between the soft, poppy seed studded buns, it rounded the hot dog out real well, with a bit of help from the pepper - I think from now on, I'm replacing ketchup with tomatoes in my hot dogs! It was just the perfect size to make it me happy, and what else can I say, I love it! Well actually, right now, I am loving everything from life to food, and who would have thought, even work!

The milkshake was did not fare as well. Granted, I was unfairly comparing it to one I had from Ronnybrook Dairy in the Chelsea Market just last week (musta been the second bestest milkshake of my life!) But as a standalone, this liquidly, scarily sweet, and not so chocolaty milkshake didn't fare much better then one from McDonald's just across the street...

...this is the biggest McDonald's I've ever seen in my life!

Our day involved much shopping and excursion with a trip to the Hancock Observatory...

...here's a view from the top. Almost looks like Hawaii, doesn't it? Almost? A little? Hahah, it was awesome.

We also made sure to get cheesy pictures of the boys 'cleaning' the windows...

...and the girls too!

Right before heading back to St. Charles, we stopped by the Sears Tower. You're going to think I'm really stupid, but I honestly had no idea what the Sears Tower was. I've heard about it before, but that was about it. I don't pay too much to sightseeing. I more interested in what to eat! Most conveniently, after we paid the $13 entrance fee and before taking the superfast elevator ride up, we were locked into a 'theatre' for 30 minutes where we were shown a movie, 'the History of the Sears Tower'. And now, I am officially an expert!

When we got to the top all of us started cracking up cause it seriously looked EXACTLY the SAME as the Hancock Observatory, where we just were less than two hours ago. I don't know if it was funny because it really was funny or funny because we were so tired. There was lots of mindless laughter going on all day.

Mariela and I at the entrance to the Sears Tower - she's working in the Puerto Rico office, so I'm going to miss her after training ends this week!

look carefully...that's a PwC sign they're making!...we're still unjaded new hires...

With a little bit of wandering around the financial district, and the help of Abel's IPhone, we found PwC's Chicago office. Picture anyone? From top left, that's Abel, Katty, Mariela and Franklin. And on the bottom, Joe and myself. We took the long limo ride back to 15 minutes after this picture was shot, and all promptly feel asleep as soon as the car door closed. Our day? Sooooo much fun!!!!

Portillo
100 W. Ontario
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 587-8910