Today was a great last day of exploring everything Chicago has to offer. It also gave me a more realistic view of what the city was like rather just going back and fourth between a high-income area and a low-income area. One thing that we did today was go to a neighborhood called “Wicker Park”, this neighborhood felt a lot like Lawrence to me which was nice because I felt very at home. Before seeing this part of Chicago I had thought I would not want to live in a city. To me that just show me how much a city has to offer and how there is so much more out there than what you may sometimes think. We also went to the Field Museum where we saw an exhibit about the Chicago World Fair and Nazi Propaganda. And of course we went to “The Bean” and then had deep-dish pizza!
I couldn’t be more thankful for this amazing opportunity to have a first hand look at the issues with the school system, especially in the inner cities and to learn more about Teach For America. I am now thinking that I would like to join TFA when I graduate, though I am not sure I’d want to work in Chicago. After hearing about everyone’s teachers they worked with on the trip I think they should get an award. Many of them said they worked about 80 hours a week and then on top of that would do some work at home, this is something I can’t even imagine doing, especially seeing how tired I was after each day of doing half the work.
Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Although on the first day I felt very uncomfortable in the neighborhood I was in, over the week it got better. But without the nine wonderful people I spent this week with I am not sure I could have lasted the whole week. Alternative Breaks has given me the perfect mix of volunteering, meeting new people, and getting to explore new places. I have now been on two Alternative Breaks and without them I would not have been able to do and see as much as I did in Chicago and Albuquerque (my previous Alternative Break).
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