this week in review/why I decided to chop off my hair

So it's been a full 8 days since I've been here and I'm trying to soak up every last minute of freedom before school begins. TOMORROW. Aside from orientation, which was obviously the highlight (not) of my week, I can't say that I've done much. I did however, take a trip into THE CITY which ended up being a bit of a self-discovery experience for me as well. You see, as most of you know, I grew up in Corvallis, a small (ish) town that can hardly be considered a city. In fact let's be honest, it's kind of a farm town! I've been kind of torn as to whether or not I am a city person or a country person. What I can say without any hesitation is that I AM NOT A SUBURB person. As soon as I stepped off the train and was greeted by the tall buildings and bustling people, I felt as if someone had poured cool water on my soul. I love this city! I only wish that I lived closer to/in it. With that being said, I think my ideal living situation would probably be on a plot of land that somehow managed to be, like, 15 minutes away from a city. Here are some pictures that I took:

That famous Chicago sign

Me in front of Cloud Gate in Millennium Park

Aside from my little trip into the city, I have dealt with some phone hardships (if some of you tried to text me within the last few days and I didn't replay it's because by phone decided to punk out on me...), gone grocery shopping at Jewell Osco, the midwest equivalent of Safeway, fallen in love with a new sketchy (but SO GOOD) burrito place*, and, for the first time in all of my days on this planet, started studying BEFORE classes have started. That's right, folks. Yours truly has successfully memorized all 20 of the amino acids. I will let you know if it was worth it after my first biochem exam. 

* So confession time: La Conga in Corvallis was my favorite place to eat. Ever. I know everyone and their mom thinks it's ghetto and sketch, and everything else in between, but I love that place and always will! I honestly can't remember the name of the place that I went to yesterday but it was very similar. Not as good, but similar. I do remember how to get there so as far as I am concerned, that's all I need to know :)

For those of you who missed it, I cut off all my hair (as can be seen HERE). Was it a little impulsive? Maybe. But there was more to it than that. See, I have been using hair relaxers and wearing hair extensions off and on since approximately 2nd grade. Now I know that that's probably a somewhat foreign concept to those of you who don't have to deal with nappy African hair, but it always seemed like the more manageable option for me and my hair. However, apparently sometimes too much braiding can cause damage to your hair follicles and they can start falling out. And that is what I was beginning to notice. I have this dream of growing my hair out long enough to the point where I won't have to used hair extensions but my hair was so damaged that I knew that I just needed to start over. I thought "what better time for a dramatic new look than right when I move to a new place where no one knows me?" That may have been sound logic but the truth is, I really don't like the way it looks. I miss my long hair. But thank God that hair grows back, amen? In no time at all (or approximately 4 months) it'll be long enough for me to be able to put some extensions in again. So that's it, folks!