Chi-Urban Excursion

Looking through the pictures from last year has gotten me so excited for this year’s trip! Going to be a great learning experience… only 3 more days!

The countdown is on! The Chi-Urbanites leave on March 11 for an amazing journey of exploration and learning.

Post Chi-Urban Excursion

Let me just say this, I did not enjoy waking up at 4 in the morning today.

Was I glad to go home? Yes, definitely. I was tired of being suffocated in a room that you had no idea how to turn down the heat.

Would I come back to Chicago? Yes. As a young adult, the city has so much to offer. The culture is rich and vibrant and the people are relatively friendly.

To be perfectly honest, I thought I made a mistake coming on this trip. For a split second, I wished I had gone to Vegas like every other Gonzaga senior, but after this week I don’t regret my decision at all. I got the opportunity to Chicago, definitely not your stereotypical tourist side (which I am very grateful for), but I got to see the many different elements of the city — socio-economical, racial, environmental, and a little taste of the political side. Through the Gonzaga education, I’ve been aware of the socio-economic and racial problems our society has through academia and community service perspective, but this trip has allowed me to observe events as they happen. It gave me a different perspective that ties in all the theories I’ve read in books and brought them to life.

Overall this trip has made me realize a lot of things. It has helped me clarify what kind of person I want to be as I graduate and enter the real world; deepened my understanding of culture and the importance of diversity in our society; most of all, taught me that opportunities are limitless. I realize that I want to be a lifelong learner so I can make conscious decisions that won’t attribute to the already existing problems. I understand that by learning people’s history and culture, you are able to develop respect for them. You are able to break through or understand stereotypes, but those stereotypes will not limit you and your treatment upon that person. Lastly, I didn’t even know that a program such as the Chicago Center existed. If I knew about it during my undergrad, I would’ve definitely tried to get an internship so I could learn about the many different ways I can be involved in a nonprofit.

Catch phrase of the entire trip: “If you ain’t clappin’ then you hatin’! & It’s a hater freezone!”

– SG

Thursday- last day of scheduled events

It was a cold Thursday morning and after a quick breakfast(usual, toast and fruit) at the hostel we left for one more adventure. We headed to Jose Guerrero’s art studio. This building was old and cold inside, however his studio was warming and unique. Jose showed us his families day of the dead memorial  and some of the work artists do at his studio. As he said to us many times throughout our visit with him, there is no art only for art sake, there is always going to be political and social connections to the art pieces. And it’s true, the works he showed to us were representing social and political issues especially in their community. Most of the murals we saw on our walking tour of the community represented social issues like education, hunger, safety, and families.  After an interesting but quite chilly tour around we stopped by the national museum of Mexican art where we got to see some quite fascinating art peaces. Guess what was next? Lunch time, we went to this great mexican food place called mi Tierra, the food was authentic and the restaurant’s atmosphere was very welcoming. At lunch we got to meet with more organizers from the Chicago Center. Scott sat at my end of the table and it was nice to be able to talk to a sociology major and to see how he went from taking classes that he was passionate about to having a job that he loves as well.  It was also very interesting to hear his take on the communities in Chicago that we visited throughout the week. He made a clear point that with the students whom he works with he tried to get them to understand that it is not about coming in and solving problems because there are many people in Chicago, some of which we were lucky enough to meet, who are very knowledgeable about their community and it is from them that we can learn from. The biggest point made was that it is not that people do not know how to solve problems, they just do not have the resources to do so.

Later, we visited new  communities program organizer of ‘enlace chicago’ alheli Herrera. She told us what the program does for their community. I was interested to hear that they set up these different sport tournaments for the children as well as after school activities to help provide them a safe place to go in their neighborhood instead of getting  involved in gang activities.  This was our last official activity of this trip.

For dinner we had chicago’s famous deep dish pizza, it was a great meal and it also allowed us time as a group to reflect on our trip. We also were blessed with some surprise visitors who were connected to the Chicago Center in some way and or active in Chicago’s community.

They were able to share with us what they do as well as becoming another resource for us especially when it comes to ways that we can become involved in organizations that fit our interests.

We finished our night by going to an improv  comedy show, which was a great way to end our time in Chicago. Now its packing time, tomorrow we are leaving for Spokane at 4 am. It has been an amazing and very beneficial time in the windy city, thank you all who helped to make this trip possible.

P.S. We are now in the denver airport for our layover and it seemed like just a few hours ago we were all sitting here anxious to get to Chicago.  I have learned so much in the little time we spent in the community but I know I have just barley scratched the surface of what it really means to live in Chicago and can only imagine how awesome it must be for the students who are able to spend an extended amount of time learning at the Chicago Center. It’s always nice to be involved in service but I also think it is equally as important to step back and take the time to learn about different communities; their struggles, culture, community life, politics, etc.

Marija Vareikaite and Ashley Martin