Juju + Moose = Juice

Day 1.
Julien arrives at O'Hare at around 9 am. At home, I find out my financial aid counselor made a mistake in calculating my EFC. I can breathe again. I take a bus to the Museum of Science and Industry. Julien is sitting at the top of the steps. Breathless.

We get tickets to see "Hubble" at the Omnimax theater. Everything is put into perspective. Leonardo DiCaprio repeatedly assures me that we live on a utopia, and have yet to find our equal. I am tiny. This is the best there is. We are sheltered on Earth and my biggest concern is student loans. I look at Julien as DiCaprio guides us to the Andromeda Galaxy. This is the best there is.

Day 2.
We watch "A-Team". Hilarity ensues.

Day 3.
Julien accompanies me to the post office to ship a box. As the post office lady tapes the box up, Julien says, "If it fits, it ships". The post office lady pauses, stares at him and then looks away. Julien and I discuss proper post office etiquette while we wait for the bus to the movie theater. We watch "Toy Story 3" in 3D. I cry and feel very old. We walk outside and it is drizzling. I get home and realize a tornado has just taken place.

Day 4.
Julien and I go swimming at his hotel pool. Joining us are an older couple, a lady and her hot pink noodle and a 10 yr old boy. Julien practices floating and I practice sinking. After, we inhale a small deep dish spinach pizza and run to catch the bus back to my house.

Day 5.
A carefully orchestrated plan to smuggle veggie dogs into a movie theater takes place. We find America's Dog by Randolph and Wabash and order two veggies dogs with mustard, tomatoes, relish, sports peppers and a pickle and fries. We stuff the goods into my bag and we rush to the subway. We are an hour earlier than planned, when we arrive at the movie theater. Julien starts singing about smuggled goods, clearly misunderstanding the word inconspicuous. Luckily there is an earlier showing of "The Karate Kid" and we are still 20 mins early. We buy a drink and chocolate dipped cookie dough (our decoy snack). As soon as the lights go off and the previews begin, I sneak out the veggie dogs. The movie starts off slow, but two hours later, I have a stomach full of veggie dog and a renewed admiration for Jackie Chan.

After the movie we head to the Taste of Chicago. The sun seems to hover above Grant Park. I am breathing in more people particles than air particles. We walk around a couple of times, spend our tickets quickly and then trudge out of there.

Day 6.
Last day with Julien.
I meet him at the bus stop. He starts crying. I had left my swimsuit and tupperware with him a couple of days ago and he was bringing them back to me. He had them in a plastic bag and he had forgotten the bag on the bus. He had lost my swimsuit. I am mildly annoyed but mostly I am moved. I can't believe that it would upset him this much to disappoint me. We wait for the bus we will be taking to the train station. It arrives and we are listening to Gorillaz. I have completely forgotten about my swimsuit when Julien says he thinks he sees the swimsuit on the bus. He walks over to a girl sitting on the bus and reaches under her seat to pick up a plastic bag as she stares at him, confused. He comes back and sits next to me. "This was the bus I was just on," he says. Inside the bag there is my tupperware and swimsuit. "How do you feel?" I say and he says, "Better".
We are in Chinatown. We end going to a restaurant we used to go to regularly. We get seaweed salad and eggplant with mushrooms and egg fried tofu with peppers. I struggle with the chopsticks and the waiter feels sorry for me and brings us two forks. We leave the restaurant and go to a small grocery store. We buy ramune and dried seaweed. We get back on the train and get off at Jackson. I will transfer to the Orange Line back home and Julien will transfer to the Blue Line to O'Hare. At around 5 pm, Julien arrives at O'Hare. Meanwhile, I am home, munching on some seaweed and putting my swimsuit away.