I’m back from my trip to Chicago for the 2023 ALA Spectrum Institute during the ALA Annual Conference. I was invited by my scholarship program, the ALA Spectrum Scholarship. I’m a 2022 ALA Spectrum Scholar, so I got to attend the Institute for free!!
I had so much fun!! I brought my niece Aniya with me for some fun things too, and it was all so amazing!!
Day 1 – Check-In Day (Thursday 6/22)
On Day 1, we took a 5 am flight and by the time we landed, I was already exhausted! I’m not a morning person so taking a 5 am flight was kind of torture!!!! But I powered through and made it to our hotel. You guys, the Palmer House Hilton was gorgeous. And it was so big, I got lost a few times getting around lol.
After we unpacked, The first thing we did was go to to the Bean! The most famous tourist attraction at Chicago! It was so silvery and big and the perfect spot to take pictures. And not too far from our hotel.
The Bean wasn’t too packed with people. But then again, we arrived on a Thursday, so who knows what the Bean would look like during the weekend. We wanted to go again before we left, but we didn’t have enough time.
And then, that same night, I attended my first ALA Spectrum Institute event, the introduction session and dinner. I got to meet some of my fellow Scholars and made some new friends!
ALSC Scholar – Association of Library Services to Children (because I’m studying to be a young adult services librarian)
Day 2 – Sickness and More Spectrum Sessions
And then… I got super sick after Thursday night. I was already pretty sick when I’d arrived to Chicago but I was not about to miss this opportunity to come!! So I powered through (my phrase this whole post) Thursday’s dinner, but right after, my body felt super weak and tired. I was coughing Uncontrollably, my chest was on fire!! God Bless Aniya, she was so worried and started calling Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy to get me some medicine. We stayed up until 10:30 PM maybe 11 pm until we finally found an open Walgreens to order some NyQuil. I had to call my mom to get some advice on what to do. After taking the NyQuil, I crashed until the next afternoon.
I skipped the first 2 ALA Spectrum sessions to get some rest, but I did attend the last session, Writing Our Own Leadership Narratives: Being the Change Agent. I didn’t take pictures during that session because I wanted to enjoy and be present.
I skipped the first 2 ALA Spectrum sessions to get some rest, but I did attend the last session, Writing Our Own Leadership Narratives: Being the Change Agent. I didn’t take pictures during that session because I wanted to enjoy and be present.
Our Spectrum cohort also took group photos! (Coming soon)
After group photos, Aniya and I went to the Navy Pier amusement park. We got to go on the big Ferris wheel, which was a lot of fun! Aniya was so scared lmaooo 😂😂😂
Day 3: Last Day Sessions & Long Way Home
My last day in Chicago, I went to my last session at the McCormack Place Convention Center, Spectrum Education 25th Celebration: From Inception to Disruption. Their session was really inspiring to see how far Spectrum has come, since it’s start 25 years ago. I got to meet Betty Turock, the Dean of my school, and she was so sweet and nice!!
Then we went back to the hotel and had lunch, which was delicious. There was also Tamika Barnes, the featured speaker. Her speech was incredible!! I wished I could have stayed longer to hear the whole thing but I had to leave early to catch my flight back home to NJ.
Coming home was a mess!! First, the pilot told us the plane needed more gas to fly over both NY and NJ. So we had to wait for that. But then we had to wait longer because they had to change the crew; the previous crew clocked out lol so they had to wait for the next group for our plane. Another 2 hours!!!!!! So that’s 4 hours without takeoff. I was so hungry, thirsty, still sick a little bit, ughhhhh. Headache!!!! Our flight got delayed 2 hours, so instead of leaving at 5, we left at 7 pm!! We didn’t get home until maybe 10 pm.
With all of that being said, it was overall a great trip. I don’t want to let go of my badge lol. I’ll keep it for the memories. I most definitely want to return to Chicago, if not for more library school stuff. I had a really nice time, and I’m so glad I went.
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Comment below: Have you ever been to Chicago? How did you like it? What are some good spots to check out for next time?
Thanks for reading,
