Tag: Chicago Museums

Dance, Eat, Museum, Repeat

Dance, Eat, Museum, Repeat

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One of the perks of living with two seniors is getting to share in the joy of end of semester celebrations. As far as senior events go, Damen Ball has got to be one of the most exciting. This dance comes at the end of the spring semester each year as a sort of ‘senior send-off’. Though technically a celebration for those that are graduating, underclassman are welcome to attend if there are any tickets left.

Chicago has countless venues I would have been happy to attend a dance at, and the Museum of Science and Industry wasn’t half bad. For the past few years this museum has served as Damen Ball’s venue of choice and rightfully so. I actually hadn’t visited this museum until Friday night. The building itself is stunning with its long steps and Roman columns, providing a perfectly dramatic entrance to the ball. The extra high ceiling-ed, cross-shaped interior of the museum has a circular center, offering the perfect dance floor. Two of the wings sported long buffet lines of quesadillas, pizza, hot dogs and burgers–which after a quick photo, became our first stop of the night.

Several of the museum’s exhibits were open for students to tour during the ball–the weather exhibit, coal mine and mirror maze. Perfect for those who needed a break from a night of dancing. Though we did find time to scope out the exhibits, my friends and I spent most of our time on the dance floor. The DJ did exceptionally well at keeping people dancing until the ball was over by playing the perfect mix of popular songs and classic throwbacks.

Even if this wasn’t technically a celebration for juniors like myself, Damen Ball was still a perfect way to celebrate the end of the year. I’ll be looking forward to next year when the party will be even more of a celebration for me.

Cheers to the end of the year!

Free February at the Field

Free February at the Field

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When it’s below 20-degrees outside Chicago adventures don’t sound all that appealing. Unless of course, the Chicago activity involves something indoors…and free.

For the entire month of February, the Field Museum is opening its doors for free to Illinois residents. This Saturday was the perfect time to take advantage of this (warm) museum because my brother came to visit and we hadn’t been to the museum since grade school. We certainly weren’t the only ones who decided to take advantage of the free admission, so we spent the day shoulder to shoulder with other museum goers.

We opted to skip the special exhibitions that cost a little extra, but still had plenty to see. First things first, we had to greet Sue, Chicago’s famous T-Rex, who looked charming as ever. Then, we worked our way through the Ancient Americas exhibit. This started with the first people groups known in the Americas and progressed to the history of Native American and Arctic Peoples. My favorite part was taking a pow wow in the Pawnee Earth Lodge, the buffalo fur covered benches made for a perfect mid-museum break.

Our next stop was Ancient Egypt. Even though looking at actual mummies freaks me out a bit, I still enjoyed the exhibit. I always find myself amazed by the technology and innovation the ancient Egyptians used. We also made sure to go through the Evolving Planet exhibit, which had all kinds of animal fossils. My favorite creature from this section was definitely the giant sloth. Yeah, it looks exactly how it sounds.

By this point we had already spent nearly three hours in the museum and decided that Giordano’s was calling our name. I’ve always loved museums so I was glad to get the chance to come and visit the Field again. If you’ve never been or are in need of something warm and free to do, I would highly recommend paying the Field Museum a visit this February!

Until next time, Sue.

The Top 5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Wait ’til Junior Year to Visit the Art Institute

The Top 5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Wait ’til Junior Year to Visit the Art Institute

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Why did I wait until my junior year at Loyola to visit the Art Institute of Chicago? I’ve been wondering the same thing. It’s not that I dislike art, because I absolutely love it. It’s not that I hate museums, because I find them so interesting. It’s not that I live too far away, because I’ve never lived closer.

Since freshman year I’ve been saying how badly I wanted to visit, but for one lame excuse or another I never made the trip downtown to visit one of the best art museums in the entire world. Now that I’ve been, I know exactly why you shouldn’t be like me and wait nearly 2 and 1/2 years to visit this incredible museum:

  1. It’s so easy to get to. Take the 147, the redline, a taxi. Chicago’s got plenty of transit options and the Art Institute is in an easily accessible downtown location, right at the end of Millennium Park.
  2. The 2nd largest collection of impressionist art. Chicago’s Art Institute is 2nd only to the Musee D’Orsay in Paris in terms of impressionist art (which just so happens to be my favorite style). How sweet is it that you don’t have to go to France to see Monet or Seurat?
  3. You’ll need more than one trip. In the few hours I spent at the museum this Saturday I didn’t see nearly half of the vast collection. I have every intention of visiting again in the near future and tackle the exhibits I missed the first time around.
  4. American Gothic, Nighthawks, Sunday Afternoon, Waterlilies. Some of the world’s most well-known pieces of art find their home in the same city as us, might as well visit your famous neighbors right?
  5. Did I forget to mention it’s free for Loyola students? One of Loyola’s best kept secrets is that with a valid LUC ID you can get into this museum for free! For 2 and 1/2 years I’ve been carrying around a free ticket to one of the world’s best art museums and didn’t even know it. Now that you do, don’t let your “ticket” go to waste.

Don’t be like me. Take a trip to the Art Institute as soon as you possibly can, and I promise if you even remotely enjoy museums or art, you won’t be disappointed.