Ryan and I traveled to Chicago last week to accomplish several things. 1) I had never been there. And if I’m gonna live there for a few years, I gotta make sure I like it! 2) Ryan had an interview at Kellogg. 3) He also attended one class at GSB and another class at Kellogg to see which school he liked better. 4) We had the opportunity to meet the guys in the Gallo office.

I’m not a big-city type of gal, so I definitely had my reservations. But truthfully, it wasn’t really all that bad. It appeared to me to be cleaner than San Francisco. It’s also brighter because the streets are wider. And there are less homeless people… That may change once the weather gets warmer, but it was still nice. Our first full day there, we rented a car and drove through a whole bunch of suburbs to get a feel for where we might live, how long the commute to school might be, etc. We liked a lot of the areas we saw… but of course, the farther we got from the city, the more comfortable with the area I became. I came with the expectation that it would be COLD, so the weather was no surprise to me. It wasn’t really as bad as I thought it would be. We were prepared for it, and once you reach your destination, the insides of all the buildings are very warm (sometimes too warm!) so it doesn’t take long to thaw out. One night, we were sitting at dinner in PF Chang’s, and it was lightly snowing outside… very romantic! We also got to walk down to Navy Pier (practically a ghost town during the winter), and I got to walk around downtown Naperville while Ryan was meeting with Gallo. It’s a really cute little area… the first “downtown” I’ve been to with free parking!

Ryan’s Kellogg interview went very well. The admissions gal was very impressed with him, and he came home feeling very confident that he’d be accepted. He really enjoyed the class he sat in on at Kellogg, but the same cannot be said for the class he experienced at GSB. Apparently the professor was great, but the student body was not what he would prefer to be a part of. That kind of sealed the deal for him, and helped him make a decision between the two schools (which previously was quite difficult). All he had to do was wait to hear the results of his application… But he didn’t have to wait long! By the end of the week, he learned that he’d been accepted. Yay!

His meeting with Gallo was also successful. He feels like he’ll get along great with everyone there. The building there in is literally right off the freeway, and it’s beautiful! There’s even a gym and cafeteria on-site, which is quite a plus. After talking with the guys there, we’ve kind of narrowed our living area down to a couple of villages (yes, I said villages!). We’re looking at east Aurora or West Naperville. They butt right up against each other, and are an easy 10-15 minute commute to Gallo, and about 30 minutes from downtown Chicago. There’s a church in the area that we’re interested in trying out, as well as a couple of dance studios and a Stroller Strides. So other than getting used to a new climate, I think we’ll manage to feel right at home.

Categories: Barr Family Blog