Chi-Town

I just got back from my trip to Chicago. What's that firm? You want to fly all of the summers nationwide into Chicago for a retreat? No, I have no problem with a free trip to Chicago. So all 31 summers from all offices got to meet each other and get put up in a nice hotel. Wednesday night all of the summers had a cooking competition. Basically we divided into four teams, each under the supervision of a professional chef, and cooked three dishes. My veal marsala was pretty darn good, but ultimately my team did not win. I think it's because we didn't put bacon in. Should have stuck to that plan. The event was surprisingly fun between the good food, beer, and collegial atmosphere. Afterwards all of the summers headed out to a bar together. The recruiting staff was emphatic about taking all our name tags off before we went out (so the firm doesn't get blamed if we do something stupid). My own name tag was practically ripped off my shirt. Without the comfort of name tags, we all headed out to a bar. Some genius in the Chicago office must have suggested this swanky rooftop bar since that's where we ended up. With bottle service (???). Totally unnecessary. It was apparently justified as the most efficient way to get drinks for 30 people. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. What a stupid waste of money. What an unnecessary status symbol. Why did we need two bottles of vodka for an insane amount of money? We could have filled a hotel room with 30 racks for the same cost. Now there's an efficient way for 30 people to get drinks. So...yeah, I was slightly uncomfortable with getting bottle service. After that bar, a few of us went to a second for a beer before heading back to the hotel for not enough sleep.

The next day consisted of meetings with firm management and a mock negotiation session. I'll call that the "business portion" of the trip. It lasted about 8 hours. For about 4 of those hours I was wondering whether there was any amount of caffeine that would make me feel entirely awake. I think the answer was no - but the early evening nap helped.
For the evening all of the summers headed to a reception at a partner's house. It was nice enough. Excellent cupcakes. The partner had claimed she was cooking for all of us, yet there was a catering staff preparing all of the food. Questionable. Maybe "cooking" means "writing a check." Like the Brits call an elevator a lift. But that's not the fun part.
The fun part was trekking out to the bars in Wriggleyville. We started with 30 summer associates and a handful of associates and partners from the Chicago office. Expense account. Woo! Cue beers, whiskey shots, car bombs, etc. Soon there was an exodus (Bob Marley style) and there were about ten summer associates left, including all five from the DC office and five few from other assorted offices. The ten of us headed to a second bar that provided us with jello shots and more beers. Soon our number dwindled to seven - all five from DC, and one each from New York and Silicon Valley. Pause for a moment. Out of 31 summers total, only 7 survived the second bar, but the entire DC office was still out. Bomb! I think we know what the coolest office is. Unpause. Our second bar was closing a little before 2. Nick, who is from Chicago, goes "Hey guys, I think I know a bar that's open until 4. Let's go!" So the seven of us head out at 2 am to our third bar of the night. I do not remember the name of this bar, but it was surprisingly packed and not one person in it was anywhere approaching sober. Don't you all have jobs? This is 2 am on a Thursday night, what's your master plan for tomorrow? No time to contemplate such things, more beers!
By 3 am, the seven of us (all five from DC, oh yeah! What good bonding!) were pretty hungry. We wandered down the street (the wrong way at first, quite surprisingly) to find pizza. We got to a pizza place that was closing down. "How many slices do you have left?" "Only three." "We'll take all of them." "Um, alright. I guess I'll give you a discount...they are pretty cold." Fine, bring on the discount, that pizza was fantastic, but not enough. Chris wanted to buy a cookie, but freaked out in a fit of profanity upon hearing that it was a $3 cookie. I bought it for him anyways, but he brooded for about five minutes about the three dollar cookie. After the three slices of pizza and the three dollar cookie, we still wanted more to eat. There was a couple in the corner with two intact slices of pizza and we all stared like hyenas. Eventually the couple left, and just threw out the two slices. What? I'm not proud, but I was very close to picking one out of the top of the trash can (what??? it didn't touch anything except the plate it was already on!). Calm down, I didn't do it. Instead, we took cabs back to the hotel and found a 24 hour Dunkin Donuts down the block. I bet you are expecting the ending that we ate donuts until we were content. You'd be wrong if you expected that. It was closed. When does a 24 hour Dunkin Donuts close?? 3:30 am apparently. I have never been so disappointed in a Dunkin Donuts. And that includes the time that Nakul got food poisoning from bad Dunkin Donuts cream cheese. Hungry, the seven of us (five from DC) went to bed, ending an epic night of summer associate bonding...but only for the bold.

The next day I met up with Matt Hope. We went to the Pitchfork Music Festival with Leor and Amy. I didn't know any bands that were playing beforehand, but I liked Das Racist and Battles from what I saw of them. I did not like Animal Collective, to put it mildly. In my opinion they could not have played a more boring set with less rhythm, melody, or energy. It just pissed me off. But it was a good day nonetheless. Even if it was filled with hipsters. And I do mean filled.

Saturday, Matt and I walked around the Loop. We watched some street performers, including acrobats who were vaguely racist and ended up getting a ticket from the police (for being loud and drawing too large a crowd, not for being vaguely racist). Another highlight was walking into a Banana Republic and hearing two guys leaving the store saying, "Wow, we made out in there." I burst out laughing. I knew what they meant, but it was just hilarious. That night we went to a nice dinner, saw a great improv show at IO, met up with Amy at a bar, and saw a midnight sketch show. Mmmm, I missed good comedy. And Matt Hope. It was great to get to hang out with him. And to get him out of lab.

Now I am back in DC. And boy do I need some down time.