So...I have yet to even mention the internship aspect of this program, which was one of the main reasons I decided to actually do this program..so I apologize.
Anywho, today was my first day of the internship at E-One, which is an environmental organization that is associated with the BASE (Business Alliance for a Sustainable Evanston). I am extremely excited to get involved with this business and to help them in their "vision". Let me start from the beginning..
The ACM program requires an internship experience which is probably the most exciting part of this term. During this past summer, we (students in the program) were to search the web for companies that we feel like would be a great fit for us, educationally. The best part of this is the fact that most students have much different backgrounds and want to get into a lot of different fields of work. Since I am trying to get some exposure into the environmental business field, I had been looking at many small environmental companies, while other students in the programs are getting into various other fields. Some of these are the music/record label industry, consulting industry, event planning, human resources....you get the idea. You look for something that you really like, then you let the ACM directors do all the contacting for you (Unless you already have something lined up before you get up here). E-One was one of my top choices when I was looking into this organization, because it was small enough that I could make a difference in the management of it, but it was established enough that it would provide something educational and worthwhile. So I'm really excited about the flexibility that is going to be given to me in the marketing and sales strategy to try and build their clientèle.
Off the subject a little, I came back downtown, starving, so I found the nearest restaurant to find something to munch on. Decided to go to this restaurant which was called Ronny's Original Steak House cause it wasn't too pricey and it looked pretty decent. It was right off the "El" and it smelled fantastic-ly greasy. Ordered a jumbo polish sausage with fries for around 5 bucks and they actually DEEP FRIED a polish sausage. Long story short, as I was eating that deliciously processed pork, I could almost feel my arteries and heart failing. But damn, it was amazing.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Chicago History Museum and Improv Olympics
September 13th,
Following a GREAT weekend I had with my newly discovered classmates in Chicago, Kate Latshaw, and the p-house girls, our "class" was to be held in the Chicago History Museum at 10:00 am. As much as it seems like a "tour" of the place, it was extremely educational. We learned many of the facts about how Chicago became the "great" city it is today. I never really have known the "real" history of the city and the image Chicago tried to portray to the world were completely opposites. Getting the architectural boat tour as well as the Chicago History Museum really has shown me how dirty the city actually was. It wasn't a grand town, it didn't have a particularly clean atmosphere, but the way it boasted it's strength actually made it believable. As my baseball coach, Les Hunter says, "you've gotta fake it until it becomes a reality", which I think perfectly sums up Chicago. I don't need to go into specific details about the city, but if you want to know more about Chicago....come on up!
Following our tour at the Museum, the next event we had lined up for the night was to do Improv at the ACM office at 7 p.m. Improv? For class? Needless to say I approve. The speaker that came in was a guy who has taught at the Improv Olympics, and for you who don't know what/who that is, let me hit with you some knowledge. You know Second City, right? (If you don't, take this time to Google it). They are the "improv" group that does more sketches than purely improv. Improv Olympics (IO for short) are completely focused on improvisation and do not participate in any of the sketches that Second City are known for. Anyways, the improv "class" was amazing. And the teacher of it completely GOT IT. He had the whole idea that improv could be used in more sections of your life than you EVER though possible. For example...one of the activities we did was to construct a story as a group, one word at a time. As much of a stretch of the imagination it takes, it actually is a very good drill to work on your team building skills. The concept he was trying to get to us was to "build a wall, one brick at a time" instead of trying to build it all at once (by throwing out really random, but seemingly "cool" words in a story). He brought a lot of different ideas toward teamwork to us which, in a business setting, has a lot of opportunity to help that business. Having an Improv class open to the workers of a business, I feel, would boost the morale of the workers and would also help the "team chemistry", so to speak. Anyways, I think it was a great day of studying and I am really enjoying the learning we are doing actually in the "real world". Fantastic.
Following a GREAT weekend I had with my newly discovered classmates in Chicago, Kate Latshaw, and the p-house girls, our "class" was to be held in the Chicago History Museum at 10:00 am. As much as it seems like a "tour" of the place, it was extremely educational. We learned many of the facts about how Chicago became the "great" city it is today. I never really have known the "real" history of the city and the image Chicago tried to portray to the world were completely opposites. Getting the architectural boat tour as well as the Chicago History Museum really has shown me how dirty the city actually was. It wasn't a grand town, it didn't have a particularly clean atmosphere, but the way it boasted it's strength actually made it believable. As my baseball coach, Les Hunter says, "you've gotta fake it until it becomes a reality", which I think perfectly sums up Chicago. I don't need to go into specific details about the city, but if you want to know more about Chicago....come on up!
Following our tour at the Museum, the next event we had lined up for the night was to do Improv at the ACM office at 7 p.m. Improv? For class? Needless to say I approve. The speaker that came in was a guy who has taught at the Improv Olympics, and for you who don't know what/who that is, let me hit with you some knowledge. You know Second City, right? (If you don't, take this time to Google it). They are the "improv" group that does more sketches than purely improv. Improv Olympics (IO for short) are completely focused on improvisation and do not participate in any of the sketches that Second City are known for. Anyways, the improv "class" was amazing. And the teacher of it completely GOT IT. He had the whole idea that improv could be used in more sections of your life than you EVER though possible. For example...one of the activities we did was to construct a story as a group, one word at a time. As much of a stretch of the imagination it takes, it actually is a very good drill to work on your team building skills. The concept he was trying to get to us was to "build a wall, one brick at a time" instead of trying to build it all at once (by throwing out really random, but seemingly "cool" words in a story). He brought a lot of different ideas toward teamwork to us which, in a business setting, has a lot of opportunity to help that business. Having an Improv class open to the workers of a business, I feel, would boost the morale of the workers and would also help the "team chemistry", so to speak. Anyways, I think it was a great day of studying and I am really enjoying the learning we are doing actually in the "real world". Fantastic.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Activities!
Activities! There's so many opportunities for activities! It's completely ridiculous how much chicago is booming and (if you're looking) there's always something to do. We got to take a architectural boat trip on Lake Michigan and the Chicago River with everyone in the program and got to learn about all the funny (sometimes messed up), facts about Chicago's history and the way it has evolved throughout the years.
For one of our "lessons" about Chicago, we were able to visit a place across the street from Wrigley Field where we were able to meet a lady who is a die-hard Cubs fanatic. I never knew it was such a big deal to be called a "regular" at Wrigley Field. She had written a book of how it is a community within the Cubs organization to be called a "regular" and at first it seemed to be a weird concept, but as she explained it, I understood more why Cubs fans are SO nuts (because I'm a Cardinals fan). It makes perfect sense to me now that people know the Cubs are going to be a bad team, but regardless of their record, they will still be fans and support the team. It is not so much about the literal game, but rather the good time people have at Wrigley. On one of our first nights in Chicago, we went to a Cubs game because the prices for tickets were ABSOLUTELY low. This is a good plan for the management of the team, cause well... we can be honest. They're awful this year (like most years) but Wrigley Field is such a great atmosphere for the fans. $7 for a ticket?? You gotta be kidding me! If I would actually be a Cubs fan, I could probably go to most of the games here. Our "cheap" tickets were actually one of the more expensive ones on StubHub. The cheaper ones that would be in the upper deck were $1.99!! That's CRAZY. I'm out-ti.
For one of our "lessons" about Chicago, we were able to visit a place across the street from Wrigley Field where we were able to meet a lady who is a die-hard Cubs fanatic. I never knew it was such a big deal to be called a "regular" at Wrigley Field. She had written a book of how it is a community within the Cubs organization to be called a "regular" and at first it seemed to be a weird concept, but as she explained it, I understood more why Cubs fans are SO nuts (because I'm a Cardinals fan). It makes perfect sense to me now that people know the Cubs are going to be a bad team, but regardless of their record, they will still be fans and support the team. It is not so much about the literal game, but rather the good time people have at Wrigley. On one of our first nights in Chicago, we went to a Cubs game because the prices for tickets were ABSOLUTELY low. This is a good plan for the management of the team, cause well... we can be honest. They're awful this year (like most years) but Wrigley Field is such a great atmosphere for the fans. $7 for a ticket?? You gotta be kidding me! If I would actually be a Cubs fan, I could probably go to most of the games here. Our "cheap" tickets were actually one of the more expensive ones on StubHub. The cheaper ones that would be in the upper deck were $1.99!! That's CRAZY. I'm out-ti.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
September 7th. Scavenger Hunt.
Today after our orientation, one of our "assignments" get become more familiar with Chicago's public transportation system, was to go on group scavenger hunts throughout the city. We were split up into 6 groups and the only stipulation for the scavenger hunt was that we could not use any modern technology (gps on phones, iphones, google) to figure our way around. We started this scavenger hunt at around 2:00 pm, and we were supposed to get done around 5 (if all goes well). The last location of every group's scavenger hunt was a restaurant where each group would bring back the food ordered by the ACM program. Our group was sent on out to the Hyde Park area and it was a pretty big difference from the area of town I live at (in Logan Square). We were failing at figuring out our first location and upon finding it, we had no idea that we were right across the street from the one, the only, President Barack Obama's house. We were standing right next to a church that had a barricades and a sign that said, ATTENION: By entering this area, you are consenting to a search of your person and belongings. We must have just not been thinking AT ALL to not think more of this, and it was like a light-bulb when we asked one of the locals about who lived there.... Duh.
We continued to the other locations (often on a very bad route) and we were directed towards many of the buildings on the University of Chicago's campus. Wow. some of those buildings we were at were ridiculously mind-blowing. The Rockefeller Cathedral was one of the most magnificent buildings I have ever seen. We took some pictures from inside of it, and it makes a single person seem incredibly small. The pipe organ was probably 2-3 stories tall, from what I could see. After we went there, we went to a few smaller landmarks, then ended up at a restaurant called Ribs and Bibs, where we picked up our order and headed back downtown. Each group had a different "genre" of food, for instance, one group had Chinese, one had Mexican, one had pita's and health food. You get the idea. There are basically every type of food if you look hard enough in this city and have a relatively good price.
Loving the city thus far, but I am not so convinced that the city has the self proclaimed "grid" figured out logically. We had an orientation over the city and how they were claiming it is set up very logically and is easy to get around....I disagree with that statement so far. Once I see the city more and experience the roads and transportation system more, then...maybe. Until then, I am staying on the routes I am familiar with.
We continued to the other locations (often on a very bad route) and we were directed towards many of the buildings on the University of Chicago's campus. Wow. some of those buildings we were at were ridiculously mind-blowing. The Rockefeller Cathedral was one of the most magnificent buildings I have ever seen. We took some pictures from inside of it, and it makes a single person seem incredibly small. The pipe organ was probably 2-3 stories tall, from what I could see. After we went there, we went to a few smaller landmarks, then ended up at a restaurant called Ribs and Bibs, where we picked up our order and headed back downtown. Each group had a different "genre" of food, for instance, one group had Chinese, one had Mexican, one had pita's and health food. You get the idea. There are basically every type of food if you look hard enough in this city and have a relatively good price.
Loving the city thus far, but I am not so convinced that the city has the self proclaimed "grid" figured out logically. We had an orientation over the city and how they were claiming it is set up very logically and is easy to get around....I disagree with that statement so far. Once I see the city more and experience the roads and transportation system more, then...maybe. Until then, I am staying on the routes I am familiar with.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
My first post!
Sooooo......Hi! Welcome to my blog about my ridiculously awesome term "abroad" at the ACM program in Chicago! First off, I am a first time blogger and this is going to be learning process as I go with this "new concept". So bear with me.
So, whether you know me or not, my name is Jordan Ball and I am in the Business, Entrepreneurship, and Society program. This BES program is a very innovative approach to an "study abroad" concept where we are going to be taking classes in an office right next to the Chicago Theater, and where our classroom will be, well...anywhere! We will be going out into the "field" of Chicago and learn in the creative way of immersing ourselves in the business world!
So, for all you skeptics and naysayers, let me give you a run-down of our curriculum.
Part I: The Chicago Core Course is an interdisciplinary course examining the city of Chicago by exploring how business, arts, and socio-political issues intertwine. This course has all the groups of students involved and will be much more multi-faceted because the Urban Studies, and Arts programs will be involved.
Part II: The Seminar course is taught by Robyne Hart, and is absolutely amazing! She is one of the most interesting and fun to be around teachers I have ever encountered. Robyne has a lot of real-world experience to offer to our class and has created this VERY innovative approach to "studying abroad." This course has been focuses specifically on issues related to business and entrepreneurship, including opportunities to meet with innovators and entrepreneurs around the city.
Part III: The Internship is one of the most exciting part of this program and a unique opportunity for students to work for small start-up companies that are entrepreneurial in nature. My internship is a small start up company that I'm extremely excited for. The company (LLC) is e-One which is a environmental business consulting firm which helps businesses make strides to become more profitable while also reducing their carbon footprint (if you know me, this internship is PERFECT for me). The office I am working at is on 123 north Wacker Drive, right on the 7th floor. I EVEN GET A WINDOW VIEW! Nothing like the dreaded Office Space atmosphere (if you haven't seen that movie by now, shame on you. Go see it!)
Part IV: The Practicum is the course where we will be learning all the "in the field" knowledge. Our "professor" is named Tom Cassell, who has worked as a small business consultant and has helped many companies become more profitable and develops new and innovative ways to reach out to customers. Networking anyone?? This is one of the most exciting about both the Seminar and the Practicum section of the program because we're going to be exposed to SO many people who are on the rise and is an excellent to network. YAY!
The move in day last two days ago was extremely nerve-racking and exciting. My mother, sister, and I set out from Cuba at 6:00 in the morning to head to Chicago and the traffic couldn't have been better. We got to the apartment at 9:30 and got completely moved in by about 11:00. We had a little time to chill out and then get groceries after that because our first meeting about our individual programs was at 2:00 pm. When we looked for groceries, I was very shocked that Target was the preferred store to buy groceries. In central Illinois, Target stores are mainly filled with consumer goods, but nothing like it is here. MOST of the small, local, grocery stores are extremely over priced and surprisingly Target is cheap.
At our meeting at 2:00 pm, I met with all the other people in the BES program. There are a total of 11 students in the program, which was a little weird to have the "class" be so small. In the whole program there are 28 students (11 BES students, 11 Urban Studies students, and 6 Arts students) so it is a very nice transition to come from a small school (either Knox or Cuba High School) to be in a big city like Chicago.
So, for all you skeptics and naysayers, let me give you a run-down of our curriculum.
Part I: The Chicago Core Course is an interdisciplinary course examining the city of Chicago by exploring how business, arts, and socio-political issues intertwine. This course has all the groups of students involved and will be much more multi-faceted because the Urban Studies, and Arts programs will be involved.
Part II: The Seminar course is taught by Robyne Hart, and is absolutely amazing! She is one of the most interesting and fun to be around teachers I have ever encountered. Robyne has a lot of real-world experience to offer to our class and has created this VERY innovative approach to "studying abroad." This course has been focuses specifically on issues related to business and entrepreneurship, including opportunities to meet with innovators and entrepreneurs around the city.
Part III: The Internship is one of the most exciting part of this program and a unique opportunity for students to work for small start-up companies that are entrepreneurial in nature. My internship is a small start up company that I'm extremely excited for. The company (LLC) is e-One which is a environmental business consulting firm which helps businesses make strides to become more profitable while also reducing their carbon footprint (if you know me, this internship is PERFECT for me). The office I am working at is on 123 north Wacker Drive, right on the 7th floor. I EVEN GET A WINDOW VIEW! Nothing like the dreaded Office Space atmosphere (if you haven't seen that movie by now, shame on you. Go see it!)
Part IV: The Practicum is the course where we will be learning all the "in the field" knowledge. Our "professor" is named Tom Cassell, who has worked as a small business consultant and has helped many companies become more profitable and develops new and innovative ways to reach out to customers. Networking anyone?? This is one of the most exciting about both the Seminar and the Practicum section of the program because we're going to be exposed to SO many people who are on the rise and is an excellent to network. YAY!
The move in day last two days ago was extremely nerve-racking and exciting. My mother, sister, and I set out from Cuba at 6:00 in the morning to head to Chicago and the traffic couldn't have been better. We got to the apartment at 9:30 and got completely moved in by about 11:00. We had a little time to chill out and then get groceries after that because our first meeting about our individual programs was at 2:00 pm. When we looked for groceries, I was very shocked that Target was the preferred store to buy groceries. In central Illinois, Target stores are mainly filled with consumer goods, but nothing like it is here. MOST of the small, local, grocery stores are extremely over priced and surprisingly Target is cheap.
At our meeting at 2:00 pm, I met with all the other people in the BES program. There are a total of 11 students in the program, which was a little weird to have the "class" be so small. In the whole program there are 28 students (11 BES students, 11 Urban Studies students, and 6 Arts students) so it is a very nice transition to come from a small school (either Knox or Cuba High School) to be in a big city like Chicago.
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