Keza ‘24 and Erriel ‘24, reflect on the groups final day in Chicago, which included a visit to the National Museum of Mexican Art, Millennium Park, and a yummy dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant.
We both entered this trip thinking of immigration as a “tricky” topic that could be hard to navigate at times, but we soon learned how wrong we were. Today as we embarked on more journeys and conversations about immigration we learned how captivating and exciting the topic can be, we also had lots of fun in the process.
We started off our day having brunch at Nookies which was absolutely amazing as we recapped our past days and shared our excitement for the day that was ahead. We headed to the L, also known as Chicago’s elevated transit system, that allowed us to enjoy the view of Chicago on the way to the National Museum of Mexican Art. As we hopped off the train we had a friendly little competition to see which group of kids could reach the museum first without any electronic devices and only using the address and a mental image of the city map. Once we arrived at the Museum, our knowledgeable and charming tour guide Kaelyn educated us on the history of Mexican art and the stories that are often left unheard. We were able to see iconic pieces such as “The Legend of Volcanoes” by Jesus Helguera and “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Rubén Ortiz Torres and overall enriched our understanding of immigration and gave us a closer look at personal and culturally deep narratives of Mexican identity and experiences.
After our wonderful tour at the National Museum of Mexican Art we headed to Millennium Park to explore some of the beautiful sites in the city stopping by ‘The Bean’, the lakefront, and we took a detour to a playground in which we played on swings, slides, and jungle gym. After a fun time at the park we headed to Old Jerusalem restaurant where we dined on some flavorful Middle Eastern food and met the owner. We learned about the story of the owner, Ahmad, and the obstacles he faced to own the restaurant he has today, and how he was delighted that we would be enjoying yummy food. The whole experience was very lovely.
After dinner we all took one last opportunity to walk around the town and really took in the beauty of where we were before heading to the hotel for a trip debrief. We ended our last day in Chicago with an insightful conversation detailing our thoughts about the assigned reading on “Soviet Daughter”, which is the story about two generations of strong, independent women against the history of the USSR and some of our own stories. This powerful graphic novel set the tone for the trip and allowed us to make connections with our own experiences and share them with one another. Not only did we learn from the museums and the book, but we learned more about our peers and how different but similar we are. We learned that we are from all over – places such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Jamaica, Maryland, Bronx, SW India, England, Cleveland, Japan, Somaliland, Paris, Italy, Nablus/Palestine, ČSSR, Hong Kong, Slovenia, Lithuania, SE India, Algeria, Guyana, Mexico, Georgia, New Jersey, Guatemala, Belgium, and China. We leave this trip more bonded and full of new perspectives of the world around us!
