DePaul University

After I left Evansville, I attended school at DePaul University. I took a number of courses, but I LOVED my Economics courses. The teacher had graduated from Yale, but she was able to put very complicated topics into plain English. I worked at Wrigley Field when the star player was Sammy Sosa! I tried to maintain my dignity while I wore my red, white,and blue POLYESTER uniform and as we had to wipe off seats in a certain section before our shift ended. I played Chicago style softball which is with a large softball and no mitt. I got a job at the Omni Chicago on Michigan Avenue and would go to school during the day and ride my bike to the Omni for the night shift. I continued with the University Ministry and volunteered to tutor local elementary school kids as well as at the Cook County Correctional Facility.

Everyone got searched before entering the jail and the smell that emanated from the food was absolutely disgusting. We were assigned to the non- violent criminals, but we entered the jail and had to pass by the violent felons before taking an elevator down to the basement level where we would tutor. The prisoners were disproportionately minorities. In fact the whole time I was there, I only saw two Caucasian prisoners. The educational level of the prisoners was extremely low. I spent one session trying unsuccessfully to explain basic math concepts and then I got frustrated with the lack of progress and tried to work on vocabulary .

I did the Late Ride in Chicago three times on my Mongoose bicycle. We would start at Grant Park and ride through the closed-to-traffic streets and ride back along Lake Michigan back to Grant Park.

I also volunteered to be a bilingual translator at the World Cup when it was held at Soldier Field. I would ride my bike to the games and ride my bike home.

I didn’t have use for a vehicle in Chicago and would have to bring a wheeled cart to the grocery store and wheel it back to our apartment. I would use the ‘El” or busses to get where I needed to go.

I visited the museums of Chicago on their free day and was able to see all the important museums in the city.

I also remember the Taste of Chicago where vendors would set up and sell their food. It was kind of gross to see people walking around gnawing on a big turkey leg

One time heard the Three Tenors sing at Grant Park for FREE.

In 1995, I was able to study in Spain. I realized that I didn’t have a passport, so I had to go and apply for one. I was walking to the passport office with my sister when we saw alternate places to get passports. We decided on a place and I received my expedited passport. I felt so adult as I waited in O’Hare with my group to go to Spain. We flew through Amsterdam, had a layover and then flew to Madrid. Upon arrival, our host families were there to greet us and take us to their homes. My host mother was a pensioner who lived not far from the Atocha train stop. At first, I was her only resident, but soon after, she received another home stay student from France; her name was Sonia. Sonia’s mother was French and her father was from Morocco, so she spoke English,Spanish, French. and Arabic. She was helpful in attempting to teach me Arabic, but for some reason, it never stuck. We would have coffee or tea in the morning, a bocadillo in the afternoon, and a soup or something lite in the evening. We attended the Universidad Complutense for our course work, and our Faculty liaison, Dr. Torres, had us keep journals of our experiences and would arrange for us to take group excursions to Al Alhambra, which was formerly a harem, to Malaga, the closest I have ever been to Africa, to Toledo, and to Barcelona,where the residents speak Spanish but are extremely proud of being Cataluños and having their own language, Catalán. It was in Barcelona that I saw the Sagrada Familia by famous architect Gaudí. In Andalusia, I learned about the flamenco and of the Roma culture. In my introduction to the Flamenco, we were at one place where it appeared, to the American eye, to be pictures of the Ku Klux Klan, but we soon learned that this was the way people would dress for Semana Santa, or Holy Week , the week before Easter. I had tested into the highest level of Spanish classes in Complutense, which surprised me as many of the group had grown up in Spanish-speaking homes. The Castilian Spanish I was learning focused a lot on ‘vosotros’ and when we were on campus, I was delighted when a student would come to me and say ¿Teneis Fuego? ( do you have a lighter for my cigarette?) the latter part pronounced Fogo it seemed to me. I was delighted because I thought that THEY thought that I was Spanish. The Complutense was COVERED in graffiti, and I never quite understood why. While I was at a phone booth, yes Milennials, those are what we used to make calls on, one day a pair of ladies were behind me. I found out that the two were from Ireland and they had come to Spain to study the education process in Spain. We hit it off well, and we went once to the only Irish bar in Madrid. My Irish friends were fluent in Gaelic, which they told me was named Irish and was mandatory in schools. I really wanted to travel to Ireland, but the Spanish rail and airports would shut down for religious holidays and I never got a chance to go. I had a friend from Evansville who was studying at Harlaxton College in England, and she came to visit me in Madrid. Halfway through my stay, I switched home stay families. I was with a family whose father was very ill. The mother, Amelia, attended the church located in the cul-de-sac everyday at least three times a day. So many things were different in Spain. Hostels were well kept and not scary. Also, there was not a typical grocery store but a fruit store, and a place for getting bread, etc. I had a small television where we we would watch bonanza and laughed each time they said Little Yo instead of Little Joe. I would receive phone calls occasionally from my then boyfriend, Spencer. I met Spencer at the Omni hotel where I was a room service operator and he was a sous chef. Spencer was African-American and drove a Cadillac. The car was as big as a boat! He had grown up with his Grandmother, and the one time I went to her house she had a picture of Dr. King and a portrait of JFK. My heart warmed to see an Irishman had an impact in this woman’s home. I can clearly remember that one time Spencer gave me a ride home and was pulled over by the police. They asked why he had a bag of knives in a bag on the backseat. “I am a chef’ he responded gruffly. The officers were condescending and tried to provoke him. For no reason whatsoever, he was arrested and taken to jail. That meant that I had to drive the Cadillac- I had learned to drive on a station wagon, but a Cadillac?? I was nervous. A few weeks later, we ran into the same police officers in a bike store. They taunted him by asking “oh- you’re shopping for a bike? What happened to your car?” Thankfully he didn’t react, but I was feeling impotent and angry at the officers for attempting to emasculate my boyfriend.

Back to Spain…

I saw the film “Mi Familia” in Spain and was impressed with the impact of the film. And what was up with ham? There were Museos de Jamon everywhere!! Our instructor took us to our first ‘Zarzuela’ a Spanish operaretta. We had school in the late afternoon for a semester, and before we knew it, our time was over. I remember taking a taxi to the airport and silently saying goodbye to Spain.