Spring Break is over

By Meghan Shanahan

We are back in school after what felt like the shortest spring break. Yes it was a weeklong but I felt so much shorter then that. I had a great time though, I threw a bachelorette party for my cousin that was so much fun. We got a hotel in the River North neighborhood in Chicago and we played a whole bunch of games and then went out to the bars in the area. Even though it was a lot of work to put all of it together, especially while trying to keep up with school work, I really enjoyed doing it and also happy that it everyone really enjoyed the night.

Over the next couple days I was able to do work on a research paper for my history class, I am writing my research paper on Teotihuacan, Mexico. Teotihuacan is a Mesoamerican complex that was built and used by the Aztec people. It had a residential area called Avenue of the dead, but then linked to two pyramids, the pyramid of the moon and the pyramid of the sun. They Pyramids were used for many purposes but there main use was for religious reasons, such as human sacrifice. The Aztec people would choose a human scarifies, and then they would take the chosen person up to the top of the pyramid and this is where they would perform the sacrifice. I find this architecture wonder so interesting, but also when about seven years ago I was able to climb the pyramid of the sun. Looking back and learn about this architecture wonder that I was able to go and see and experience just means so much more.

Another interesting thing I did over break was my site visit. I went to visit Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois. Maywood is a suburb of Chicago just about a thirty minutes drive from my house on the south side of Chicago to the hospital. When I was there I was able to walk around the hospitals first story, learning more about the location of certain departments in the hospital. Though I was unable to go to other floors, and I was also unable to retrieve a map of the interior of the hospital, I was able to see directories that were generally located by the elevators of the hospital. So though I did not receive a direct map, I was able to get a lot of information about the existing hospital. I also was able to take pictures of my site location, which will greatly help me figure out a connection between my new emergency department the existing hospital.

Though my break seemed to be short I really enjoyed it, I realized how much I miss being at home and how happy I am to be so close to finishing my masters degree and moving on and forward with my life.  But till then its back to the grind with my thesis and enjoying my last five months in Carbondale, plus I have my two cats here till the beginning of May.