Finals, Green Dot <3, and so much food!

Hi guys,

Sorry for the hiatus. It’s been a whirlwind these last two weekends. In an absolutely fantastic way though! I’ll catch you up to date and do a restaurant review. WARNING: it’s a LONG post today. I tried to keep it short, but there was just too much good stuff to share!

Finals Week: This week was defined by the 3 C’s: CRAZINESS. CHAOS. COFFEE. I’m glad it’s finally over. This school year was long. Terribly long. Not in terms of people of course. I just haven’t been able to concentrate on academic stuff. I’ve just made the decision that my time is better spent learning from people, developing relationships and experiencing life rather than getting an A instead of an A-. It’s just not worth it anymore to me. Yes, my grades weren’t as good as they were last year, but I’ve learned so much more useful knowledge from my amazing friends. So, to everyone in my life this year, especially Irene, Antonia, Frances, Sarah, Morgan and Schapi: thank you so much for teaching me about what is really important in life. Love you all!

IMPACT DAY: Every year, Deloitte hosts a nationwide day of volunteering in all of its office. They asked me if I wanted to volunteer with them this year before the start of my internship. So, I finished my last final at 2PM Thursday. Ran home. Packed all of my stuff. Went home. Next day, got up at 6AM to go volunteer. I LOVE MY SUMMER.

They sent us to LEARN, an extremely successful charter school organization that Deloitte did a pro bono project for a few years ago. Just to give you guys a little bit of background, LEARN was a struggling enterprise before it met Deloitte. Deloitte sent in a pro bono project team a few years back that helped to define some strategic goals and plan-of-actions. The campus that we went is the 5th and newest campus of LEARN. The building was gorgeous and made you feel all ha ppy inside. The kids were all extremely well-behaved and the classroom and their technology was very modern.

Our task in the morning was to put filtern liners in flower beds next to the playground. Meet our power team!

In the afternoon, we went inside the classrooms and played with the kids. It was adorable to see all the kids get really attached to us. But that made goodbyes have a heavy emotion toll. All in all, it was an awesome experience!

Check out the card they made us!

First week of work: Wow, I don’t even know where to begin (in a good way, of course). I love love LOVE the company. Before I combust due to happiness overload, let me give you an outline of training week.

Monday was a lot of logistical intro and onboarding. We got to the office and got our laptops and paperwork taken care of. We sat in tables composed of our fellow Tax, Audit, Human Cap, etc interns. We then went through some basic training about the company’s web resources, how to log time and expense, and just got to know other interns. Two highlights of the day. I met Yue, who also sat at my table. This girl is a bundle of joy. Our sassiness just clicked after we nicknamed another guy at our table “Princess”. It was a match made in heaven, I tell you. In fact, I’m going to dinner with her tonight. Oh, we also went shopping after work on Thursday. We clicked. Period.

After training ended around 4:30 on Monday, the 4 of us booked it to the taxi and went to O’Hare to catch our flight to Atlanta. FAST-FORWARD HERE. We get to ATL Ritz around 11:30 EST. I got the 23rd floor. (Did I mention it came with chocolates and a killer-view?)

Tuesday morning meant morning yoga/reunion with Austin! We’re trying to meet up at least once every year and do morning yoga in a different city each time. Tuesday and Wednesday, we ran through a variety of skills-based training, from client research to excel and powerpoint to a mock case. After training on Tuesday, they took us out to the Braves-Yankee game. For those of us who are not big baseball fans, that meant we scavenged for food around the stadium. I ended up getting a Vegetarian crept, which by the way, beat Norris’ crepe…. and that’s an understatement.

Fast forward to Friday. Started the morning off with “Networking Bagels”. I kid you not, there is just a mountain pile of bagels in the kitchen and a ton of different cream cheeses. I was happy. Very happy.

In the afternoon, they took all of the consulting interns on the Chicago Architectural Boat Tour. The city is absolutely gorgeous, by the way.

Can’t get enough of Chicago summers

After the boat tour was happy hours at Osteria Via Stato, a bar/restaraunt in River North, with the other interns and my counselor, Andrea. We bonded over our love for food, shoes and caffeine. It’s going to be a good summer with her. There was classy wines abound, but no worries, I didn’t imbibe any. The “heavy appetizers”, though, were great. I loved the bread that they made, but there was just way too much cheeses involved in the menu.

Heavy appetizers at Osteria Via Stato!

REVIEW: THE MARKETPLACE

I left the happy hour around 7pm and met up with Schapi and Tonia at the Marketplace, a restaurant close to Michigan Ave. Schapi wante to try it out because the vegetarian pot pie looked really good to her. I ordered a chopped chicken salad (found below) because I wanted something light after those appetizers that I had gorged myself in in the happy hour.

Markethouse’s Chopped Salad with Chicken

I wasn’t wowed by this sald. For a supposed “Markethouse Signature”, it was very very plain. The chicken was a bit on the dry side and was rather tasteless. The dressing wasn’t anything special. For $13, it wasn’t worth it.

But then we got to the desserts (you know it was coming, right?), Schapi and I wanted the bread pudding. OMGOISFAOSIFJAOI. THAT BREAD PUDDING WAS DEVINE I TELL YOU. It was warm, soft, chewy and with the perfect addition of warm, just-made caramel. The cold, smooth texture of the butterscotch-pecan ice cream contrasted the rougher and much warmer of the bread pudding. I couldn’t put down my spoon even though I knew it was going to take a good 4 mile run in the weekend in order to redeem myself, but I didn’t care. It was that good.

Schapi with the pudding before it was ferociously devoured by us.

Overall, I say the Marketplace was mediocre. The entrees, in my opinion, were a flop. The dessert was the only part of the meal that lived up to its name (and price).

REVIEW: THE PROTEIN BAR

The Protein Bar, located right across the Sears Tower (I refuse to call it the Willis Tower, I just refuse)

I’ve been trying to eat healthy at my lunches from work. At the recommendation of the lovely Irene, I checked out the Protein Bar yesterday (Monday) for lunch.

The Protein Bar, true to its name, offers dishes that are packed full of natural proteins. What I love about this place: the substitute quinoa for rice, a much healthier (and tastier, in my opinion) choice. I ordered a Spinach and Pesto Bowl and a Red Line protein shake. Let me tell you, I was done with that shake by the time I walked back to my building. It was.. very filling. It was nice to taste the strawberry and banana in there, but I could definitely taste the protein powder, and that was a no-no for me. The Spinach and Pesto bowl, though, was scrumptious. There was the perfect amount of cheese, spinach, chicken, quinoa and pesto. Only thing, the serving was quite small, which I guess was a good thing. Otherwise, I think I would have stuffed myself.

The Protein Bar, for $11, was a good place for lunch for me. If you’re into healthy food and is willing to pay a little extra for that personal satisfaction and portion control, then go for it. If not, Subway or Panera is probably the better option.

<3, Cass