Free day!

Shark display at Universium 

Today we had another free day so a group of us went to the Universium. This museum was pretty cool and had an interesting elevator. Instead of going vertically up to the next floor, this elevator went on a diagonal. On top of that it went outside and connected us to the start of exhibition. The view was pretty nice from the all glass elevator, but it was also a little scary because I do not like heights very much. The exhibits were very detailed and all the animals we saw were active and fun to watch! For the most part it was like any other museum in Chicago. The architecture in the museum made the museum look more modern. There were so many different levels and platforms that entered different exhibits. Most of the walls were just glass so you could see through an exhibit while standing on the platform outside of it. I had a little trouble walking across the platforms because they were so high and they were just suspended from the ceiling! There was a rain forest exhibit and it was very hot, but there were so many stingrays and flamingo type birds that were so beautiful. Another interesting exhibit was the mammoth display. It was quite a shock for me when we opened the door and realized that it was an outdoor exhibit. It was on the top of the building and it was definitely unique. There were mammoths and giant deer displays that moved so I really felt like I was there in the ice age.

Kids spiderweb exhibit

The coolest exhibit was by far the kids, interactive one. We spent the most amount of time in that part trying all of the gadgets and tests. We were the only older people there besides the parents who were there with their young children. One of the tests I tried was a reaction test and it didn't go very well for me! You had to stand on this platform and these sticks hanging above you would randomly fall and you were supposed to try and catch them. I didn't catch a single one and I was pretty embarrassed.

Outside the mall by King street

After the museum we spent a couple hours wandering around the mall and up and down King street where there are a bunch of shops and little boutiques. We stumbled upon some pretty cool shops that had some very vintage Swedish clothing. All the shops closed around 4 or 5 so we headed back to our hostel and relaxed a little bit before we had a group dinner. The dinner was amazing! We had so many dishes of food including appetizers, the actual meal,  and some desserts. All together it was like a 6 course meal so we were all very stuffed when we finally finished our food.

Daily Reflections:

• my reaction time needs a bit of work
• pole vaulting is "normal" inside malls in Sweden
• the boutiques are better to shop at than the mall