I couldn't say anything about it before but I spent last weekend at home in Belfast. Dad turned 50 last weekend and Mum organised for me to fly home without Dad knowing about it. So last Thursday I hopped on a plane from Chicago and arrived in Dublin on Friday Morning. Granny and Papa picked me up from the bus stop in Banbridge and I got to have lunch with them and Kathryn in Rathfriland. I must say it was so nice to be back in fields and grass and countryside. So I went home and tried to stay awake all afternoon until Dad arrived home. He might have taken his time, but it was hilarious when he walked in, and I appeared out of the hall. It was a great surprise, and I am so glad that we pulled it off!

It was a fun weekend at home between meeting Cathy for lunch in Belfast, going to Dad's party,going out for dinner with the family, going to the dentist, sorting out bank stuff and meeting Jenny for lunch. It was a very packed 5 days but it was great to be home. It really made me realise how quickly it is going to feel like I never was away when I get back in September. It made be decide that I am going to make the most of the next 4 weeks.

I arrived back in Chicago to lovely warm weather, such a difference from home! I was straight back to work on Thursday which was pretty tough with jet lag hitting me.

I went to the Museum of Science and Industry yesterday. They have free days during the summer so students like me can actually afford to go to the museums. It was a fascinating place, apparently the biggest museum of science and industry in the Western Hemisphere. They have one of the U-boats used in World War two on display there and it is enormous. It is the only U-boat that was captured during the war and it has been restored and takes up an enormous hall in the museum. They have a great exhibit with it that tells you all about u-boats and the story of how they captured it.

ome of the other exhibits were really funny. They have a whole floor devoted to farming and they actually have a tractor and a combine harvester that the kids were all lining up to play on and they have fake cows that they can milk. It was so funny, seeing all these city children lining up to play on farm equipment, some of them may not have seen a real cow before! They also have an incubator where they hatch chicks and you can watch chicks hatch right there in front of you. I just had to laugh, especially having been home last weekend and avoided the chickens all weekend!

The reason they were having the free days was because it was the museums 75th birthday so they had an amazing birthday cake and cup cakes for everyone at the museum. They had some other really cool exhibits like the biggest model railway I have ever seen that is a mock up of Chicago and Seattle and how they are connected. It was so lifelike I was able to work out which buildings they had and where things like college were. They also had a great exhibit on toy making and you could make your own toy.

t was a really fun day. And the museum is pretty far south in comparison to the rest of the city and right beside the beach, so it is a little more remote than most of the rest of the big attractions in Chicago. Getting there and getting back was a bit of a hassle but I managed to get there and back.

ow I am getting to the end of my year I am starting to explore farther afield. On Monday I am heading out to one of the National parks in Indiana. It is full of massive sand dunes and right on the lake about 90 minutes from Chicago. I am really excited to get to the beach, even though it is not real sea water it is as close as I am going to get in Chicago! All the beaches in Chicago are so busy and right beside the road, it will be nice to be on a more secluded beach!

have also just booked a weekend in Boston in 2 weekends time. Claire didn't look into moving her Washington DC flights earlier so I could meet her for a few days before her conference started, so it was going to be too expensive. So I moved my flights to Boston. I have done DC already this year and I have wanted to go to Boston so it will be fun to be there.

And it is only 4 weeks until Costa Rica, so i know it is going to fly in.