Surprisingly, being grounded at Midway International was not much of a frustrating experience at all for me. It was nice to nap off the previous late-night blogging session and my crazy 2 AM run to the gym. For the six hours that we were there, we camped out on the airport floor, some people got some reading done, snacked (I got some delicious frozen yogurt!), played some cards, and pretty much just chilled, all the while wondering what was going on.

The cause of the cancellation is still unknown, but Delta directed us to a hotel across town, close to O'hare Int'l, by which we will be catching a flight to Detroit enroute to Syracuse, NY early tomorrow morning. It looks like we'll be driving into Ithaca instead of a direct flight.

While I'm anxious about really starting the summer college adventure at Cornell, meeting my roommate and floormates at Mary Donlon, and getting to know our professor, I'm also a bit glad to have another night in Chicago. It's a beautiful, lively city which I'm really going to miss.

It's quite a treat that we're staying the night at the newly opened InterContinental Hotel next to O'hare, especially because it is so different from the Drake. Whereas the Drake Hotel has a luxurious, Italian Renaissance-stye vibe, the InterContinental across town is very modern chic and simply sophisticated. It is away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Chicago and has its own art gallery. Comparing our experiences at these two very different high-class hotels is interesting, since we are about to embark on the Hotel Manageent course aat Cornell.