A popular beach to explore is the Oak Street Beach. There is volleyball, rollerblading, shopping and, of course, swimming! The Oak Street Beach is located at 1000 N. Lake Shore Drive.

USE YOUR UPASS: Take CTA Bus #157 from Halsted and Taylor toward Chestnut/Lakeshore;  get off at Mies Van Der Rohe and Delware. Check out google maps for more information.

There are many other Chicago beaches to choose from as well. You can find a list of beaches at the Chicago Park District website.

To kick off the school year, we want to welcome you to UIC’s first music festival, “Spark in the Park.” The festival will take place this Thursday, September 2 from 2:00 to 8:00pm at Harrison Field on the corner of Harrison and Halsted. The festival will feature Kid Cudi, Footlight Frenzy, Girl Talk and Barefoot Truth.

Entry is free with your I-Card and bring the green raffle ticket you received with your UPass for a chance to win and Ipod or Gorillaz concert tickets.

Hope to see you there!!!

The Blue Man Group is a must see if you haven’t been yet, and the Chicago performances take place at the Briar Street Theatre only 5 miles from east campus! The Blue Man Group combines art, music and comedy to produce an unforgettable night of entertainment.

Multiple shows run all days of the week, except Monday. The tickets can be pricey for college students, but the theatre does offer a generous discount upon presentation of a valid student ID. Check out the Blue Man website for more information.

USE YOUR UPASS: This one is easy: Take the 8 bus north from Harrison and Halsted to Clark and Halsted then walk north for about a minute to the Briar Street Theatre. Check out Google Maps for more details.

THIS FREE EVENT IS ONLY FOR TWO DAYS: APRIL 17th & APRIL 18th

TIME: 10 :00 AM

USE YOUR UPASS: From UIC’s Student Center East, arrive at the UIC Halsted blue line stop, take the blue line towards O’Hare departing at Clark & Lake, switch over to the brown line towards Kimball and depart on Sedgwick, walk north on N Sedgwick St toward W North Ave, turn left at N Lincoln Ave, sharp right at W Armitage Ave, and turn left at N Clark St. Directions found on  Google Maps.

Chicago’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be held this Saturday, March 13 and you won’t want to miss it! There will be dancers, musicians, big balloons and, of course, the traditional dyeing the river green. The parade starts at noon and the river is dyed at 10:45am so be sure to get there early!

USE YOUR UPASS: The parade travels north up Columbus Dr from Balbo Dr to Monroe Dr. Take the blue or red line to any of the loop stops and walk east towards Columbus for a good spot to watch the parade. To see the dyed river, you can take the 157 bus from Taylor and Halsted in the Chestnut/Lake Shore direction. The bus will take you to right to the river at the Michigan and E. Wacker stop.

For more information, check out the St. Patrick’s Day Parade website.

http://www.chicagostpatsparade.com/

Chicago’s Luxbar offers a delicious dinner held in a relaxed setting.  The exquisite restaurant offers a menu full of your favorite bar and grill foods. Then, after dinner you can attend the Luxbar’s “Chicago Dueling Pianos,” located upstairs, where two pianists will battle it out for your enjoyment. The Luxbar is open daily, Monday – Friday from 11am-12am and Saturday & Sunday from 8am-12am. The dueling pianists perform every thursday night from 9pm-12am.

USE YOUR UPASS: From UIC’s Student Center East, arrive at the UIC Halsted blue line stop, take the blue line towards O’Hare departing at Monroe, switch over to the red line towards Howard and depart on Chicago, and walk north on State St. arriving to Bellevue. Directions found on  Google Maps.

From now until March 6, The Free Store will be open at Gallery 400. That’s right, everything in the store is free! You can find anything from clothes to music and even furniture. The store takes item donations from their customers, so you can bring anything you’re done using and they will be happy to find it a new home.

Check out The Free Store’s website for store hours and pictures.

http://freestorechicago.org/

USE YOUR U-PASS: The store is only a mile away, but, if you aren’t up for walking in the winter weather, you can take the 8 bus north to Van Buren St then walk west down Van Buren to Peoria St. Here are directions from Google Maps.

When you get back, let me know what cool things you found when you were shopping!

The National Museum of Mexican Art is opening a new exhibit on February 12. The exhibit is called Translating Revolution: U.S. Artists Interpret Mexican Muralists. The exhibit will display beautiful Mexican murals and explain how the murals have influenced U.S. artists and culture.

The museum is free and the exhibit will only be at the museum until August 1 of this year, so don’t miss out!

USE YOUR U-PASS: The museum is only a couple of bus rides away. Check out Google Maps for directions.

http://www.nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/

Information on U-PASS pickup for the spring can be found here.

Ethiopian food is served ‘family-style’ and generally eaten without silverware.  The platters (some are even vegetarian) are eaten with injera, a sort of bread/pancake/naan edible-utensil.  Most of the entrees are of the stew variety.

U-PASSPORT has only been to one of the very few Ethiopian restaurants in the city, Ethiopian Diamond.  Interestingly, all of the options in Chicago appear to be on the far north side…Rogers Park, Edgewater, even Evanston. Metromix has a listing of all of your options.  Ethiopian Diamond was great, and we hear good things about Addis Abeba.

USE YOUR U-PASS: Pick your spot and use Google Maps.  The Red Line is probably going to be your best friend on this trip.