over St. Patricks Day weekend i traveled to Chicago, Illinois for a networking trip that i planned for the hospitality management student organization that i am currently president of, Mizzou Special Events Society, for a networking trip. we drove to St. Louis to catch the amtrak to Chicago Union Station and arrived in Chicago early Friday morning to our hotel for the weekend, Kimpton Allegro. i chose to stay at the Kimpton Allegro for its obvious old-world Gatsby charm, location, and its many meeting and event spaces. we checked into the hotel (what an amazing place. amazing staff, hospitality, amenities.), went to our rooms to freshen up before we had an appointment with Kimpton's sales manager to tour their property and event spaces. Marissa and Mariah (pictured) were amazing to work with coordinating the tour along with being our tour guides - we also ran into their GM, Marco, who is also a Mizzou alum! how neat to hear from him. after our tour of the hotel we walked to lunch, we all agreed on Portillo's (my first time!) - i had a classic Chicago hot dog and cheese fries. after lunch we went to SmithBucklin in order to visit with the International Live Events Association representatives there. we got to speak about ILEA and what all they do for those in the events industry and how we can make the most as students from our ILEA student memberships. once our meeting with ILEA HQ was over we had to go to the Hard Rock to assist in setting up for the Here's Chicago St. Pat's Hospitality Bash that would take place later that night, we also volunteered with registration/check-in for the event along with partaking in the networking the event provided. Jim Grillo was an amazing host and is greatly noted with his work at Here's Chicago - it was a great event for networking and getting into the St. Pat's Chicago spirit! after the event we went to Sugar Factory for fancy, over the top desserts before we headed back to the hotel for the night.
saturday morning we started early, we most do on St. Patrick's Day in Chicago. we went to the river to watch the river dying take place and went to breakfast at Goddess and the Baker. we all had shopping we wanted to do and places we wanted to go to, so we walked a lot to hit up all of the shops and eateries. we spent a lot of time walking the morning and afternoon away seeing the sights. after taking a break at the hotel we went out to Sprinkles for cupcakes and then walked around the town some more to find a quick dinner to end the night. on sunday we slept in, packed our bags and checked out of the Kimpton Allegro. we went to brunch at Seven Lions which was so tasty! i got the biscuits and gravy and shared a mimosa pitcher with friends - yum. after brunch we walked over the see the bean (millennium park was closed on Saturday) and take obligatory pictures and then walked around the park and to Lake Michigan before we had to head back to the hotel to pick up our luggage before we headed to the train station to go back to St. Louis. Chicago was good to us. we had a great time networking, seeing the sights, and being in the city during such an iconic weekend in the windy city. -britney
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