Tragedy in Bloomington

I'm sure almost everyone has heard about the girl who recently went missing from IU. It is so tragic to have someone just dissapear from a place that you deem as a safe. I know that it has shaken up the town because if it was a random act, it could have been anyone. I think that sometimes we take for granted how safe Bloomington can be and we become more reckless than we typically would. If there is anything that we can learn from this it is that we need to always look out for our friends and people we may not know but look like they could use the help. If you see someone walking alone we need to take the initiative to ask if there is anything that we can do to help them. I know I have been guilty of wandering around town when I probably shouldn't have been thinking something like that could never happen to me-not in Bloomington.

I have been following along with this case as closely as I can, scowering every news site and reading along with all of the Facebook posts. I can't help but feeling the way many others do-that something in this case just is not adding up. I hope for the sake of Laurens' family and friends that the police know much more than they are letting on and that someone, somewhere will come forward and alert the police as to where she is. After reading countless Facebook posts and resisting the urge to comment on them I decided to write this. I think it is important to talk about what has happened because it may lead to something and because it has been great to see not only the community, but the nation rally around finding this girl and helping her family.

On the same note, a lot of these posts have started to become rather negative. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? While I admit that some of the 'person of interests' acts have been suspicious, it is not up to us to decide whether or not they are the ones who have committed the crimes. The things people have been saying about these people have been harsh and somewhat uncalled for. I understand that people have their own opinions on what has happened, but until they are proven guilty or become actual 'suspects' you may want to think twice about what you say and think about if you or your child were on the other end of the situation.If your own son/daughter were involved in this would you want people labelling them a killer or conspiring against them? I just can't help but feel bad. Another thing that I think people should understand is that it is not uncommon to not see your roommate and not consider them a missing person. There are many times where I can go a day or two without seeing a girl that I live three steps away from because our schedules are so different or they are with their significant other or any other number of reasons.

Even if it ends up that these 'persons of interest' were involved, I strongly believe that it is unfair to accuse someone when you have no proof that they did anything. Remember- these are kids that go to this school. This is their home, and after this case is solved (which I have faith it will be) they have to live here. Whether they did it or not is not the point and I understand that people are hurting but I just can't play the blame game without facts. We have to have faith in both the police and in justice that she will be found and the right people will pay for it. Instead of pointing fingers we need to continue looking for factual evidence and let the police continue to do what they are doing.

Anyways, that is just my opinion and I would love to hear yours if you have one.

Amy

Apartment Update

Okay so, we found an apartment! wooohooo!!!! We are officially the proud renters of a 2 bedroom apartment, it's what I would consider to be a 'cozy' place. It was the third place that we saw and after seeing one (almost identical) fourth place we had to decide if we wanted a bigger kitchen and smaller bedrooms or smaller kitchen and slightly bigger bedrooms- we went with the bigger bedrooms. SO excited to move in, although I have just started watching the TV show Chicago Code and now I no longer want to leave my house or venture into any area that I see on the show. We are also right by the beach (which beach I'm not sure but there is a running path which is always nice).

Anyways, I can't wait to move and explore the city for two weeks before school starts. I want to go to the zoo, unpack, and then hit up all the local bars and enjoy their drink specials and enjoy my last two weeks of freedom. Oh, I also really want to ride the ferris wheel and go to a cubs game. I also need to pack but knowing me I will probably leave it until RIGHT before I leave and then be completely stressed out.

Also incase anyone was interested I have been trying to work on not being so damn white and while it is kind of working, laying out at the beach in Chicago when it was 102 degrees was probably not my best idea. I should probably stay inside since I almost passed out from the heat (woops!) and got burnt yesterday...when will I ever learn?! Any-who time for bed since I am starting my second job next week on top of working 37+ hours at my first job. Good times :)

xoxo
Amy

Time to shop-apartment style

Hey Everyone!

So the time has finally come to do some apartment shopping. Woohoo! My roommate and I are making our way to Chicago next week where we have immaculately planned out three full (and I mean FULL) days of looking for the perfect apartment. I'm pretty sure we have something like 20 apartments to see over those three days, and mixed in with some sight-seeing and learning how to navigate the city it should be a great time, hopefully one of these places is our new home.

My roommate and I haven't technically met yet but I know we are going to get along juust fine seeing as how she doesn't think some of my OCD planning tendencies are crazy (if only you could see the itinerary I made for our trip). Anyways I know only like two people read this and one of them will be going on this trip with me (HEY GIRL! haha) but I just wanted to check in and remember how much work it is to try and find a place in the city that isn't ghetto or outrageously expensive.

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend!

xoxo