Can't wait to move to Champaign Urbana! (Chicago, Bloomington: apartment, homes)

[ok7]

Hi, everyone! I'm moving to Urbana with my husband in three weeks, and I am so excited! We're coming from a hot, crappy suburb in the south where everything is at least a 15 minute drive away and the only things to do are go shopping at the mall and/or see a movie at the mall.

We'll be living mere blocks away from both the farmer's market and downtown. I'm really looking forward to being in walking distance of so many cool places in a college town full of young, bright people.

I'm not just posting this to gush, but also to ask if anyone has recommendations on the best way to meet people and make friends. I won't be taking classes (at least not at first) but will be working from home while my husband is in school. I saw some groups on meetup.org that I'd be interested in joining, but they don't seem to get together too frequently.

I would also really love to get involved in the local community and contribute to the well being of the town. If anyone has some suggestions or tips on how to get started, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks in advance!

[Owensmomma]

I am jealous

Lived there in the late 70s for college and loved it. Downtown Urbana is very pretty. It's been too long since I was there to tell you how to meet people, but I'm sure you'll do fine. There are SO many people to meet there during the school year. Then you can enjoy the relative peace and quiet in the summer.

Congratulations on your move!

[JasmineFlower]

Originally Posted by ok7

We'll be living mere blocks away from both the farmer's market and downtown. I'm really looking forward to being in walking distance of so many cool places in a college town full of young, bright people.

I'm not just posting this to gush, but also to ask if anyone has recommendations on the best way to meet people and make friends. I won't be taking classes (at least not at first) but will be working from home while my husband is in school. I saw some groups on meetup.org that I'd be interested in joining, but they don't seem to get together too frequently.

Assuming your husband will be attending grad school, I'd suggest attending new student functions with him when the situation allows for it. People will bring their spouses or live-ins to things that are open to inviting them. Many of them will be in the same boat as you, so its a good place to try to make friends.

From what I remember of spouses of classmates, they didn't have the easiest time if they weren't in a degree program themselves or weren't working. Now, that's not to discourage you, its just I know some people struggled more than others. I'm not sure its the easiest place to make friends when you aren't involved in something, like having kids in school, having work to attend, being in the school. And its not because people are unfriendly in the least, I think its a matter of being engrossed in your program. I had only a couple of friends who were not inside my program, one who was in my apartment building, others because a few were in dual programs and brought along a few friends! But, the majority of the people you are around and will make friends with are in your program, not in the town. And its all because of opportunity more so than anything else.

I think meetup sounds great. Maybe you can volunteer somewhere to get involved in the community a bit as well. Another thing, maybe it sounds corny, but if you join a class of some sort somewhere in the area, and I don't mean at the university - take a yoga class or pottery class, whatever, you would be more likely to be around a group more often, more likely to start developing a connection to a few people with similar interests.

I think you will be find. If you are proactive, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't make friends easily. But do be proactive, I think that's the key.

C-U will be a nice change for you, if it takes you longer than 15 minutes, then you've left the area! That's what I always said, everything is 5 minutes away and nothing is further than 15 minutes away.

[zpfled]

Go to Quad Day at U of I! Even though you're not a student, you might find a group of people who share similar interests as you and could make some connections that way.

Chambana is an awesome small town. There are lots of great places to hang out downtown, and the university brings so much to the table.

There are bike lanes on a lot of the roads, and there's a good public transit system (MTD).

You probably should become an Illini fan

[jdoll]

Papa Del's

[mami07]

^ Papa Del's!

Old trees, brick roads, victorian homes, long walks in Urbana are great.

Cafe Kopi...

You'll find your spots. It's been a few years for me. There are some lakes and ponds nearby, nice parks. Enjoy

I'm moving to Bloomington-Normal for University, so I'm in a similar state of excitement as you

[lilyorchid]

I'm actually getting ready to move to Champaign-Urbana in the next week, too! I'm going there for a temp teaching job but plan on taking grad classes in the Spring semester. I don't really know anyone around there either, although I did graduate from Eastern Illinois (about 45mins away) in December so I kind of know the area. Maybe we could meet up? At least then we'd both know someone. Either way, hope everything works out!

[S_the_OWL]

Papa Dell's is fantastic Pizza. Growing up in Chicago I was used to authentic pizza and was horrified when I moved to another state to realize that the garbage that passed for pizza in 90% of the country was as big of a joke as thinking taco bell is real mexican food. (In particular quack pizza joints like Papa John's or Domino's, I mean really papa JOHN'S? who gives a pizza joint an anglo name like that? You think they'd at least bother to try to fool their customers by calling it Papa Giuseppi's or something at least hinting of Italy. That's like opening a Chinese restaurant called Blagoiovitch's.)

Oh, by the way it's hot as hell in Champaign too, the climate here is more like Kentucky than Wisconsin. But it is heaven for commuting, you can get virtually anywhere in town in 10 minutes.

[S_the_OWL]

Of course Champaign is also home to "Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches" although what exactly is supposed to be "gourmet" about the place baffles me. The thing looks big, but it is all lettuce with a tiny sliver of meat in it. Unlike Quizznos or Subway you can't choose your toppings and all they don't offer much other than lettuce and tomato. I eat there sometimes because they are the only place open at 1 a.m. but I find it a rather strange, creepy experience to go in the shop. Unlike Subway where they can get by with one or two employees there are 8 to 10 people standing there behind the counter and they all start screaming off some "script" at the top of their lungs. How on earth having 8 employees around at midnight just to make a sandwich is good business practice is beyond me, maybe that's why a bread stuffed with 30 cents of lettuce cost's $6? The creepiest thing though is the way they scream odd sounding greetings at you the whole time you are waiting for the sandwich calling me slang terms like "bud" instead of the proper "Sir" or "Mister." I swear to god this is the way it goes. I walked in and they all started screaming one after another "hi bud how's it going" "Yo bud, how are you doing" "hey bud what's happening" "Hi bud what can I get you" "Yo bud, what's up" "Hey bud, how are you" Then I order and all 8 employees echo the order back and forth at the top of their lungs "number 8 coming up" "number 8 on it's way" "you working on that number 8?" "number 8 coming along" Then they just hand you this sandwich across the counter with no bag or anything for your chips etc. Along comes more creepy scripted dialog, "here you go bud" "hows that bud" "yo bud, enjoy the sandwich" "take care bud" "goodbye bud" "so long bud" "have a good day bud" It reminded me of the creepy workplace Jennifer Aniston's character worked at in Office Space with the "flair."

[ok7]

Hey guys! Thanks for the great suggestions. I didn't know Papa Del's would be a place to meet people. That's the kind of local wisdom that really helps I will also look into Quad Day and check out what kind of classes the different community centers offer...I noticed there's a lot of those!

S_the_Owl, your post cracked me up. It definitely sounds like a scene out of a movie. I'm not a huge Jimmy John's fan, but now I want to go there just to witness that bizarre exhibition.