Are you curious about what Engineering at Illinois is like? Engineering students share their thoughts and experiences about the College of Engineering and student life in Champaign-Urbana.
Are you curious about what Engineering at Illinois is like? Engineering students share their thoughts and experiences about the College of Engineering and student life in Champaign-Urbana.
The weather is starting to cool down, and soon it will be one of my favorite seasons here on campus: Fall! There are plenty of ways to enjoy the beautiful weather in and around campus. Here are some classic fall “Must-Do’s”
With graduation just over a week away, this will probably be my last blog. Sadly, my college times are coming to a close. Yesterday, I spent "reading day" at the golf course. My minor program (Technology & Management/T&M) hosted its annual "Golf Scramble" for outgoing seniors. I put my skills to work that I learned in my golf class and had a great afternoon golfing with 3 of my peers in the program and a faculty member from the College of Business. It was my first time golfing 9 holes, but it went surprisingly better than expected.
Afterwards, we had a T&M farewell dinner where our class gathered at i-Hotel for a brief banquet. We enjoyed a "Cinco de Mayo" themed dinner, gave out goofy class awards, and discussed our plans for the future. My peers in the program shared excitingpost-graduation plans that include everything from grad school at Ivy leagues to jobs at Google, Boeing, and JP Morgan.
I have one week before my first (of four) graduation ceremonies, and while I'm sad to say goodbye, I'm already excited for my future life as a University of Illinois alumnus!
Once March hits, the air in Champaign begins to buzz with a little excitement. People who live in Champaign usually know that March means the opening of local hot spot Jarling's Custard Cup. It is located on East Kirby Street right next to Vinny's Pizza (another delicious local stop).
Jarling's Custard Cup first opened in 1949 in Danville and then relocated to Champaign. It has been creating delicious frozen concoctions for more than 31 years now. What makes Jarling's so endearing is the true local flavor it has. You can see the giant custard churning equipment behind the counter. The employees are usually all young local high school students and some college students looking for extra summer cash. There is no indoor seating, so people are forced to sit outside in the beautiful summer air on benches. It is also only open from March-Mid November, making it a truly seasonal treat.
Something that I immediately noticed upon arriving in Champaign freshman year was the temperature. At generally all times of year, Champaign is usually a bit warmer than my hometown in the Chicago suburbs. Spring is no exception. Yesterday was 75 degrees and sunny while today is 80. I spent yesterday afternoon playing softball with friends on the engineering quad while other nearby students played frisbee and even practiced some golf putting. This is my favorite time of year since I love getting outside and having fun with friends in the nice weather.
There's plenty of other fun stuff you can do outside in the early fall and spring/summer on campus too. For one, ARC (the large rec center on the West side of campus) has an outdoor pool that's very popular. Meanwhile, there are great places to grab a refreshing snack like Cocomero (frozen yogurt), Jamba Juice (fruit smoothies), or Starbucks. This also means bike riding weather, longboarding/skateboarding time (for me), and all of the runners practicing for the half marathon 2 weeks away have hit the sidewalks.
I know that it's wishful thinking in April, but I hope this warm weather sticks around for a while!
I wanted to take this opportunity to share a fun tradition that I have begun with several of my friends this semester. Champaign and Urbana have lots of great restaurants, including breakfast restaurants, so my friends and I set out to have a weekly Sunday brunch and experience all of our campus's great breakfast spots.
We have probably had 6 or 8 brunches so far, never in the same place twice. We usually plan our location Friday or Saturday night to make sure our whole invite list is in the know (usually 8 or 10 of us, all engineers.) So far, we have gone with the usual breakfast places like Perkin's Diner and the Pancake House but also branched out to hipper restaurants like Cafe Luna and Flat Top Grill. This past weekend, we switched it up and had an omelet "potluck." We met up at one of our apartments and each brought an ingredient for omelets. We spent an hour or two customizing omelets, eating toast, and hanging out. It was a great chance to get together, keep up our brunch tradition, and eat some great, low-budget omelets.
Being an out-of-state student, travel is a big issue for me, especially when I first started out at school. Many kids from the Chicago area all can take their cars and carpool down last minute. Its not so easy when you are coming from a non-Midwest state. There are plenty of options though to getting back down to campus, most of which are by way of Chicago.
Willard Airport:
Willard is a great small little airport that has daily flights from Chicago O'Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth. It doesnt have the biggest flights, but American Eagle does a great job of allowing a stress-free way of getting back to campus. Though it can cost a bit more, your luggage is never lost (if it's not lost in Chicago) and its very fast to getting back to campus if flying is your only option to get to the Midwest. A small bus ride from the airport will get you on campus in no time. This is definitely my favorite way to travel in and out of campus if I am going a far distance.
Chartered Buses:
There are four main bus systems that can get you to Champaign Urbana:
1. Suburban Express
Looking for ways to stay warm and out of the rain, snow, and other nasty weather?? Well, there are several places around campus offering fun activities...inside!
Good morning future and current engineers! Hopefully everyone has returned safely to Champaign this week! After taking the train from Chicago to Champaign I thought about the various means of transportation to Champaign that I have taken in the past. Since I live in Naperville it has always been extremely easy for me to carpool with friends or take a bus from Naperville or Oakbrook to Champaign. This was one of the few times I've taken the train down, especially since I now have a car on campus, so for most of this year I've driven. Having a car on campus is not difficult if you live in an apartment that has parking, but finding campus parking before 5 pm can sometimes be challenging and expensive. For future students if you are tired of bus or train fees there is also the option of carpooling, there is a carpooling website that students have organized (beyourownbus.com). But personally I think the train was relatively easy, and fast, and all I needed to do was take one of the local buses back to campus upon arrival.
Winter fell upon us rather suddenly this week with below 0 wind chill temperatures today and a solid 8" of snow over the weekend. With that said, I have lived in Illinois my whole life and learned to embrace the seasons. Winter is my least favorite, but I've still found plenty of ways to have fun.
This past weekend, a bunch of my friends from Engineering Council met up for dinner at Flat Top Grill followed by a snowball fight on the Engineering quad. In true engineering spirit, we even came across a well-construted snow fort and an Egyptian scene complete with sphinx and pyramid made completely out of snow!
So in summary, although winter may mean bundling up and digging your winter boots out from the back of your closet, there are still plenty of great ways to have fun on campus. Plus, December means plenty of "Ugly Sweater" holiday parties! ;)
When I came to U of I, I was not a coffee drinker. However, with the onset of 8AM, I faced the reality that I needed a morning boost. Whether you like coffee, cappuccino, tea, or some fresh OJ, there are several good options around campus. Most also offer free wi-fi. Here are some of the popular coffee shops at U of I:
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