Hawthorn Champaign

UIUC Campus

by meteorologist1

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Big campus and lots of students. There are lots of campus souvenir shops and a diverse selection of restaurants on Green Street and Wright Street. There are several Chinese restaurants that serve typical Chinese food, Greek restaurants, Italian restaurants, Indian, Middle Eastern, Thai, etc. and lots more. And of course there are American and fast food restaurants too. Pretty convenient place to be if you are a student at UIUC.

Illini Football

by grkboiler

The University of Illinois plays its home football games at Memorial Stadium. The stadium was built in 1923 and is a great place to see a game. Seating capacity is almost 71,000.

The Illini are members of the Big 10 Conference, so there will always be quality teams and players coming to play at Memorial Stadium. Legends who played here include Red Grange and Dick Butkus.

Tickets are $35. You should be able to get a ticket on gameday. I would recommend sitting up in the 2nd level if you can't get good seats on the 1st level. Many 1st level seats have an obstructed view of the field.

The food is great here, and the fans are friendly and respectful (for the most part). Wear Orange!

I will get a better picture this fall when I visit again.

Champaign Means Flat Land

by yooperprof

"Champaign County"

I took this photo while driving on I-72 in Champaign County. (Sometimes I like to take photos from a moving car.) I think this is probably the flattest place I've ever been. I think of it as similar to being on the ocean thousands of miles from the nearest land - except that the waves here are only the corn tassles blowing in the wind. So much sky.

I lived in Champaign-Urbana for five years while in grad school. We called it the Champion Banana. Great university. It was a good place to concentrate on my studies - not many diversions here.

"Springtime"

Spring is really beautiful here. It's so welcome after the long and frequently harsh winter. And it's a very distinct season. I remember spring smells: flowers and flowering trees, the fertile soil and the fertilizer on the soil.