My Home (for four years, at least)

Champaign-Urbana are the twin cities of central Illinois. Although it's difficult to characterize the feel of the cities, a city's downtown area is often telling. Champaign hosts an almost-trendy downtown area with its share of bars (including a martini bar, Boltini's, and a wine bar, Bacaro), cafes, restaurants, and vintage/secondhand/antique stores. Urbana's downtown is significantly quieter with cafes (Cinema Art, the Courier), a fantastic bakery (Mirabelle), and a very forlorn mall/community center (Lincoln Square). In the summer, Urbana hosts a Farmer's Market at Lincoln Square with lots of local goods: fresh and/or organic produce, bakery stuffs, etc. Then there's the University, which approximately runs from University Avenue in the north to Windsor Road in the south; Lincoln Avenue in the east to First Street in the west -- but these boundaries are constantly shifting as the University wins more battles, acquires more land, and builds lots of glass & brick buildings devoted to the hard sciences. In sum, C-U is a pretty vibrant community. If you look around, you can always find something to do.

Quick Tips:

Urbana is east of Wright Street; Champaign is west.

Best Way To Get Around:

The MTD bus service is cheap and extensive. With a valid University of Illinois ID, it's free!

For the main house, it's 2 bedrooms for 4 people, plus a bathroom, hall closet, living room, kitchen. Sounds like a decent deal, right?

Except that the total rent for each unit (plus utilities), per month, is far in excess of what you can get in surrounding areas (Urbana -or- Champaign) for much less money. Even though its touted as a "stepping stone" for students who are not yet ready to get an apartment "on their own", it's pretty much the same thing. And it's mostly full of loud, obnoxious freshpeople who thought it would be "cool" to have an apartment.

Plus, we would get nasty e-mails from the owner of the house. Not the greatest place I've lived.

This is probably one of my favorite restaurants to visit because: 1. you can dress up (but you don't have to!) and 2. you can get creative food there. Local artists designed the interior; it's very cool looking without being uber-trendy. The cuisine is international fusion - but don't let that pretentious classification throw you off. The food is flavorful, unique - but not necessarily "simple."

Also, they don't take reservations. On weekends, get ready to wait -- or better yet, spend some time at nearby Cafe Kopi or Esquire (a bar), and they'll call you when your table is ready.

Depending on when you go, Cafe Paradiso's atmosphere changes - but the environment stays the same. Semantics, I know, but I'll put it this way: The cafe opened in August 1998 in the hands of Melissa Fanella. She formerly operated an art gallery in Mount Prospect, so it follows that the cafe doubles as an art space. Since it is located on-campus and close to residence halls and apartments, it attracts a lot of students in the evenings. The cafe is open 24 hours/day during finals week in December and May -- it's fairly crammed at night, so stake out a spot early, and order an espresso (or three) to fortify yourself.

The cafe serves often-homemade deli fare (very yummy sandwiches and soups), baked goods, and coffee and tea-based drinks. In the summer, strawberry italian sodas (extra sweet) are my favorite. The seating is eclectic, and divided into smoking and non-smoking -- but it doesn't matter where you sit, you always come out smelling like smoke. (Not the greatest thing for us non-smokers, but if you go during the day, you can escape the cigarette clouds.) They also have board games and books; the usual coffeehouse diversions.

This is one of my favorite places to go on-campus. The staff is friendly, and I'd say that they like their jobs (and their boss, who regularly contributes time and use of the cafe to community events). Their tip jar cleverly reads "Support Counter Intelligence." Please do.

http://www.dcr.uiuc.edu/outdoor/out_sch.html

The scuba for beginners course includes information about gear and equipment, water entries, surface dives; the rental of mask, fins, and snorkel; and pool training with tanks. This class is the first phase to obtaining your diving card - so be prepared to take a master level class, as well.

That's Rentertainment! is owned by Geoffrey Merritt (who, I think, also runs some record labels), and is married to Melissa Fanella, who owns Cafe Paradiso. "That's Rentertainment" is a video rental store, not to be confused with Blockbuster or others of that ilk. They rent a pretty wide variety in both VHS and DVD formats; the store is divided into: foreign, independent, animation, anime (Japanese animation), experimental, Westerns, Hitchcock, science fiction, etc. (I spend most of my time in the foreign DVD section.) They also sell movies, paraphenalia, and a local film magazine (Microfilm). Their entryway features lots of posted notices, flyers, free 'zines, etc. They're very community-friendly. They actually use to run a satellite location right next to Cafe Paradiso, but it closed in June 2002 (not making enough money) and made way for an art gallery named Art Attack.

If you'll be in CU for an extended amount of time, I would recommend a Renter's Block: 15 rentals ($30), 40 rentals ($60), or 100 rentals($100). A block saves you money on each rental. The usual rental fee is $2.50 for 3 days; for new releases, it's $2.50 for 1 day. They have special sections in the store that rent for $1, and they have daily renting specials. They also rent video games and video equipment (VCRs, DVD players, camcorders).

When I took film courses at the university, this place was quite a treasure trove.

www.rentertainment.com

IEI is located on-campus at 1205 West Nevada St. in Urbana. Started in 1967, the institute sponsors programs for international students to "improve their English language abilities for study at an American university or to further professional or personal goals."

They offer courses in: reading/writing, listening/speaking, oral communication, English grammar; English through current events, through computers and the Internet, through literature, and through business communications; as well as TOEFL (Teaching of English as a Foreign Language) Strategies, and Pronunciation Tutorials. click here for the website

My introduction to IEI leads up to this: I am hosting a Japanese student through their summer host program. His name is Akira, and he is from Konan University in Kobe, Japan. Kobe is in central Honshu (the main island of Japan). The other students are from Dokkyo and Senshu Universities, respectively.

Earlier in the summer, students from the Korean Maritime University in Pusan were here. Too bad I missed them. Korea is the next country (after England) for which I plan an extended stay.

I'm very excited about the hosting opportunity, not only because it gives me a chance to learn more about Japan (I would love to travel there), but because it will allow me to reverse roles. This is a way to repay my student hosts in China.

Also, I like to stress the idea that great traveling can be done right in your hometown. If you seek out opportunities to interact with new cultures in your home country, you can learn quite a lot - and better prepare yourself to travel the world. Plus, it offers a basis for comparison - expatriate communities and diasporas are as culturally rich as nativelands.

* * * Travel to Kobe, using your mouse: click here Study at Konan University: click here