Well, I made it to Champaign, and I finally got a place to settle into. It’s a little pricier then I had hoped, but it will be well worth it. More on that in a separate blog though... this one is on my impressions of the town.

To say the least, the town is very small. It’s probably only a mile or two wide each way, and surrounding it is tons of cornfields. It’s very rural, but it sort of reminds me of home in some ways.

Probably the biggest impression I have gotten is that it is a college town. University of Illinois is located here, and when I checked online, they have some 40,000 undergraduates going here, and about 15,000 graduate students. The campus is also built split up all over town, as in medical buildings are in one area, engineering in another, and so on and so forth. That being said, there’s tons of young people walking around, and the bus line is packed. Not that it is worth saying this as none of you will probably be able to relate to it, but the town reminds me very much of the area around my first university in Wilkes Barre, PA. Just many old fashioned buildings, small quaint towns, with a huge university in the middle of it and young people everywhere.

As for what the town offers, its hard to say. There are a few commercial area (though no real malls) There’s actually lots of little shops, but surprisingly enough, some of the bigger stores like Walmart and a grocery store named “Schnucks” offer MUCH bigger selections then their counterparts in Arizona. Many foods or items I could not find at all in Arizona, I have found in ease here, plus I’m seeing lots of other cool stuff.

The restaurant scene I am unsure of yet too. My first few days here me and my dad were eating out every night at bigger name brand places like Bob Evans, Olive Garden, and Alexander’s Steak House (which was a rip off... $20 steaks and they charged you another $2.75 if you wanted the chef to cook it... apparently they make you cook it yourself otherwise...) I’m a bit nervous about the smaller restaurant scene though. There are not many pizza places, and most restaurants I have seen are literally hole in the wall places. The chinese food scene is especially scary because I actually went to one place that I got a flyer for, and upon going there, there was puke outside the door, and no one inside at all. There was also no air going, and it was just like in this little house... I promptly left... Around downtown there’s tons of cafes it seems, but I never was much of an eating out person in the first place, much less a cafe person. I might have to go check them out though, because street-side dining seems to be the biggest thing here. Most other “restaurants” though are always scarily deserted, with it not being uncommon that there are no cars there when I pass.... It’s making me nervous to try any of the food here....

As for other entertainment, I did see a movie theatre but it looked a bit run down (though I’m learning everything looks that way here on the outside) I do not know what I will do for fitness. I haven’t noticed many clubs, and the YMCAs I visited were really crappy. I’m hoping my company has a small gym to work out in. Bowling is extremely expensive, and definitely was a shocker to me. Its about $5.75 a game for open bowling, compared to Arizona’s constant specials of like $1.50 a game. I definitely can not afford to bowl as much as I want to. I do not know if there is a big bar scene yet, I’m assuming there is, but all and all, it seems most of the entertainment, food, and stuff to do is around the downtown area and street-side. Just go out and walk type of places and see what you find.

I’ll probably just have to go out and walk the streets till I really can give a true judgement on the town, because that’s just the scene here. The weather has been alright, but honestly, I miss Arizona. It’s actually only been in the low 80s, but I actually feel HOTTER then I did in Arizona’s 110 degree weather. There’s definitely humidity, and I am not liking it. Lord only knows how much I will hate the winter. I just am hoping it’s not too bad.

Probably my favorite thing about the town so far is the women. I never have seen so many pretty cute girls in such a short period of time... it’s amazing. The weird part is that usually I am extremely picky, but I have really yet to gripe about most of the women here. Its like... see a girl, hot, see a girl, hot, see a girl, hot, see a girl..... yea hot. I swear I’m going to get in an accident because with all the people that walk around here, there’s tons of girls walking everywhere looking great. They dress sexier too, as in Arizona most people covered up to protect from the sun, but here in Illinois’s summer, the girls are wearing skimpy tank tops and shorty shorts. It’s a great thing.

I really can’t stress how great I feel about this, as it just always seems like I would rarely run into girls I felt attracted to, and when I did make a move, they were usually always taken already. Here with the bulk of women that are everywhere, I feel it may be possible to see a “grimace got a girlfriend” blog in the future. In Pennsylvania the girls were mostly fat. Last blog talked about how much I hate that. In Arizona the girls were just sort of ugly. There was also a huge amount of mexican and blonde women, both of which I really don’t care for. But here in Illinois it’s like the women are exactly what I’m looking for physically. They are in shape or average. Almost all of them are brunette, which I’m pretty much a total brunette guy. One of my biggest turn ons above physique or body shape is a pretty face, and almost every girl I see has an extremely cute face, regardless of her weight. I actually really can’t even say I saw any girls smoking. In fact, I can’t recall even seeing one girl smoke yet since I have been here. The girls not only look good, but just seem to be more like me in personality as well. So I’m really hoping that other then my job going well, I make something happen with a relationship too.

Now I just need to get out more and I think I would be hopeless forever if I didn’t make something happen here in Illinois. I actually do have a roommate now, so I’m hoping we can go out and do stuff, (as I HATE going out alone) but he’s actually pretty introverted just like me, so who knows how it will turn out. More on all that next blog.

All and all though, I have good feelings about the town. I don’t know why, but good vibes are just coming at me. It is a lot more inconvenient then Arizona thus far, with really slow busy traffic (which has my car getting absolutely horrible gas mileage - about 12 mpg - normally got 20 around town in Arizona) and nothing is really 5 minutes away. Not because of distance, just because of slow and busy traffic. Sure it was nice having gas, food, stores all within 5 minute walking distance in Arizona, but like I said, this town reminds me a lot of PA, so I’m accustomed to having 15 some minute drives for just basic needs. I will probably actually begin to walk a lot more, because with as slow as traffic is around town, it’s not much longer to walk, plus it will be a good way to get in better shape.

I’m hoping my position will turn into a full time one, and my landlord lady is a Japanese woman that owns a restaurant right under my company, and she knows many of the employees and even the CEO very well. She keeps telling me she is going to put a good word in for me to the CEO when the time comes, and I smell a very good mutual deal in the future. You get me hired full time at the company, I’ll continue my lease with you. It’s a win win situation, because trust me, I don’t want to move out of the place I’m in now, and it’s just really expensive to move...

So I have her now as one great contact, and it seems like she won’t be the last as the town is just very personal and I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone knew everybody. Speaking of her being Japanese, before I end I will also mention that I am surprised by the Asian population here in Champaign. I’m assuming it must be the University that is recruiting them all, but there’s a tremendous amount of mostly Chinese and Japanese students here. Maybe this isn’t a big deal for most of you, but for me it’s interesting to see. In Pennsylvania you only saw Asian people if you went to an Asian restaurant. In Arizona there was very few, and they were mostly more dark skinned Asians. But here, there’s thousands. I would even go as far to say that it’s nearly 35% asian population, and you see them everywhere when you go to the store or just even driving around town.

This is a good thing though. I always really liked Asian people, because they are usually very kind and nice, and also more like me in personality and more respectful. True most can’t speak English well, but some of the nicest friends I had were Chinese or Japanese people. Plus the girls are cute so they just add to the multitude of beautiful women here.

Not much else to say for now. I will be starting work in 2 weeks, so I got to start training myself on some stuff before I go in. My roommate is moving in this week, so hopefully I’ll start getting out more, but more on all that next blog I guess. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned till next time.