<p>Hi guys! So I recently visited UIUC (got a campus tour), so I decided to make a post about it to share the experience for those of us who may not have the chance to come and visit.
First off: Weather! I'm from California, and I'm actually pretty surprised at the weather here: it was nice and warm. I would say this is the same weather I would see back at home. Again, this is still April so there are many other months to come, lol. But when I toured it was a very nice setting.</p>
<p>People! The campus tour guides are really nice, they're really informational and helpful to calm the nervous freshmen panics. I actually got lost in the beginning, as this is my first time to this college-and I had to stop a few students to ask where this building is. I was really surprised because none of them knew o_o" I then asked them where the admission's office is, and still none of the knew where it was... But then I stumbled upon a university library, awkwardly walked in, and the staff there printed out a map for me and help me find my way. The staff was really nice, and now they have a story about a random girl walking in to tell xD I'm guessing the campus is too big for the students to know where everything is (even the tour guide admitted she didn't know where every building is), and it's fine. They were polite and kind, even if they didn't know the answer to my question.</p>
<p>Campus! After the tour, my legs were really sore, haha. The campus is really big! It's also very interesting because there really is no boundary between the campus and nearby stores. So you never really know when the university ends-you just kind of see small cafes popping up and realize "Oh! I walked off!" We went to their main quad, which had a lot of students there. Some of them on their lap tops, some running on the grass, and just college students chilling on the grass. We visited their engineering buildings, and even got to see the labs and instruments. The tour at the lab was really funny because all of us freaked out when we saw people in white suits inside an orange lit room (it was that way for technical purposes, but still funny cause all of the visitors were like "OMG WHAT'S GOING ON."). We also got to see pretty cool instruments :D</p>
<p>Class! We actually only got to see one class, I believe it was a basic course that had something to do with Computer Science (really not sure). The Lecture hall was really nice. They had swivel chairs for all students to sit in! (The guide did mention that not all lecture halls are going to be that nice, but dang, swivel chairs!) Rather than looking at what the professor was doing, I was looking at the students, and most of them were on task... at least I couldn't catch anyone playing games, haha. </p>
<p>Food! We actually just ate at a random cafe near campus. We did visit the dining hall, and food smelled sooooo gooooooooood. But my family didn't eat there (aw.). The cafe we ate at had pretty nice food, their bread was really soft. </p>
<p>Transportation! So there is no free parking around campus :( But we managed with meter parking (which is, everywhere). And I've been reading a lot about how convenient the bus system at UIUC is, and I'm pretty much convinced now about that. I see a bus almost everywhere! It's running around constantly, and it must be really easy to catch one. </p>
<p>Shops! So I haven't been around to the malls around here yet (will get to that, hopefully soon!) But our family is living at a hotel pretty close to the university, and the hotel is nearby these plazas with lots of shops. I wasn't expecting these shops to show up here. To give some ideas: Target, Lowe's, Petsmart, Red Lobster, AppleBee, BestBuy, etc... I'm sure I missed a lot, but those are the ones that I took note of. I do want to mention that there aren't a lot of people in those shops relative to the place where I live. Where I live, when I go to target, there's always lots of people in there. The amount of people I see here would probably be the amount of people I would expect to see probably half an hour to closing time back in the target back home. I mean, all the products are still there, don't get me wrong... this isn't like "Target-Urbana Champaign Version 1.0" or something like that. The stuff are all there, but the amount of people is just less (no long lines, yay!)</p>
<p>Disappointments? I didn't get to check out their book store :( That is my biggest regret (my family was extremely out of shape, and we were all tired after walking and decided to retreat for the day, haha). But other than that! I think overall the tour was very nice-we heard some pretty funny college traditions from the tour guides, and had a great time. I hope this post helped those of you who are trying to learn more about UIUC. If I missed anything (I probably did, just kind of listed out things that stood out, haha), I'll be happy to answer some questions!</p>