<p>From particularly December through February, you can have this constant nightmare where everything is just white and you keep piling on more and more clothes on yourself but you can never get warm and your hands and ears ache like they are going to fall off.</p>
<p>That nightmare is called winter in Illinois.</p>
<p>UIUC is in Champaign and Urbana (sister cities) and the area has a population of about 100,000. And you are correct that as soon as you go outside those small cities you will find farms, trees, and only small towns 50 miles in any direction. It is also very flat (no mountains, no big hills). </p>
<p>Nevertheless, this is a huge university and activities abound including parties, sports, campus theaters, restaurants, bars (for those who can enter – though drinking age is 21 many allow entry if you are 19 but you get marked for no alcohol consumption).</p>
<p>Others can speak better about sororities.</p>