A Little Bit About Champaign-Urbana

Champaign is here. It's right next to Urbana. The University of Illinois campus straddles the border of the two cities.

It's a 2 hour drive north to Chicago and a 3 hour drive west to St. Louis. We're also relatively close to Indianapolis (2 hours) and Cincinnati (3.5 hours). And for all of you Elvis fans, we're a mere 6.5 hour drive from Memphis. So basically this town is the gateway to the nation's mid-section.

The two towns have a combined population in the neighborhood of 115,000 people. There are roughly 42,000 students that attend classes at U of I and about 11,000 of them are in graduate programs (including me and Kaia).

The towns were originally railroad towns founded in the mid-1800s. Since then they have grown into a regional hub for education and commerce, apparently earning the nickname "the silicon prairie." There are numerous historic buildings throughout the two towns and a number of parks. There are trains that run through Champaign to Chicago and New Orleans each day. In addition there is a small airport in the city and also a good bus system. Most conveniently the city is as flat as a coffee table so biking to and from school each day shouldn't be too bad.

If you really want more information about the towns check out these sites:

City of Urbana
City of Champaign

Of course, one of the main attractions is the U of I campus. I will be spending most of my time at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (here):

It's an amazing building with some really great theaters including the 2,066 seat Foellinger Great Hall. This is, incidentally, where I had my audition for the school with the U of I Chamber Orchestra. What an awesome acoustic experience! Much of the building is actually below ground, including scene shops for plays and operas, stage entrances to the theaters, offices, and rehearsal space. The giant towers in the photo are the larger performing spaces in the center. There are a total of six different venues in the Krannert Center with a lot of performances each year.