How to: Champaign-Urbana
Some things to know: Downtown Champaign and Downtown Urbana are oodles cooler than Campustown. Fewer students venture there, so hanging out in these locales means youll be getting away, at least in theory. Campus life centers around bars. Most of the bars the undergraduate students go to are in Campustown.
Food:
Meijer: North Prospect. 24-hour everything-you-could-imagine-ever-needing-ever store.
Schnucks: One on Vine Street in Urbana and one on Mattis in West Champaign. The most expensive of all area grocery stores.
County Market: The least expensive of all area grocery stores. Get a Max card! One on Kirby (very west) and one on Mattis (north of Schnucks)
Jerry's IGA: On Kirby near campus. You can get a discount card there too.
Strawberry Fields: Fabulous natural foods market on Springfield/Main in Urbana. Great café, too.
Common Ground Food Co-op: On campus, on Springfield near Wright. You have to pay $30 to be a member, but there are lots of natural goodies, if that's what you're in to.
Drinks:
The Office: Hidden on Main in Urbana. Older crowd.
Jupiter's: Also hidden, but on Main in Downtown Champaign. Right next to the Highdive, if you like dancing.
Boltini: Martini bar in Downtown Champaign.
Bacaro: Fun, trendy wine bar that also serves gelato, for those of us dreaming of post-college Europe tours. In Downtown Champaign on Walnut.
Two East Main: Two East Main is the name and the address. A new bar/dance clubby thing in Downtown Champaign, on the corner of Walnut and Main.
Jillian's: Games for grown-ups, or people who like to think they are. On Neil.
Brother's: In Campustown (on Green), but aimed at an older crowd. Older students will be there.
Murphy's: Also in Campustown, also on Green, but too great to not partake. Laid back pub atmosphere. Good food. Where we went for Senior Happy Hours.
Caffeine
Café Kopi: Perhaps the best place for food, drinks, and caffeine in all of Chambana. Funky older crowd, not so much space. On Walnut in Downtown Champaign.
Caffe Paradiso: Smoky but big, on Lincoln in Urbana. Also has food.
Espresso Royale: One in Champaign on 6th and Daniel, and one in Urbana on Goodwin. Great places to go with students or without. Urbana location is a little funkier, although both are quality coffee shops. Get a coffee card.
Green Street: Green and 6th, right by campus, there is not better place to meet people for a cup of jo'. Plus, it has a back room, great for group meetings.
Fun Food that Fits Your Budget
Hinode: Great Japanese restaurant in Downtown Champaign, on Church.
The Bread Company: Europeanish dining - fondue, good sandwiches, soups and salads. On Goodwin in Urbana. Sit in the back section during the lunch hour.
Za's: Pizza, sandwiches, and pasta. On Green in Campustown. Good place to take students. The upstairs is newly renovated and HUGE.
Delights: One in the Union and one hidden (with a mini Za's) near Goodwin. Yummy frozen yogurt and shakes.
Zorba's: Greek food. In Campustown, on Green. On Tuesdays you can get veggie sandwiches for $1 and fries at half price!
Custard Cup: They serve custard, as the name might imply. On Kirby. Only open in the warmer months, but such a treat!
Courier Café: On Race in Urbana, on the north end side of the street. Great milkshakes and other casual dining options.
Dos Reales: Although it doesn't compare to Mexican food you find in Texas (or Tex-Mex) it is still tasty when craving food from the south. Reasonably priced. Prospect towards 74.
Bonnie Jean's: Calzones and pizza. On Fourth on campusyou can walk over and pick up food, or they deliver.
Papa Dels: Best pizza in Champaign - really. Chicago-style deep dish. On Green in Campustown.
Biaggi's: Not really within a JCSC budget, but good and Italian.
Chevy's: A chain, but a good one. Off of Neil (Marketview) near the mall.
Basil Thai: On Green, close to Hillel. Good Pad Thai, curries, things in peanut sauce.
The Y Eatery: The Thai place in the YMCA building on Wright. Cheap, cheap.
Manderin Wok: It took me 8 months, but this is the best Chinese-type food I found in town. On Green.
Dunkin' Donuts-Baskin Robbins-TOGOs: One of the newest additions. Cheesy but useful. On Green at the Green-Neil intersection (across from Osco).
The Hillel Kitchen: Last but not least, the free option for food five nights a week. Use it, dont abuse it.
Getting Away - or at least feeling that way
Allerton: Amazing park near Monticello (take 74 W). Go when it's warm.
Krannert: The option for culture on campus. Great music, dance, opera, etc. performances come to this beautiful facility.
Art Mart: In the Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana. Fun shop for you to spend any extra $$$.
Checkered Moon: Another unique shop on Randolph in Champaign. Really nice women work there who will gift wrap your purchases.
Jane Addams Bookshop: Goes under the bookstores category as well, but its not really a buyers bookstore. Used books mostly, with a floor devoted to womens studies books. On Neil in Downtown Champaign.
Market on the Square: Farmers Market behind Lincoln Square Mall open from May through November. This is why we live in C-U. Only here can you get shirts that say: Urbana: Flat and fertile.
Chicago: Really, go. All the time. Its an amazing city with so much to explore. 57 North, until it ends. Then youre there.
Bookstores
Pages for All Ages: Champaign's answer to Barnes and Noble and Borders. A locally-run large bookstore. On Neil in Savoy.
Barnes and Noble: On Neil in Champaign.
Borders: On Prospect in Champaign.
Priceless Books: Used bookstore on Main in Urbana.
Live Music
The Canopy: On Goodwin. Kind of sketchy, but live nonetheless.
Moonstruck: Actually a chocolate bar, but also a home to live jazz.
Espresso in Urbana: Open mikes on Tuesday nights.
High Dive: If you like to dance, this is the place. DJ misic and Salsa nights. There is usually a cover - Downtown Champaign.
Intense Shopping
The place to go when you really need something (like clothes or shoes) is Marketplace Mall, on Neil.
Elana's Engagement Stories
This is the really good stuff. I look at engagement as connecting Jewish students to meaningful Jewish experiences. Aside from growing creatively while designing programs to connect students to Jewish tradition, I have sincerely enjoyed the conversations I have had with my students, and will always hear echoes of the verbal forays that were part of their Jewish journeys.
S. and I met at the beginning of the year, but didn't really connect until the second semester, when he and I worked to bring a seder to his residence hall. As we copied and stapled haggadot, we talked about our connections to Judaism, S.'s as a Russian immigrant with little previous exposure to Jewish culture and tradition, and the reasons why we believe that we should remain Jewish. I had never been asked why I "remain" Jewish before, and my answers and S.'s questions began a dialogue about Judaism that continued after our preparations for the seder had ended.
I ate lunch in Field of Greens, a specialty restaurant in a residence hall, about once a week. Each week, I had the opportunity to dine with different students--sometimes they were eating together already, and sometimes I would get a group together of people who I knew. Quiet radicals, biology majors, and ultimate frisbee players connected over vegetarian food, conversations about campus issues, and a check-in about what was going on Jewishly that week.
E. and I met through her roommate during the High Holidays. We connected over coffee and her participation in women's programming, where we began conversations about the philosophy which drives the Jewish life on campus movement, women's roles in Orthodox Judaism, and her disconnect from Jewish liturgy. E. participated more Jewishly this year than any of her other three years on campus. After graduation, E. told me that I was her primary connection to Jewish involvement.
Seniors were some of my favorite students. I had met many individuals who were looking for interesting conversation partners, happy-hour dates, and a break from grad school applications and job searches; connecting them to each other was the next step. Senior Happy Hours, once-a-month gatherings at a popular bar on campus connected them for just about everything but beer.
L. e-mailed me a few weeks after I had begun advertising that we were looking for students to work on a Jewish life on campus newsletter. We met for coffee and she caught me up on the first few weeks of her first semester. L. contributed so much to the newsletter, in particular pieces on campus pro-Israel activism and connections between Judaism and justice. Through writing about Jewish life, L. connected to Jewish life herself.
Creating the first issue of our newsletter, L'Chaim, offered the perfect opportunity to connect three young women who would probably never have met otherwise. They worked together, coming up with story ideas, discussing the merits of better publicity of Jewish life, struggling with learning to lay out pages, and ultimately seeing our final product, an incredibly well-received publication.
R. and I met at Chanukah when I brought a Chanukah party to her residence hall. She worked diligently and carefully creating her menorah, and we talked about her excitement about her upcoming participation in our school's birthright trip. We continued to meet over the course of the year--at programs in her residence hall, when she wanted to know more about the history of Israel, and randomly, happily running into each other on campus.
At the beginning of the second semester, I organized a lunch outing for a group of women, including birthright returnees and others that just wanted to meet other nice Jewish girls like themselves. The seven girls stayed at lunch for two hours--I was amazed at their excitement about each other, and so glad that I had been able to connect them to each other.
A. was a student who had connections to Jewish religion and culture, but who hadn't really made a personal Jewish connection on campus. This year was her fifth at the U of I. We had so many ways to connect, namely mutual interests in writing and women's issues. She helped create and participated in all of our women's programming first semester, enthusiastically picking apples and creating multiple challah covers, wine glasses, and candles. She student-taught in Chicago second semester, and dropped in at the end of the year to say hi. She was one of the few students I really "saw" at the huge graduation ceremony, and one who I know is now more completely connected to her Jewish life.
Men's handkerchiefs were the centerpiece of our first women's program. Ten women gathered to create challah covers, painting, sewing, and beading their way to completed and completely beautiful products. Their challah covers grace the tables at Shabbat at Hillel, and these women's presence in the U of I Jewish community is secure into the future.
Staci's Engagement Stories
While tabling on the Quad, I noticed a guy looking at our table from afar. I knew that he wouldnt approach, so I called to him and walked over to explain what we were doing. We got into a conversation, went to lunch and became friends. I got to know him better, and discovered his love for the environment. I taught him about the Holiday of TuB'shvat and after that he decided to plan our TuB'shvat Eco-Fair.
I was making a house announcement at the SAM house one night. On my way out I met M. We started talking and then exchanged emails. I met with him a few times and then he would occasionally stop in Hillel just to see if I was around. He wasnt involved in Jewish life before this encounter, I dont know if he will get involved in the future, yet with the conversations we had I definitely gave him something to think about.
I met J, an exchange student from Australia, when he came into Hillel one day. We became close over time and would look forward to Shabbat when we knew we would have a chance to talk. He brought a girl, S, to Hillel one Shabbat, and instantly, we were friends. I spent a lot of time with J and S before he left to go home and she followed to study abroad where he was.
The first time I went around to the Houses, I was nervous. The purpose of my visit was to introduce myself so I would be a recognized face when I came around. I had just showered before going to the ZBT house, and when I walked into the room of 100 men, one of them standing close to me commented that my "hair smelled good." From then on, I was known as the Hillel girl whose hair smells good.
Each semester I took the Presidents of each of the Greek houses out to a nice dinner. It was a way for them to interact with each other as well as a forum for me to express what I do and how I can assist them. This is a great way to build a relationship with each house, because every time I went into the house, I could look for the President, or have her/him introduce me to other people.
