Knee High by the 4th of July - My 2nd time in the Corn State

Howdy y'all!

Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system. I'm back in Champaign-Urbana this week, and I've been trying not to make it blatantly obvious that I'm a foreigner around here!

I'm here in my new hometown for a few days because I have 2 interviews! So far I think the first one went well. No matter what happens, at least it's been nice to have someone else pay for flights, hotels, and rental cars this time! Other than interviewing, which has kept me fairly busy, my goals have been to find more potential job options and to learn my way around town a bit better. Armed with a map I found inside a free visitor's guide and my iPhone Google Maps app, I've spent several hours driving back and forth around town. Usually it's right when I feel like I'm really figuring things out that I suddenly realize I'm not where I thought I was! But for the most part it's been enjoyable and helpful to have this free time to explore.

And now, for some personal observations as well as some fun facts about the area:

1. Personal observation - the weather is amazing (today)!
According the visitor's guide I picked up -
        Winter = Avg low 16, avg high 32 and 4 - 7 inches of snow per month
        Summer = Avg low 65, avg high 85 and 5 - 7 thunderstorms per month
        Spring & Fall = Avg low 45, avg high 65.
Most importantly: "During June, July, and August, there are an average of 6 to 7 days per month when the temperature is above 90 degrees." WOWEE!

2. There are more than 200 restaurants listed in the visitor's guide, listed by categories such as- BBQ, Chinese, Cuban, Greek, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Pizza, Seafood, Spanish, Steak, Swiss, Thai and more!

3. Yesterday, it took me less than 20 minutes to drive literally from one edge of town to the other. Seriously, I drove straight through the middle of the city, past dozens of traffic lights and even a few blocks of construction, I didn't ever get on a freeway and I still made it across town in no time. This is new and different!

4. Geographically, it's kind of weird here. Explanation:

The outlying parts of the metropolitan area differ from the suburban areas of many other metropolitan areas. Instead of a sprawling suburban skirt that encircles the urban area, the urban area abuts large swaths of farmland, with small to medium sized villages that originated as farming communities.

Thanks Wikipedia! This explains why I feel so overwhelming like I'm in the middle of nowhere as soon as I get to the edge of town. I feel like one minute I'm driving down a street that looks like it could be in downtown Austin and 5 mintues later I'm literally surrounded by corn and it's so flat I think I can see for miles. It really is an unusual thing, apparently.

5. Speaking of Austin, everyone here wants a Texan's opinion of our state's capital city! I have had multiple people ask me about it. Apparently they've all heard it's a cool place. Pretty funny!

3. Other cool random stuff:
- They have an Urban Outfitters, a Ten Thousand Villages, a coffee shop called Uncommon Grounds (yep, I just like the name), and a ton of other places that look awesome although I actually know nothing about them.
- It has been listed in Newsweek as one of the Top 10 Tech Cities outside of Silicon Valley and ranked 10 out of the Top 25 Green Cities in the US by Country Home magazine.
- Famous rapper Ludacris was born in Champaign.
- 36% of the population of Urbana is between 18 and 24 years old. The median age is 25. Super young city!
- In 2011: A Space Odyssey (weirdest movie of all time), Hall 9000 is dying or whatever it is that he does, he says he was programmed in Urbana. Wait, is that a good thing?!

And now back to the title of this post: Knee High by the 4th of July. I learned the phrase yesterday. It means things are going well, based of the generalization that if your corn is up to your knees on Independence Day you're going to have a good harvest. Let me tell you, the corn is certainly tall around here right now - literally and figuratively! :)



Snapped this phone pic while stopped at a traffic light. I think this corn is around 5 ft right now.