My Favorite Place(s)

 My favorite place in the area is the U of I campus. Not necessarily a specific building or restaurant, but the entire campus as a whole provides me with a practical location to do many things. I have been familiar with campus for most of my life since my dad is a professor at the university, and my sister also went to Uni before me. Throughout the years, I’ve become familiar with the many great places in the campus area, especially since I began attending Uni myself.

For starters, the restaurants that line Green Street are plentiful — and all packed with great people and food. One of my personal favorites is Chipotle, and although it isn’t a restaurant unique to campus, I never forget the long lines of students during each visit. A specific instance that comes to mind is a time when I went to grab dinner before a school event. I placed an online order ahead of time to avoid the line since I knew that Chipotle would be quite busy at the time. However, it turned out that the online orders were backed up further than the physical in-store line itself. In the end, my friends all got their food before my order was ready, and we had to wait an additional 30 minutes from when my order was supposed to be ready. I still do enjoy my trips to Chipotle though, since it’s always a great experience hanging out with friends. The casual environment helps me take my mind off any pressing schoolwork or other problems and I’m always able to enjoy myself.

On the other hand, campus provides the perfect location for studying and doing homework too. The newly constructed CIF (Campus Instructional Facility) located across from Kenney has become my go-to study spot this year, and I’ll often study there with friends. There are a decent amount of tables and work areas throughout the building, and after a bit of searching, I can almost always find either a table or classroom to work in. One reason I like studying in CIF is that I’ve found that my productivity in the building is particularly high when compared to Siebel or my home. I’m not sure what exactly about the place helps me focus more, but I hope that this raise in productivity isn’t just because it’s a new location and that it will continue throughout the year.  

Finally, another reason campus is my favorite place in the area is because of its convenience to navigate. I’ve been on campus nearly every day for the past 4 years and often find myself making quick visits to Green Street to grab a bite to eat, or making the quick trek over to CIF to study after school. I don’t think there are any other local places that have such a wide variety of things to do in such a concentrated area, and I appreciate the campus for that.