There are two buildings in this area. One houses Bread Company and Espresso Royale, and the other is the L-shaped building with Timpones, 710, Canopy, and Manolo’s.

The L-shaped building was sold and is going to be replaced with high-rise apartments. So Manolo’s will be gone from that location at some point in the near future. I’m not sure yet where they’ll end up.

The building with Bread Company and Espresso Royale was not sold, despite private equity apparently offering “wheelbarrows” of cash for it. Bread Company also recently signed a lease through 2032, so that building doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

That's some bitter sweet news tbh.

Almost got hit by 3 different cyclists that were trying to weave through pedestrians crossing Green yesterday (with the walk sign on for all crossings)

I've had many a job in my life. By far my favorite job, though, is the one I never applied for and just kind of fell into: campus tour guide.

I see they are called "I STARs" now, but we didn't have a fancy name back then. We were just "campus tour guides." We also didn't have uniforms. That will become relevant later.

FALLING INTO THE JOB

So how did I get that job? It literally came knocking. Except it didn't knock, it just opened my door.

Freshman year I lived in Townsend Hall (ISR), and a week or two into the school year my roommate and I were enjoying a lazy Saturday morning in our room when, all of a sudden, the door opened.

It was a campus tour guide leading a group of prospective students and parents.

They were absolutely mortified that we were living there. They apologized profusely and very quickly explained that the previous year our room had been the "model" room shown off to tour groups.

My roommate and I had nothing to hide, and our room was still relatively clean since it was so early in the year. We told the tour guide it was no problem at all, and proceeded to show off our room to the tour group. We even got a compliment from one of the parents who said it was so awesome to get to see a "real" dorm room instead of one that had been professionally staged.

We told the tour guide to feel free to come back any time and we would be happy to show off our room, and if any other tour guides wanted to swing by our place that was fine too.

For the rest of the semester, we'd get a few tour groups per day stopping by. One of us was usually home to show off the room, and it also gave us extra incentive to keep it clean. We eventually started answering questions as well. Some people would ask what dorm life was like, whether the bathrooms were clean, how the food was, etc. Our answers were more real and far less polished than what a tour guide could say.

Having tour guides stopping by regularly meant that I got to know a few of them, and eventually I worked up the courage to ask one of them how I could become a tour guide myself. They said they would put in a good word with their boss, and told me to stop by the campus visitor center office, which was right across Illinois Street in the Levis Faculty Center at the time. (We used to joke that the campus visitor center was in the ugliest and least-welcoming building possible, but thankfully it has moved somewhere nicer now.)

The next semester I had myself a job and was the only freshman tour guide. I brought my tour groups to see my actual dorm room, and some of them needed convincing that it really belonged to me. I ended up keeping this job for the rest of my years on campus.

Being a tour guide was an amazing job for several reasons. First and foremost, I got to share my love of U of I with others. Beyond that, each tour was a new adventure - I never knew what I was going to get. Some tour groups were bubbly and talkative with tons of questions; others didn't have much to say at all and I'd have to ad-lib to fill more time. I also got really good at walking backwards without tripping.

At that time, we didn't have any kind of microphones or amplification, so I just had to speak loudly enough so that the back of the group could hear me. Learning how to project my voice, as well as how to protect my voice so I could still speak later that day was another great skill I picked up along the way.

I will say, however, that I wasn't always the most compliant employee.

I'M THE REASON TOUR GUIDES HAVE UNIFORMS

When I started as a tour guide, there was no official shirt or uniform to wear. We had a giant I-shaped name tag we wore while giving tours, but that was it.

Over the years I started to push the envelope a bit by incorporating more and more "fun" clothing, such as Illini Hawaiian shirts. But what probably did me in was that I would occasionally wear the shirt John Belushi wore in Animal House: a dark blue T-shirt that just said "COLLEGE" across the front.

Parents got a kick out of it, though I imagine leadership did not. Shortly thereafter, we were given official polo shirts and told we needed to wear them whenever we were on the clock.

I like to think I'm personally responsible for that line item in the budget.

THAT TIME I UPSET THE FOOTBALL TEAM

2003 was an awful year for Fighting Illini football. We went 1-11.

It was, however, an incredible year for academics. Two university professors won Nobel Prizes that same fall: Anthony Leggett (Physics) and Paul Lauterbur (Physiology/Medicine).

For those keeping count, this means that in 2003 the university won one football game and two Nobel Prizes.

I always liked to incorporate current events into my tours wherever possible, so I was more than happy to mention to my tour groups that "The U of I has won more Nobel Prizes than football games this year." This was of course 100% true, and my tour groups always ended up getting a laugh out of it.

That was, until one day when I got called into my manager's office.

Apparently on one of my tours I had the family of an assistant football coach in my group, and they didn't appreciate my touting the university's academic prowess in that manner.

Word of what I had said got relayed to the football team, who escalated it to DIA (Division of Intercollegiate Athletics), who contacted OAR (Office of Admissions & Records), and then it found its way back down to my manager. I was told that I couldn't speak about anything on campus in a negative light, so that was the end of that comment on my tours.

And somehow, I still wasn't fired.

Being a campus tour guide was one of the best jobs I've ever had. I loved that job and my coworkers, and I still have a ridiculous number of stories from those years walking backwards across campus.

1. Her father talked her out of becoming an astronomer because he thought she would “never marry.” Klara loved telescopes and wanted to study astronomy. Her father told her she would end up working somewhere remote and that it wasn’t a good life for a woman. She studied math and engineering instead.

2. John McCarthy recruited her mother to Stanford. The family planned to follow. Then history said no. The border closed in 1968 and Klara’s family remained split across the Iron Curtain for more than two decades. They finally reunified in America in 1990.

3. Imagine knowing a scientific paper exists and being told you’re not allowed to read it because you are not a member of the Communist Party. That was part of doing science in East Germany.

4. One of the first things that blew her mind about America was… the grocery store. She grew up with shortages and sometimes one version of a product. Then she walked into a Philadelphia grocery store and saw 10 kinds of coffee and five kinds of bread. Her husband still makes fun of how long she spends wandering grocery stores.

5. The best research problems outlive the technology used to solve them.

6. Distributed systems are underrated because AI is sucking up all the attention. Meanwhile the physical world is filling with edge devices and sensors.

7. The internet may eventually transmit smell.

8. “AI is a tool.” Don’t fall in love with the tool. Fall in love with a problem worth solving.

9. Being a woman in STEM meant doing the same job without the same informal support system. Klara says male colleagues got advice over lunch, quick hallway chats, and “bathroom talks.” She often had to schedule formal meetings just to get answers they picked up casually. Early in her career, that isolation was one of the hardest parts.

10. If you’re an engineering student and only study engineering, you’re wasting part of the university. She tells students to take psychology, biology, chemistry, read history, travel, and learn how people from other cultures communicate.

If you’re a student trying to figure out what the hell you want to do with your life, Klara Nahrstedt’s story is worth hearing.

Watch the full conversation here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kU6xDed4dk

The sirens scream their warning
They do not know if the world is ending

And for a split second
Neither do we

Our bodies understand before our minds do

Danger
Run
Hide
Pray

Wait a minute

Just Tuesday
Just 10 AM
Just a maintenance test

So we sip our coffee over the ruckus

But

When the wind starts blowing
When the bombs start falling
When the world starts ending

On that day
The sirens’ scream will sound the same

I pray it won’t be Tuesday

Hey! Wanted to share this list of cool things you can do without a CPT. We handpicked almost every single thing (not a dead AI list).

https://rootsimmigrationhelp.com/internships

We're both international. Hopefully it's helpful :) Let us know what you think!

90% of the list is public, but for a few parts we charge $3 to cover the cost / protect against scrape. If that's an issue, please DM me and I'll send you the list for free.

Don’t panic

if there was an armed conflict between uiuc and purdue which university could mobilize better and win the war ? i think that the purdue air force might give them an edge but im not sure

Hey everyone!
I recently came back to UIUC, and I have a bit of a weird situation.
Over the years, some of my friends graduated and left me their board game collections. I now have 100+ board games, mostly heavier Euro / Ameritrash / strategy games. Think games that can take 2–5+ hours and actually require you to learn rules and make decisions — rather than quick party/social games.
The problem is that most of the people I used to play with have graduated, and now a pretty ridiculous amount of my living space is occupied by boxes of board games that aren’t getting played. 😭
I don’t really want to just put everything into storage, and selling 100+ games individually would also take forever.
So I figured I’d ask here:
Are there people at UIUC who are actually interested in heavier/complex board games and would want to play regularly?
I’m talking about things like:
Heavy Eurogames
Engine-building / economic games
Area control
Civilization / 4X
War / conflict games
Deck-building
Long campaign games
Basically anything that makes you say “wait, this game has a 30-page rulebook?”
I’m not necessarily trying to start an official club right away. I’m mainly trying to find out whether there’s enough interest to form a small, consistent group.
If you’re interested, comment or DM me with:
What kinds of games you like
A few of your favorite games (or games you’d like to try)
How often you’d realistically want to play
If there are enough people interested, I can put together some game nights and we can figure out a regular place/time to play.
And yes, I can bring the games. I just need people willing to help me justify why I’ve been storing all of these cardboard boxes. 😂

Okay so I'm an idiot and slept through CEE 202 this morning. Setting extra alarms moving forward. Would anyone be able to give me the password for WS2 on prarielearn? I would really, really appreciate it.

Created a burner to just vent. Not really sure if it’ll actually help, but just had to get it out there. I’m currently in my final semester for my 4.5/5th year here, and maybe it’s just the nostalgia, the fear, the anxiety, or a mix of both, but it’s been a confusing and bittersweet time as I’m getting started on the end. During the second semester of my junior year I interned back home and wasn’t on campus, and when I came back most of my friends had pretty much moved on or were with different groups at that point. All of my roommates had either joined Greek life or decided to move in with other friends, and I spent the year with random roommates trying to basically start from square 1 socially as it felt like I was basically a freshman again. It really took a toll and because I wasn’t able to deal with it well I ended up needed to take another semester. Now I’m just kind of sitting here in reflection of my life at this point. The internship was well worth it as I am going to be working full time with a career I’ll enjoy after graduation, but I can’t help feeling regret as it just feels like I’m not getting the ending I had thought about. I didn’t really make tons of long lasting friends that I still will talk to, and everyone I had known is pretty much graduated now, so it just feels really weird. A lot of it is definitely on me. Maybe I should’ve been more opened minded about joining more clubs or Greek life, but honestly that just feels like cope as deep down I probably wasn’t all that interested in that kind of college aspect anyways. It just feels weird because it seems like everyone got so good at socializing, dating, making friends, and forming groups while I could never really figure it out. Again, a lot of it on me for not working at it, but man if this is supposed to be when it’s easiest I have a lot of worry about how it’ll be in the real world. Am I alone in this? Overthinking? I just feel I’m too old to be like this socially and I missed the golden opportunity to truly master it. Not sure what I’m really looking for here, but again just had to get it off my chest as I sit here thinking.

Im a freshman currently in EXP and i'm planning to apply for ICT to gies after my freshman year.

I'm currently taking 12 credits this semester after dropping Spanish. My classes are Econ 103, STAT 107, RHET 105, and EXP 101.

I only need one more level/ year of spanish to complete the LOTE requirement. I was planning on taking it at my local community college over the summer and transferring the credit because I feel like adding spanish right now would make my workload too heavy, and I want to focus on getting a strong GPA as well as clubs my first year.

However, I saw that GIes says priority is given to ICT applicants who have completed three levels of a language other than English. They also say that if you aren't able to complete LOTE, you can explain why in the additional consideration section.

Would taking my last Spanish course over the summer hurt my Gies ICT chances a lot since it wouldn't be completed when i apply? Would it be better to just take Spanish during freshman year or focus on my grades and clubs and explain that im taking spanish over the summer?

If anyone has gone through the Gies ICT recently or was in a similar situation, id appreciate any advice

ALSO I MESSED UP ON THE TITLE IM SORRY SHOULD I TAKE SPANISH NOW OR OVER THE SUMMER IM SORRY

Urbana Park District is a few teams short to start the Co-Rec Fall Kickball season.

From the website:

Who wants to re-live those rousing lunch recess kickball games? Urbana Park District gives you that opportunity this Fall in the Co-Rec Kickball League. All games are Thursdays from September 3 - October 8, between 6 - 9 p.m. Each team must have at least four men and four women. The season is a six-game round robin followed by a single elimination tournament. Fun is encouraged; athleticism is optional! It costs $200 per team. [Email](mailto:achiggs@urbanaparks.org) or call Alex at (217) 255-8601 for more information.

Does anyone have amano shrimp they’re interested in selling? I need some for my dorm fish tank, but I can’t find any reliable fish stores in the area. I am also looking for Brazilian pennywort if anyone has a clipping they’re willing to part with. Thank you!!

Interested in learning to fence?

Classes started August 31st at the Point Fencing Club and School in Downtown Urbana. Everything from classes for children (age 8 and up) through to the University's Fencing Illini club team. Beginners welcome and they have equipment you can use until you're ready to buy your own.

Beginning epee classes for adults are Wednesdays 6:30-7:30.

More information: https://pointfencingclub.org/

help, exam 1 for ib 204 is soon and idk how to study for the class. does anyone halve old exams or flashcards or practice exams or notes anything

I have a crate of Glacier Cherry/White Gatorate Zero that I havent touched. If anyone wants it dm.

-GONE

We’re moving out and looking to sell some of our winter gear and household items. I’ve put everything we’re selling, along with the details and prices, in the spreadsheet below.

If you’re interested in anything, please DM me with the item(s) you’d like, and we can coordinate pickup.

Spreadsheet link

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

https://www.reddit.com/r/illinois/comments/1w3uydd/the_change_in_fall_enrollment_at_illinois_public/

The Change in Fall Enrollment at Illinois Public Universities, 2005-2024

From ryanburg IPEDS Fall Enrollment

Legit? Any thoughts on this, assuming it's accurate?

Unfortunately something came up and I can’t make it anymore. DM if interested, local pickup

I just moved here and I have a 8lb maltese that has historically not done great at the groomer. I give her gaba and trazadone before hand but she is still nippy at the clipers and freaks out when blowdried.
As far as I know, she’s never bitten anyone (including a groomer), her biting is very targeted towards the tools.
Her last groomer told me she does better with breaks/going slow.
Any recommendations for groomers good with reactive dogs in the area?

Thank you!