This campus will provide you with most of what you need to survive the school year, but I wouldn’t forget this other stuff if I were you:

Warm coat/warm clothes

Oh, does it get cold here! And it stays cold for what seems to be a good 75 percent of spring and fall semesters. If you don’t have warm winter clothes — including a cozy, thick, stupid-looking coat — you might as well start writing up your transfer application right now. Just wait until you’re trekking across campus to class in the dead of winter combatting frostbite and batting shards of icy snow from blowing into your eyes. It’s great.

Fun fact: The average low January temperature in Champaign is 16.7 degrees Fahrenheit with an average 6.8 inches of snowfall. 

Yes, yes, welcome to Central Illinois.

Winter boots

That reminds me — you had better invest in winter boots. My parents made me bring my winter boots to school my freshman year, and I told them, “No, no, I definitely will not wear these.” 

Yeah, I found myself thanking them in January. Boots are excellent! I’ve never felt so powerful as when I’m tromping through all that snow while my feet remain completely dry and warm. I’ve even worn those boots on cold winter nights that I’ve gone out. Don’t forget warm socks, either.

Maybe people judge, but those people probably have cold feet.

Umbrella and galoshes

So it snows a lot, and it gets really cold and when it rains here — it seriously pours. On at least one occasion this year, the street outside my apartment has looked like a shallow stream during a storm. 

When it rains, you do not want to be caught outside here without an umbrella — you will get drenched.

Bike

This is a pretty bike-friendly campus. You can get just about everywhere on a bike and usually, there’s a bike lane on the sidewalk or the street. There are a couple of areas on campus that are in desperate need of bike lanes or bike lane repairs however — I suggest biking on Green Street at your own peril, for example. 

Tyler is a junior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TylerAllynDavis.