Growing up in a small town in northeast Iowa, one never really saw much of any other place than Iowa, unless they were to take a vacation out of state. For us, this was generally a trip up to Minnesota for a week of fishing. Nothing much different, other than the size of the lakes and the variation in the tree species. When I came to attend Western Illinois University (WIU) in Macomb, Illinois, it gave me a slight shock in a few ways. It also made me realize there were even differences between the two states, Iowa and Illinois, from the infamous “Midwest.” Here are four things I have noticed in my short time in Illinois.
1. How to define “small.”
The very first thing I found out upon arriving at WIU was the definition of “small” to many native Illinoisans is very different than my own. If you remember me mentioning I’m from “a small town in northeast Iowa," I feel that you should know what I mean by “small town.” The population of my town is approximately 1,300 people. Yep. That’s right! When talking to a friend here for the first time, I found out that the community they lived in had an estimated population of 26,000 people, and they consider that a “village,” granted it is an extended suburb of Chicago. But still, I’ve driven through a “village” in southeast Iowa, and it contains about 300-400 people on a good day! See how our definitions of “small” can vary?
2. Is it “soda” or “pop?”
You know what I mean by “soda,” correct? Yeah, that cold, refreshing, sugary, carbonated beverage that you can buy almost anywhere these days. That’s what I’m talking about. Well, ordering this “soda” back in Iowa may earn you a funny look from the person taking your order, the people waiting in line to order or the people sitting in the next booth over. Why is that, you might ask? Well, in Iowa, we call it “pop.” I’m not saying that everyone in Illinois calls it “soda,” however if you ever find yourself ordering that cold, refreshing, carbonated drink in Iowa, I would recommend using the word “pop” if you don’t want to be given an odd look. And “soda-pop” is even worse!
3. “What is Chipotle?” is the wrong question to ask in Illinois.
After a few weeks of talking with floor-mates, I kept hearing about this “Chipotle” place, and I never really knew what they were talking about. So one day, when one of them mentioned it again, I asked what I believed to be an innocent question: “What’s Chipotle?” Little did I know what sort of uproar that would cause! The room went silent in half a second or less and I had a couple of open-mouthed, wide-eyed faces looking incredulously at me. Next I heard a “You don’t know what Chipotle is?!?” When I responded that I did not, they began to explain this glorious Mexican-style food that was like heaven on Earth. Let’s say that I’ve since experienced this “Chipotle” and it’s pretty good, but not all that they made it out to be. Also, I figured out the reason I had not heard of this before. The only two locations currently in Iowa are about 2 - 2 1/2 hours away from me, though a recent newspaper article indicated one would go up near the Starbucks in a town about a 20 to 25 minute drive from me.
4. Pro sports teams in Illinois are huge!
You know those teams I mean: the Blackhawks, the Cubs, the White Sox, the Cardinals (for those that have ties to southern Illinois, or just like the Cardinals), the Bears and the Packers. All of them seem to be just a big deal over here. If you’re a Blackhawks fan, or a hockey fan in general, well that’s pretty much your way of life. I can always tell when there is a hockey game that night because all the students on campus are in hockey jerseys. If you put a Cubs fan and a Sox fan in the same room together, don’t expect a quiet conversation about their team or whose team was better the previous season, because it will likely never happen. If you throw a Cardinals fan in with them too, it might be a little louder when the Cubs and Sox fans both go at the Cardinals fan. And the Bears and the Packers rivalry? Well, I know how that goes too. I call myself a Bears fan but couldn’t tell you their starting quarterback’s name without looking it up, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to cheer for them.
Now what about those pro sports teams in Iowa? Oh. Well, there’s… Oh right. We really don’t have any. What we do have is college sports. The largest in-state rivalry is probably between the University of Iowa Hawkeyes (Go Hawks!) and the Iowa State University Cyclones. We have specific “Cy-Hawk Series” trophies that travel between the two schools for each major sporting event (football, basketball, etc.). We can’t forget to mention the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) either, though they really aren’t “hated” by either of the other “Big Three” enough to warrant any rivalries. Basically though, if you aren’t a Hawkeye fan, you probably cheer for the Cyclones, and if you cheer for neither team, then you probably cheer for UNI. Whichever you choose, people will go all out for those teams.
So, even though we have a lot in common between our two Midwestern states, you can see there are some differences in how we define cities, some variation in words we use, the foods available to us, who we cheer for on the weekend and even through the week. I’m sure there is more I could think of, but for now I will let you go read another article, scroll through the social media platform of your choice, or maybe, possibly, you will “unplug,” as they call it, and interact with people face to face?
