People & Places
An Englishwoman in Illinois
British emigrant Tricia Tvrdik talks about her life in Illinois. Here's a clue: she loves it!
I first came to Illinois in 1980 and moved to Naperville back in 1993. I have watched my children grow from English-accented darlings to Chicago-drawl-speaking adults! I have watched the birth of my three grandchildren in hospitals in the Chicagoland area and now live surrounded with my flowered garden here in Naperville. Ask anyone where the English lady lives and they will point to the most flowery residence in the area!
Naperville is, in my opinion, a jewel of a town where one can go shopping, walk down one side of the street looking at the different shops, and then pop over to the other side and browse other shops...just like in England! I can't stand huge shopping malls so this is perfect place, second to England, for me.
Unlike in England, where one drives through the countryside until you come upon a town and so on and so forth, it is a little more like greater London where one just drives from one suburb to next and the next and the next! There is really not much countryside here until after you get past Oswego, which is several miles west of Naperville.
As to job opportunities, there are quite a few good hospitals in the area along with a vast array of restaurants, shops/shopping centres, tons of car dealerships and some factories (including Post Cereal) if one wants to look for jobs there. I work in Chicago, which is a forty-minute express train ride away from the Naperville train station. I can sit on the train and sleep, read or stare out of the window for the reasonable fare of $139 a month. The job opportunities are vast in Chicago and, of course, they pay a much higher salary. I earn a very decent living as a legal secretary.
Property market - wow...so many lovely, lovely homes to choose from here. Builders have models to either custom build or you can buy a 'spec' home. I am currently renting a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in Brookdale Lakes, which is dotted throughout with little 'lakes' and I love living there. I am surrounded by Robins, Ducks, Canada Geese, Alligator Snapping Turtles, Mourning Doves, Grackles and Muskrats! However, if I could, I would definitely buy a house in Naperville, preferably closer to the downtown area where I could walk to the shops and the train. That would be really smashing... especially if I could get a mock-Victorian home, which are quite popular here. Americans love the big wrap-around porches!
Some picturesque and interesting places I have visited in Illinois are Galena (great shops), Long Grove (great shops) and Starved Rock (wonderfully picturesque with trails and caves and such). Chicago's downtown, lake front area is fantastic. Even though I work in Chicago, my view of the lake is wonderful and, when staring out at the lake, which looks like an ocean, I feel as though I am on holiday! I often take the river taxi to and from the train station which makes the day start and end nicely, thank you!
By the way, the schools are absolutely marvellous. After seeing my grandson's homework assignments, I don't recall school being so hard back in England!