A few things about Illinois...
Number one: It's pronounced Ill-annoy.
If anyone ever tells you they're from Chicago, they're lying. They're actually from a suburb and are afraid you've never heard of it. Anyone who's actually from the city of Chicago will tell you what part of Chicago they're from - South Side, North Side, West Side, or even the neighborhood, Lincoln Park, Rogers Park, etc.
Chicagoans like to think they're somehow different from the rest of the state. It isn't true. If you scrunched Peoria, Springfield, Rockford, Bloomington and Danville together, you'd get something that looked an awful lot like Chicago. Chicago is so neighborhood oriented, unless you are right down town, it doesn't feel as much like living in a big city. That's a good thing. I love Chicago.
We're generally political pragmatists here. Our Democrats tend to be a little right of usual and our Republicans tend to be a little left of usual. Political ideology usually isn't very important. That might sound nice, but political corruption on both sides of the aisle is an epidemic. We're so used to it, that we take it pretty matter of factly.
The weather is simply amazing. Not amazing good. Amazing as in it will constantly amaze you. The old saying is if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes, it'll change. It's absolutely true. If you live in Illinois for more than a few months, you WILL use your heater and air conditioner on the same day at some point.
R.A.