Back to School Here comes a regular: a few tips for becoming a real local

College always calls for learning the campus, but for many students, it also means learning a new city—and in our case, two. You can go anywhere for recommendations on restaurants, clubs, and other ways of occupying your downtime, but the little things that really make an area unique are harder to come by. The A.V. Club is here to help: Here are five things new residents can do to adopt a Twin Cities state of mind.

Get lost in the skyways
Thanks in equal parts to brilliant city planners and Minnesota’s brutal winters, Minneapolis boasts the largest continuous skyway system in the world. Linking almost 80 blocks over eight miles, this crisscrossing labyrinth can take you to almost any downtown building—and since it’s all climate controlled, you’ll never have to bitch about being cold. Each individually owned tunnel has its own hours, and the maps can be daunting, so getting lost is a given. One wrong turn could mean a trip to the YMCA instead of Target, but you might also stumble across your new favorite downtown lunch spot. And hey, at least you won’t freeze to death.

Get lost on the highways
The metro area’s city planners were less brilliant when it came to mapping out traffic patterns. A car is a rare thing among young college students, but those without wheels shouldn’t necessarily feel envious. Combine the sudden lane changes, the confusing tangle that is the I-35W/Hwy 62 Crosstown reconstruction, and Minnesotans’ penchant for driving just below the speed limit, and you’ve got an infuriating trip ahead of you. But try to relax. Being in the wrong lane at the wrong time and ending up on the wrong highway happens to everyone a few times before they get the hang of the Twin Cities’ incomprehensible roadways. Look on the bright side: You might unexpectedly visit a third-ring suburb you’d never otherwise see.

Pick a side in the Ju(i)cy Lucy war
It’s time to get involved in a battle that’s been featured on the Travel Channel’s Food Wars and Man Vs. Food. At stake are bragging rights over a hamburger patty filled with molten cheese called the Juicy Lucy. (Or the Jucy Lucy, depending on whose side you're on.) Two South Minneapolis bars—Matt’s Bar (3500 Cedar Ave. S., 612-729-9936) and the 5-8 Club (5800 Cedar Ave., 612-823-5858)—claim to have invented these oozy burgers in the 1950s. Matt’s version eliminates the I (its posters explain, “If it's spelled correctly, you're at the wrong place”) and comes with good ol’ fashioned American cheese. Or head over to the 5-8, where you can choose from a variety of cheeses including pepper, Swiss, and Amablu. If you still can’t make up your mind, try the relative newcomer, Blue Door Pub’s (1811 Selby Ave., St. Paul, 651-493-1865) Juicy Blucy, a bleu cheese-stuffed version. In any case, be sure to heed the warnings: Wait a few minutes before taking a bite, or risk your poor tongue.

Enjoy the State Fair unironically
It’s a hard concept for some big-city transplants to grasp: Here in Minnesota even the hippest, most cultured urbanites take to the fair for a day (or two, or three) and spend wads of cash on fattening foods, dizzying rides, and carnival games. The fair is nicknamed the Great Minnesota Get-Together, but it could be called the Great Equalizer. Suburbanite families, inner-city kids, scenesters who don’t normally leave their duplexes until after dark—we all visit the livestock barns, admire the craftsmanship behind the Princess Kay Of The Milky Way butter sculpture, and enter drawings to win riding lawnmowers. It’s not a joke. We sincerely love every minute of it.

Start seeing Seekins
Wander around Minneapolis enough and you’re sure to spot Scott Seekins. The local artist is easily identified by his perfectly round glasses, pencil-thin mustache, a neck beard contouring his jaw line, a sprout of curly black hair erupting from the top of a headband, and his seasonal garb: When it’s warm, he wears an all-white suit. When it’s cold, he wears all black. He's an enigma, but here are a few fun facts we know about him: He once owned the domain name Madonna.com, but he’s more interested in the religious figure than the pop singer. When it comes to Top 40 superstars, his muse is Britney Spears, whom he’s created dozens of portraits of over the course of the last decade. He’s sort of a figurehead for the Twin Cities art scene. And if you run into him around town every once in a while, you’re probably doing something right.