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Published: August 23rd 2010
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Midnight Rodeo
Me, Steve and Zoe outside Midnight Rodeo The moment I got into my taxi at the airport I started to feel nervous. Arriving in Austin was a big deal, because if I didn't like it I was stuck there for at least the next 4 months. The taxi driver was a nice guy from Sudan who kept asking me questions about what things are like in Australia. Our conversation was elongated by the fact that the street my co-op was on was very confusing, and the street numbers, when available, didn't seem to make sense at all. Even after asking a few people off the street for directions, I rang the girl was going to be helping me to move in. 2 phone calls later I made it. And from the moment the first person saw me struggling with my bags and offered to help me, I didn't feel nervous any more.
It turns out I had just managed to miss one of the co-ops biggest events of the year- the boat party. Which was a bit annoying. But it was also a good time to move in because everyone had just gotten back and were in very good, and very sociable spirits, so it wasn't hard
My Room
A view of my room, and my little nook of a sleeping space to find people to talk to on the first night. One guy organised a keg (which was pretty exciting in itself) and the party continued.
The next few days were spent trying to get organised for e.g. getting to Wal-Mart to buy things like a towel/ doona/ pillow was a whole day project. Like, I left my place at 12pm, and got back past 8pm. This was because a) I tried to walk to a store I found via yellowpages which was the worst idea EVER in temperatures in the high 30s and me not thinking to bring water. I was so desperate for a drink I went into the first museum I found (after giving up walking to Wal-Mart), and ended up having a look for the exhibition. The information desk at the museum told me a good bus to catch to get to Wal-Mart, but neglected to tell me which direction I had to catch it in. I of course got on it going to wrong way, and had to do the whole bus loop. Then when I got on the bus to go home it dropped me at the bus depot and said the service had
Room II
My desk + wardrobe. finished for the day. Luckily the downtown bus took me right near the co-op, and I was able to have some dinner on the way. On the bright side I had had the foresight to bring my wheely bag and day backpack to help carry the groceries, as they were most certainly necessary. On the bright side, I found an AMAZING frozen yoghurt place near the co-op, and scored 2 maps of austin from the information desk. Also, all the bus rides and map-looking makes me feel like I've got a better idea of how to get around.
Other than that, it's just a lot of little things that I needed to figure out- such as where the laundry was, making my room look nice, how to turn the key to the dining room (each door has its idiosyncrasies, and the dining room one is particularly tricky). Then there was the whole getting uni organised thing- like figuring out when/ where my large range of briefings and interviews were etc. And of course there was other stuff to do as well- like try and join girl scouts (which is becoming a very onerous task), figuring out where e.g. the
Midnight Rodeo Dance Floor
Apologies for the poor quality nearest place to buy conditioner is and keeping in touch with people (e.g. writing this blog entry). So all in all, there was plenty to keep me occupied.
All in all I was very glad that I decided to get to Austin before I had to, because there was a lot to do. Some things I did in the first 2 weeks in Austin include:
* Co-op parties
* Bar nights at co-op (where they sell beer to raise money for future events, and have live bands play)
* Orientation stuff: TB test, international student orientation, immigration briefing, exchange student orientation, academic interview with the psychology department, online registration
* Blues in the park: where a whole bunch of us went swimming in Barton Springs pool (a pool fed by a natural spring, so that the water temperature is 20 degrees celcius all year round), then had a Tex Mex dinner at Chuys (I have never been so full in my life, and I took half of it home in a doggy bag), then went and saw a free concert at Zilker Park and played 500 while picnic-ing
* Going to the Ice Cream Festival (which was alright,
Steve
After being thrown into Pearl St pool on his 21st birthday- a co-op tradition but kind of like a school fete), then went and saw Inception at the Imax which was mind-blowing
* Batfest + 21st celebrations for Steve (a fellow exchanger from Sydney Uni, who happened to be staying in the same co-op)
* A Texas-style BBQ and Midnight Rodeo. Midnight Rodeo is like a country music dance hall, with people who actually wear cowboy hats and boots with no sense of irony. A nice cowboy taught me the proper way to dance to country music, and Zoe (another Australian) and I were joining in all the line dances, figuring it out as we went along.
* Floating the river: you hire a giant plastic tube, put your supplies in a mesh bag that floats behind you and just go floating down the river for 4 hours. It was a great way to meet people, especially as it was organised by Planet Longhorn- the UT organisation that organises a lot of social events for exchange students.
* I also had time to squeeze in reading an amazing novel called 'Jasper Jones', which is described as Australia's To Kill a Mockingbird. I wouldn't go that far, but I'd certainly recommend it.
So I certainly fit in a lot to the 2 weeks of summer break that I was afforded. Note: the short description for each event is because I didn't have time to keep the blog regularly updated, and I can't be bothered to recount 2 week's worth of fun in one go.
But then the start of classes started to roll around, and labour started again at the co-op (there was a 2 week interim between move out and move in where everyone had to cook and clean up after themselves), and I had to actually do my 4 hours labour. Holidays are definitely over, but luckily I have something to look forward- the visit by Maddi (who I haven't seen in about 3 months) and Kate, and our impending trip to Vegas. Let summer live!
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