And so it begins...Day One and my first experiences in Austin, Texas!

Whew, what a long and exhausting day! After a late night trip to Target last night (at 10:30pm), I was finally packed and ready for my trip around midnight. Of course, in anticipation of the big day, I hardly slept a wink, and then decided to back-up the files on my laptop at 5:15 in the morning.  I ate some yummy chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, said goodbye to Ritz, aka the best kitten in the world, and then went to Mom’s house to bid adieu to the family.

Once I said goodbye to Tim at the airport curb, I was on my own…and boy, did it take a while to get to where I needed to be! So, since I didn’t do my research beforehand, I found out at the airport that checked luggage up to 50 pounds comes with a charge of $25. Luckily, my humongous suitcase weighed in at a mere 46.5 pounds. It took two lines and an hour and a half before I finally checked my luggage, paid my fee, and went through security. But finally, I was at my gate and on my way. I had to take two flights – one from New York City – LaGuardia to Dallas, Texas, which was exactly three hours, and then another from Dallas to Austin, Texas, which was only 35 minutes! The flights were okay… a little too uneasy for me and my tummy, but I made it just fine....with the help of some Animal Cracker friends!

        

After getting off in Austin, a few of us Fulbrighters met up together and made our way to the baggage claim and then the SuperShuttle, gradually adding more members to our group as we went along. After a quick 10 minute ride from the airport with a very knowledgeable driver (who told us that Austin is home to 21 law enforcement agencies, and that Sandra Bullock owns two Tex-Mex restaurants in the area), we were at the Radisson Hotel, located in the heart of downtown Austin and right on the water! For the three nights in Texas, I am sharing my room with a girl named Tanya, who seems really nice. In fact, after meeting the group today and spending the evening with them, it appears that everyone on this trip is coming with good spirits!

 

Once settled in our rooms, it was time to get going and meet our orientation guide Chris for a quick walk across the Congress Avenue Bridge to our dinner cruise.

What a lovely time we had…there was good food (make-your-own nachos and fajitas), lots of conversation, and nice weather (a balmy 90 degrees or so, which gradually got cooler as the night progressed). The cool part about our evening was that our boat traveled along the Ladybird Town Lake and under the Congress Avenue Bridge, which is home to a colony of over one million bats that come out every night to feast on the local mosquitoes (a fact from our shuttle driver today is that these bats eat 97% of the mosquitoes in Austin…that means they have the pests under control!). After our boat docked, we walked back under the bridge and saw the start of the emerging colony…how cool to see these bats on their way to dinner!  (It was hard to get images of the bats, but I'll try again tomorrow...)

                                  

Tomorrow begins our orientation at the University of Texas, where we’ll spend much time discussing Mexican history and culture. I took some time today on the plane to read some papers I wrote in college for my Latin America history classes…how lucky I was to be a LACAS minor! I also started reading a book called Latin American Heroes. It was definitely interesting to brush up on some history and re-read the stories of La Malinche and Benito Juarez. I feel like I am in Mexico already! Well…only three more days, and I will be! Until next time…