The LBJ School

Today began normally enough, waking up on an overcast day (apparently they do get those though it was as warm as ever) and preparing for the real reason for this trip, the open house at the LBJ School of Public Policy where I intend to apply for a masters degree program.  As I began walking over from hotel, I again felt what I always feel on college campuses: all college students on a basic level are the same!  Despite all that may make me different from them, and they different from me, we are all just one among tens of thousands of college students going about our daily lives, educations and trying to figure out a future.

I arrived the LBJ building, which is very new, very open and as nice as any university building I have ever entered.  The staff of the LBJ school greeted me at the door, took me to the registration table and escorted me to breakfast.  This southern hospitality they talk about is not a joke, and I really cold get used to it.

First agenda item was a tour of the massive campus, customized for prospective LBJ students and it was quite informative, though Alina had told me most of what the tour guide shared.  Next was a meet and greet with faculty, staff and students at LBJ. I was meeting with some fellow perspective students and a star member and the Dean joined us for coffee and talking for 30min, no big deal!  I really liked how close the staff and professors are to the students.  They learn everyone's names (even those not in their classes) and seem to really care about the learning and success of their students.

After that there was a seminar about the admissions process and a student panel.  Both were informative and helpful but not much worth sharing here.  I did like the sense of community they all shared and apparently LBJ students get to become a very close  and tight knit community.

After that I observed a class on nuclear statecraft, an interest of mine, and it did not disappoint.  I was both overwhelmed by the level of detail they discussed and the informal nature of the class, but at the same time knew I could fit in that class and even excel there.  At this exact point I confirmed to myself, I am ready.  It is time to apply to my top three grad school picks, go through all the hoops involved, get admitted and begin the next stage of my life.

This was a full day, and I left the school at once confident, excited and a tiny bit overwhelmed.  All that was left was to return home, just in time to go to bed and get up for 4 classes tomorrow.....

Sorry not too many interesting pictures from today, I was a bit preoccupied with my future!

So where to next??  Barring any spontaneous trips (one day I actually will do that!) I am planning to go with UCIMUN on some trip next winter, so I suppose Matt of the North shall return EVENTUALY! 

In the meantime I have a thesis to draft, 3 grad schools to apply for, 2 clubs to run, work and classes.  I suppose that can keep me occupied.

As before,

I shall always remain,

Matthew

The Heart of Texas

Waking up in a new city and seeing it in the daylight for the first time is always an interesting experience, and in Austin that was no different.  My first observation was of course how hot it was, over 70 at 8am with all signs pointing for much higher temperatures the rest of the day.  But besides that it was a lovely morning and we hit the streets in search of breakfast.

We began by checking out area on one side of the campus which is called "the drag" but apparently everything is closed on Sunday (whether this is a southern thing or a college town thing I am not sure).  Still hungry we made for the center of downtown while dogging runners/walkers in a charity race going on that morning.

Walking around Relay for Life we ended up in at the Driskill Hotel.  This used to be the biggest building in the city, and it was here the George W Bush awaited the results of the 2000 presidential election.  Not only that but we had a fantastic breakfast in their café with a wonderful southern/southwestern menu.

After that, we found a fun little music shop to do some Christmas shopping and headed down to the riverfront.  When we got down to the river front and its bridges which are the home to Austin’s famous bats!  Since it was morning and the winter there were none in evidence, but I had seen a few of them the night before and saw rather impressive pictures of giant flocks (?) of them around the city.  This was what a real river trail is supposed to look like, a nice well kept path with water on one side, trees overhead and grass or plants on the other side.  I can see why people like to go running, biking and walking here, and many city residents were partaking this fine morning.

Then we returned to capital grounds to see the monuments in daylight and tour the capital building.  I knew that I would see some veneration of the civil war and that cause, but I was not quite ready for how far they would go.  Just reading the inscription on the statue is enough:  

Next we toured the capital, which once passing through security we could just wander around into basically 

any area besides private offices, a bit of a contrast between the normal procedure I am used to for visiting government or historic buildings.

After that it was time for a nice stroll through UT Austin campus to go visit the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum Library which is on the far corner of campus (and also where the LBJ School of Public Policy is located).  I loved that the museum was free, it was well organized and full of all kinds of useful and interesting information about one of my political icons.

I had one more thing planned for this already full day, and that was to meet up with an old friend.  As most of you know in high school I was a senior teacher to a class of freshmen Model United Nations students.  Over the years I have kept in touch with many of “my freshmen” and have really enjoyed seeing them grow up and move onto college.  One of my freshmen Alina is now an undergrad at UT Austin and was really excited for me to meet her friends and explore her world.  I met up with her and a bunch of her friends and we had a lovely time at a crazy local restaurant called Kerbey Lane eating pancakes.  I have never spent much time with Texans, and it was fun to see their perspective and of course enjoy their accents for a bit!

After a fun dinner I left the freshmen to their studies and went back to the hotel to prepare for the real reason for my trip, the open house at the LBJ School.

Until tomorrow, when the future awaits!!

Matt of the North Raises Again!

As I promised, just like the South…  Matt of the North has risen again! 

And what better topic to cover then my trip down South to visit the University of Texas Austin!  I decided a few weeks back that I was going to consider the LBJ School of Public Policy as a grad school option, but felt it was important to visit the school before applying (or hopefully considering their offer of admission).  So I asked my favorite travel buddy/mother if she would like to come and we made plans!

While it is never good for a trip to start late, my Russian adventures also kicked off with a delayed flight so it can't ALWAYS be bad...  For some reason, maybe relating to all the obscenely long flights and train rides I have had in the past few years, but I now believe that any flight shorter than 5 hours is just child's play!

When I landed, for some reason the terminal reminded me a lot of the airport in Moscow.  Maybe the layout was a bit similar, but it was such an odd feeling to be comparing Austin and Moscow.

On the way into the city I was amazed how not crowded the freeways where, and how we moved into the city on such tiny local roads.  Again I think SoCal bias has made me think that all cities have massive and complete systems of multilane highways, instead of the more realistic road systems of the less car obsessed pockets of human civilization.

We had an amazing dinner in the hotel's restaurant.  It was new American cuisine and the kind of place with a different, but quite small, menu every day and the chefs name tied to his work.  While it was expensive, the food was amazing and not exactly what I had expected to eat while here.

After dinner we took a stroll through downtown and around the Texas State Capitol.  It is an impressive and imposing building, but that sense of awe was instantly undercut by the group of college students playing frisbee right in front.  I have never seen a public building that was so approachable and not surrounded by absurdly deep layers of security.  The monuments around the capital are worth further exploration tomorrow, the seem both unique and rather controversial.

After that we strolled around the corner of campus next to our hotel (which is technically on campus).  I am liking the feel of the campus already, but won't really be able to judge until Monday.  I did find it amusing that the students I observed would fit in just fine at UCI or any other campus I have ever been on.  Why is it that regional differences (or even national differences) don't seem to effect college students?

That's all for tonight (this very warm night) time to turn in early and adapt to the local time.

Goodbye for Now!

Today was our final day in DC and we went to the Smithsonian’s Natural history museum and a final stroll down the National Mall.

I have been to several natural history and anthropological museums before; this one was about in the middle of the pack for me, seen better, been to worse.  Nothing really of note to discuss happened here, except I finally did find that you can use math in Biology!

 

 After that we took a final lap around the Capital Building and White House it was time to return to the hotel, pick up our bags and fly off into the sunset. I have liked my time in DC quite a bit, the feel of the city, the environment and the people all just felt right.  Hopefully I will return soon either to study or to work, or at the very least during a summer for an internship of some kind in the near future.  We were blessed with amazing (and slightly unseasonable) weather and a dearth of tourists since it is still early in the season.  

That ends this story arc in my blog, but who knows what adventures will come in the future. 

So like the South and vampires, “Matt of the North” shall RAISE AGAIN! 

The George Washington (Town and University)

After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast we set off for another full day. I had an appointment with The George Washington University's Elliot School at 11am, so we spent some time at the White House Visitors Center. The visitors center was rather disappointing, though since it is being refurbished I suppose that is a legitimate excuse. All it really had was a few exhibits on first ladies, presidential families and some paintings of the past appearance of the White House.

After that we strolled down to Foggy Bottom to the very modern building that houses the Elliot School. In was quite impressed by the facility and program at the school and it is hard to argue with the location. It is in downtown DC only a short walk from the National Mall and the Elliot school is located literally across the street from the State Department.

After my admissions meeting we took a campus tour and both where quite impressed by the campus, program, atmosphere and location. I am going to be applying to The George Washington University for a masters program in the fall and I think I would be quite happy there.

We spent the balance of the day in the National Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden and walked around the Capitol building again. The setting sun provided perfect light for some stunning pictures of the magnificent marble buildings.

That night when we went out of the hotel for dinner we got another very interesting sight. The presidential helicopter (well at least one of them) was practicing landing on the White House lawn. We watched it take of, circle the Washington Monument and land 5 times and it was quite entertaining.

  

Tomorrow we have a late flight home, so there will be time for another museum and a final lap around the National Mall tomorrow.

History Day

Today was a good 20 degrees colder then the last two days, actually it was kind of nice to be in some cooler weather again. Stop one of the day was the holy grail of DC museums, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

The first stop inside was the centerpiece of their collection, the Star Spangled Banner and it did not disappoint. It is a very large flag, with tremendous meaning and a very well orchestrated exhibit.

Next was the recovered great lakes gun boat the USS Philadelphia. I found this small exhibit to be quite well accomplished with the stories of the ship, it's sinking and its discovery/recovery years later. They even had the British shot that sank the ship and the hole that it caused. I have always been fascinated with wooden ships and the small ships and boat warfare that occurred on the great lakes during the War of 1812 so this exhibit was perfect!

Also of note: their exhibit on the history of the American soldier, the story of different families who all occupied the same house (which is on display), the great Julia Child's kitchen and a trove of other American cultural icons.

What I did not like was the sometimes misleading, one-sided or at times leading captions and questions in some of the exhibit literature and captions. This was especially prevalent in their exhibits on slavery, immigration and industrialization.

Then right before we where ready to leave, a very unlikely thing happened. Walking across the third floor lobby I came face to face with Giavana and Lindsey, 2 of the students from my program in Saint Petersburg. The odds of this chance meeting are quite incredible, they were in DC from Seattle and Ohio, we happened to be in the same part of the same attraction at the same time. We were all shocked but the encounter, had a nice talk and went our separate ways.

Following the museum we set out to walk down the national mall and visit all of the memorials down it's length.

First was the chillingly elegant, simple and deeply meaningful Vietnam Memorial.

Next the grand and imposing Lincoln Memorial. The steps in front provided a magnificent view of all of DC, the imposing structure was quite impressive and full meaning.

Next was the memorial to America's forgotten war, Korea. The striking statues of soldiers against the backdrop of faces and pictures of support personnel etched into a stone wall behind is a vivid visual and fitting tribute.

Finally was there was the national WWII memorial. I was quite impressed by the relatively new monument, it is both a fitting tribute and a useful public space.

Finally we took a lap around the front of the white House again and this time noticed the now famous White House Garden and the brand new replacement (but quite tiny) national Christmas tree.

It was another full day of basking in the majesty of Washington DC and reflecting on American's past and present.

It Seemed like a Capital Idea...

Act One for today: a tour of the US capital building.  Our timed entry tickets where for 10 am and knowing that such a place would have both a lot of security and a lot of people we left plenty of time to get there, first passing a few other DC sights first.

Oh Canada...

The capital building was quite impressive in the morning light, and the fairly new, underground capital visitor center was as well.  Before the tour, all groups had to sit through a video presenting the most optimistic, cheerful and oversimplified view of how the legislative branch functions.  The tour only went downhill from that point, our guide for the tour was not engaging, at several points said things that I know are false, and it only went into the rotunda and statutory hall, the whole thing taking less then 30 min.  Overall I was very disappointed in the experience but not the building itself.

But there was hope at the end of the tunnel, literally!  From the Capitol Visitor Center we took the tunnel to the Library of Congress, and I was quite impressed with what was on the other side.  The building itself was very impressive, very European and it's contents even better.  An exhibit on Bob Hope and entertainers in politics, on very old maps and ancient cartography, on documents of the founding fathers and a reconstruction of Thomas Jefferson's private library.  I had not planned to come to the Library of Congress, but it was the highlight of the day.

In DC, one must always use the tunnel entrances! 

Next we walked by the Supreme Court and House/Senate office buildings.  With the lateness of the day and heat (80s!) we decided to go to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and to finish the sights on the National Mall tomorrow.   Was quite impressed by the exhibits, as I always have enjoyed technology museums but the biggest difference is that in DC the planes and artifacts are all real not models!  The captions in the exhibits are for a younger audience, but I did not mind since I got to see all kinds of space artifacts and shiny planes!

Once the museum closed, we strolled down the National Mall watching the people of DC enjoy the start of spring with unseasonably warm weather.

 

My Favorite Picture of the Whole Trip

National Treasures

Stop one of the day today, the National Archives!  The building that houses the DC headquarters of the National Archives system is quite impressive, built in a classical style but with modern security and amenities.  The line to get in at opening wrapped around the block and it took 40 minutes to get in, I hoped it would be worth it since the founding documents of the US are housed within.

 

Before reaching the "crown jewels" of the collection we browsed an interesting exhibit on the results of the civil war and a good exhibit about how the millions of documents the archives holds are useful for research in a myriad of fields.  When it came time to go to the rotunda of the archives building to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights in their massive armored cases.  This proved to be less interesting then I imagined it would be, too many people waiting to see them, too much security, and the documents themselves are not much better in person then their pictures.

Next on the agenda was a metro ride to American University for an appointment with their graduate admissions office and a walk around their campus on the outskirts of DC.  The DC metro is about standard for major city metros, though the stations are 1/4 as deep as those in St. Petersburg and not anywhere close to the beauty of those stations.  A short bus ride from the station to the campus later and we where at the beautiful suburban campus of American University.  It reminded me a lot of Chapman University in size, architecture and atmosphere.  The interview went well and I got a lot of good information, further concluding that their graduate program is not for me.

 

We rode the metro back downtown and set off on a 5 mile jaunt from the Washington Monument, around the tidal basin, to the Jefferson Memorial and through the FDR Memorial and back to dinner at an English Pub.  The FDR memorial was a real surprise for me, it was not marked on our map and I had not expected to find it.  When we did walk through it I was impressed by the overt and subtle imagery, the use of the space and conversion of a public park space into a still useful public space to honor the memory of the greatest 20th century president.  This part of my trip resulted in some of the best pictures of the trip:

  

 

I can't help but compare the sights and feel of DC to the many other cities I have had the pleasure to visit.  I think that I am a bit underwhelmed by some of the things here that I should be in awe of, but it is nice to finally see and visit all of the important sights here.  I knew DC was a fairly metropolitan place, but I guess I had not realized that parts of it truly fit the big city model.  Tomorrow is the US capital and the rest of the memorials on the national mall.