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.