San Antonio

I have lived in so many different places, seen so many different things and met so many different people. Living here in San Antonio is proving to be another new and different experience.

As initiation into becoming a resident of San Antonio, my wonderful and amazing roomie, Brooke and our new buddy, Matt, took me out to the Riverwalk first thing Friday evening when I arrived. Everyone had said it was fantastic and very beautiful. They didn't lie. It is a very neat narrow river running through San Antonio that is lined with a beautiful walk and multiple restaurants.

We ate at a great mexican restaurant, walked around by the river, and even headed over to see The Alamo. It was a relaxing, yet fun night.

Again on Saturday, Brooke and I jumped right into life here as we headed out of town to go tubing down the Guadalupe River. It was Matt, five other student teaching girls and Brooke and I. All we did was float down the river, chat about life, and enjoy the sun. We were able to make the 'horseshoe' float twice.

To round out the day, we all stopped at Whataburger, a classic Texas burger joint. The burger was quite tasty, but I completely forgot about the warnings of Texans and them liking lots of mustard. Whoever informed me about mustard in Texas was not kidding. The entire top bun of my sandwich was covered in yellow mustard. I like most all foods, but mustard is not a condiment of choice. It was even more strange to me that there was no ketchup already on the burger. I was able to wipe off some of the mustard and add my own ketchup, but will remember next time to say "No mustard, please!"

After a fun afternoon and evening out, Brooke and I laid low for the rest of the night. We did some house shopping and got some groceries in order to make our apartment more of a home. It is slowly coming together.

So, the first two days of San Antonio have definitely been fun and I am looking forward to the many other adventures that I will embark on!

A Long Road Trip

It’s 7:45 am, Wednesday, the 18^th of August, 2010, and I am heading out of the driveway on a solo, three day road trip to the southern part of Texas.

Only forty-five minutes away, I meet up with a good friend for breakfast. After getting our fill at Perkins and catching up some more, I head out again. Next stop, Manhattan, KS.

It truly surprises me how much you can get done in a short period of time when you know your time in precious. I got into Manhattan just before 7:00 pm and it felt like a rat race getting around to see everyone before the night ended. I was able to see most everyone I wanted to catch up with and ended the night at my dear friend, Kristy’s.

Thursday began again with a breakfast date with my “Kansas Family.” It was eggs and muffins before I visited the great Meat Lab and Weber Hall on campus. John and the other peeps of the Meat Lab were busy slaughtering lambs. I was a little jealous that I wouldn’t be helping again this year. But, it was soon back on the road.

Lunchtime found me at the cutest small town café in Durham, KS. Friend, Katelin, and I enjoyed a tasty meal and chatting. Extremely full from a Monterey (essentially a flat taco) and peanut butter pie, I was back driving, heading to I-35 South.

It wasn’t too much longer before I reached my destination of the evening, Nocona, TX. My newly wedded friends from Montana just moved down to Texas in June and it was a perfect place to stop for the evening. We caught up, had some supper, and called it a night. I was super exhausted from driving.

Friday. Woke up and headed out with Chrisley to check out the ranch she and her husband were living at. It was so neat to see cutting horses being worked with and trained. Horses truly are extraordinary animals and so very smart.

By 10:00 am I was finally on the last leg of my trip. It was a pretty quick drive of 6 hours, but the traffic in Texas is incredible. There may be a lot of room for the cars, but there are still so many people that the lanes of the highways fill up fast no matter what time of day it is.

Finally, around 4:00 pm I arrived at Brooke's and my apartment! It was so amazing to be greeted by Brooke and see her again! I was so happy to have made it here safely and to be done driving for a while!

I have so much more to share and will hopefully relay everything to everyone in the next week! I am happy to have made it here to Texas and am sure learning lots!

Just Being Me

As a college grad, most people would expect me to go out and find a job related to the field of study in which I have a degree in. Have I ever followed the ways of normalcy? No. Not really.

A year ago in October, I was visiting my roommate from Austria in Illinois and she informs me that she was going to do her student teaching in San Antonio. So, instinctively, I say that I might just go down with her and hang out there for awhile.

Well, ten months later, guess where I am? San Antonio, TX.