First impressions

I suppose what follows here can't really be considered first impressions, since I've visited Austin twice before moving here and I've been here for (gasp!) almost two weeks. But I want to try to convey to my east coast loves and compatriots exactly what my life has been like in Tay-has so far, and what I expect it to be like from this point out. I explained before about getting my life in order before class began, and I am truly settled now. I'm sitting at my kitchen table/desk right now waiting for people to arrive to have a drink before we head to a party tonight. I'm having a glass of wine, listening to my blues mix in lovely air conditioning, looking at a very clean apartment. The beauty of living in a studio is that you have to keep it clean, or you'd go crazy. I promise it's going to stay this way. Really. Anyway, first impressions...

On the road: The drivers in Texas are crazy. And that's saying a lot because most of my driving experience has been in either Rhode Island (always on the bottom of the worst-drivers list) and Maryland (painful). I don't know if it's this whole "Drive Texas Friendly" nonsense or that people are just used to moving at a pace that seems excruciatingly slow, but whatever the cause, I've had several bouts of road rage which are only aggravated by the heat. Parking is another insane issue. I can't wait for it to be cool enough for me to walk from my apartment to the Drag (Guadalupe, across campus from LBJ and my apartment) without subjecting myself to the very real possibility of death-by-heatstroke.

Food: The tex-mex is great. The tex-mex that's modern is great. The mexican is great. The barbeque is great. But make me a bagel people. For real. There's an Einstein Brothers bagels on the Drag but their bagels are less than stellar. Someone from UMD needs to freeze me some Bagel Place Old Bay bagels.

People: Nice. So so so nice. I can't tell you how many times I've had to tell myself that just because someone that you don't know says hello on the street they are not mentally ill. Admittedly I need to get used to this because when the cashier at Ikea wants to have a 20 minute conversation about kids and the weather with the customer in front of me, I really just want to get out of there. That's the east coast go go go in me I suppose. But honestly, this is something I should not complain about because I think it is going to have a lovely calming, blood-pressure lowering effect.

Dogs: Everyone has them. Lots of people in my program even. I'm glad they do, even though this is not an endeavor I would take on as a graduate student. It's like being an aunt. I can go play with the cute puppies but when I get bored or exhausted I get to home and they have to go back to mommy and daddy.

Ok.. I'm sure there's more but Erica just walked in so I should be a good hostess. Don't worry Mom, I'll write about school tomorrow.