Keep Austin Weird

Over the weekend I traveled to Austin, TX to spend the weekend with my boyfriend & his med school friends. They had just finished their midterm for a class & wanted a get-away trip to a place other than Galveston. Since my weekend didn’t seem too terribly busy & in hopes to get out of my town as well, I accepted the invitation.

During my short visit consisted of lots of partying with med school people & feeling old because of my inability to keep up with such intense activities. Trust me, it wasn’t a bad thing – it was simply different from my regular weekend routines. On Friday night, we took a walk on UT Austin campus, and then 6th St, which is a famous area for bars. We came back around 3am. I was really tired.

It was indeed a revelation that med school students are “study hard, play hard” kind of people. I was definitely not in that category, especially after the next party.

Saturday night was even crazier – we were invited to a party that lasted till 5am (including post-party breakfast before bed). I thought I almost died from late-night activities. Clearly I was not suitable for such kind of activity anymore. Social life in my undergrad years were generally relaxing with a few parties that lasted past midnight. Even those, I rather preferred very laid back parties. Of course, now that I entered the grad life, I have almost no social life. All in all, it felt like a whole new experience again, as if I just embarked on my new level of social life in an American college. I concluded that heavy partying (two nights in a row) is something I would not do frequently, although I enjoyed while I was a part. I was completely exhausted upon arriving at my cozy apartment on Sunday evening.

I have also realized that I am allergic to Austin. My swollen/really itchy eyes are still in existence. Z took a good care of me, especially since I began to demand for medicines. Thankfully, the rest disappeared as I gradually made the trip back home.

Needless to say, there were lots of favorite moments, too. I particularly enjoyed going to many local restaurants, including food trucks (Austin has tons of foods trucks), & the coffee shop that was by a lake. I realized how much Austin cuisine involve fusion…does Kimchi Cheese Fries sound good to you? I was skeptical at first but turned out to be an excellent quick food & something that I now crave.  I also loved watching the boys play football at the park & looking around vintage stores along Congress Ave. Oh, I also forgot about the beautiful weather in the high 70s throughout the weekend. Enjoying a sleeveless top & feeling the need of sun block lotion in January was a unique experience.

Austin was a neat place to visit. It was interesting to see people dress up a little differently than other Texans; they seemed to prefer more vintage/hippy style & quite fashionable. It definitely had the vibe of a college town, thanks to UT’s massive 50,000+ students, but I loved the vibrancy unlike seen in Lubbock or smaller college towns.