End of Semester Musings

So my second year of college just ended about a week ago and I'm still in Austin. Why? Well, because some friends encouraged me to stay an extra week here so we could hang out and such, so I'm here until this Saturday, which leads me to why I'm in my room taking a break from packing up clothes and doing last-minute laundry (I'm estimating that it will take at least 3 loads to complete it all, but no more than 4). Another big factor into actually staying here for another week is that this will probably be the last time that I'll be here until January of next year because I will be on the other side of the world.

Literally.

I'm not taking a break from college - just going to go do some worldly traveling whilst getting an education (aka studying abroad). I'm INCREDIBLY excited and all but of course, there are the normal thoughts that intrude upon the happy feelings one tends to get when doing something completely new and foreign. It still seems ages away, but I'm sure this trend will increase once departure time comes nearer.

Meanwhile, I've done a good number of touristy things. Last Saturday, Jason and I went to Zilker Park to rent boats and we rowed them. It was rather entertaining - but hard work. My arm and upper-chest (and back) muscles were screaming in protest for the next two days following that. Of course, we didn't have flip flops and I was wearing pants - but it turned out all right. I was equipped with SPF 50 sunblock, after all. Oh, we did run into a concrete column twice, two different boats, and 3 different grove of spiky trees. That's what you get for having me at the front of the boat (in other words, I had to steer it) and I had never done it before.

Then, on Monday, Jason and I went to the Hamilton Pool Preserve (here's the official site and another from the Travis County site). I've heard of it, but didn't pay much attention, but apparently, Jason heard of it more than I. It had nice scenery and such like that - and it was REALLY crowded. So, he thought, why not go on an early Monday morning? Well, he was right, we woke up bright and early and arrived there after about a 40 minute drive (it WAS early) at around 8:15 am. The park opened at 9 am. And I was sleepy. Even so, the weather was cool and crisp and I gradually became excited. Shortly after our arrival (we had parked in the short driveway before the gate) a van with elderly people pulled up. They left soon after to drive around while waiting for the gates to open. Well, the gate eventually opened and we went into the reserve for $8 per car. We were the first ones there.

So... we decided to see the pool first (oh yes, I forgot to mention how trigger happy I was (with my camera, I mean) and took many pictures. There was a 0.25 mile hike that we needed to get through before we got there - Jason has dubbed it the Hike of Doom due to the fact that some parts of the trail consisted of rocks upon rocks - and when we were there... the pretty waterfall you see in the pictures online were little more than 3 trickles of water. I suppose that the area had had little rainfall - but still! The water was a bit murky, but the adjacent limestone and the lines of the earth when the dome collapsed was pretty. So there was a trail around the pool as well and we walked there, getting a full 360 degree view of the area. Then we decided to go to the trail (about .80 mile hike) to the Pedernales River. It took an incredibly long amount of time. When we finally arrived, the water was clear and the width was wider than I thought it would be; all in all, it was pretty nice. There was this odd swarm of insects at the edge of the water, though. Oh yes! There was this really pretty red bird that flitted around but I can't figure out what it's called - it could be any of these. Unfortunately, that's a pretty extensive list. Anyway, we eventually came back to the pool for a dip - it was FREEZING. I wish I had a thermometer at hand, but I didn't. I got used to it though, and it felt REALLY good.

The next day, I hung out with a friend in the morning/afternoon, had some coffee at Lava Java at the corner of San Jacinto and Robert Dedman across the street from the Law School, and shopped around (I did more browsing) at Whole Foods Market, Barton Creek Mall, and Anthropologie, and had dinner with another friend at Madras Pavilion, an Indian restaurant. It was actually pretty good, we got the 5 course dinner for 2. :) It was also very filling. I found it a plus that actual Indian people (both families and business people) went there - that HAD to say something about the place's authenticity, right? The other half of the customers were Caucasian.

Then yesterday (Wednesday), we (Jason and I) went with another friend to go to the San Marcos Outlet Mall to go shop around. Some stores had nothing on sale (I mean, it was probably a sale for them, but for me, a sale meant something under $15), while others had the sale part down pretty well. I ended up purchasing a pair of capris from Hot Topic for $9.99 (original price was $35), an Eeyore throw from Disney for $7.99 (original price was around $25), and a cool looking jacket from Aeropostale (we called it Aristotle) for $9.99 (the original price was covered by the on-sale price). I am very happy with my purchases.

All in all, it's been a very busy couple of days. I just hope the rest of my summer continues to stay the same.