This was my first time in Texas! I had heard so much about our Omega Chapter and the city of Austin that I was so excited to visit, especially after a nice week off at home. The front of the house had just been redone and it is gorgeous inside. I loved all the space in the house and the women I stayed with were fabulous. Austin definitely lived up to the hype, with all the funky stores and cool places to see. And who doesn't love hearing that Texas accent and "y'all" every way you turn. The first night I was there we went to Whole Foods for dinner (which has a parking garage underneath it!). It was basically the same as at home, just bigger and had more Texas flair. I also learned that the city has a bag ban, meaning plastic bags are not allowed anywhere and some places charge you if you want a paper bag.
My first morning in Austin I got up early and went to the 9:30AM Cyc class. That is the spinning studio I went to with the Wisconsin Phis. I had been going to SoulCycle during my week at home so I was ready to keep working! Going so early made the day feel much longer but I'm happy I made myself go.
On Monday, Hillel put on their annual Israel Block Party and the chapter preisdent, Becca, took me to see it. The co-directors of the event were Phis and so were most of the female volunteers. I met the director of Hillel, who raved about the Phis running Hillel and I even got a great falafel and pita. Across the street there was an anti-Israel group protesting but the event had security and ran smoothly.
The UT Austin campus is pretty and very pedestrian and biker friendly. A lot of eco-friendly people bike around campus and in the city of Austin. The drag, which is a street of shops and restaurants, lines the west edge of campus. The west side is where most of the fraternity and sorority houses are so I crossed this street to get to campus each day. The drag is an interesting mix of chain restaurants, local boutiques and some run down places. There is a fair amount of homeless people that congregate as well but I never felt unsafe. The Co-op is on the drag and has so much stuff; anything you can think of, they sell in orange or with Texas written on it. I also when to Melissa's Custom Gifts, the local Greek shop. They had a lot of cute things and make all sorts of custom apparel and accessories. Tyler's is also a staple to the drag. They sell a lot of touristy apparel, but also some athletic and surfer-type clothing. On the corner of the drag is the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I went there for coffee as a semi-local alternative to Starbucks. Shannon, the woman I stayed with the first night, told me it was her favorite coffee and that they sell breakfast tacos from one of the good local taco places so I made sure to try both.
Monday night, after chapter, I got to see my friend and AEPhi sister, Amanda, who moved to Austin after we graduated last May. She brought me to this cool outdoor shopping center, which is their equivalent of a mall since the weather is so nice (kind of like the outdoor malls I went to in Southern California, but a little more spread out). I got to see the famous Lilly Pulitzer store she works at and I had to restrain myself from buying everything in sight in such a big Lilly store. Amanda also brought me to get barbecue at a place called Rudy's. It is a country store, barbecue and gas station all in one and definitely felt like Texas. Since I had never been there before, they gave me samples of their three most popular meats and one of the most popular sides, creamed corn. I had never had creamed corn, nor was I very interested in eating it, but I was happy to have a sample as part of my Texas barbecue experience! I ended up getting the lean brisket and a side of potatoes. They give you the meat with no sauce and bread on the side so people can make their own sandwiches however they like. I liked that they also had a pickle bar! It was all very good!
The next night I got the chance to go out with a ΣΔΤ and a ΔΤΔ consultant. The three of us went downtown and checked out a few of the places on 6th. It was very quiet because it was a Tuesday night but I really enjoyed spending some time with other consultants away from campus. Afterwards they took me for my first Whataburger experieince and made me try the Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit sandwich. It was great but caloric, and apparently something you have to do while in Texas.
My last night at Omega was the weekly Panhellenic meeting and AEPhi's week to host. I had a fun time helping our delegate get ready and enjoyed getting to hear about what is going on in the community from the Panhellenic board's point of view. I also got to meet their advisor, who is a first year higher ed student, and he told me a bit about UT's program. Anyone that knows me well will know that an evening of Panhellenic and higher ed talk was clearly a great night!
I had a such a good time with the Omega Chapter and exploring the cool city of Austin. I was sad to leave a place with so much to discover but hopefully some day soon I will be back to eat my way through the city!
Texas Cookin' by George Strait
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