ROADTRIP - SECOND DAY: Austin, the capitol!





Our second day we have started very tiered, again. After a night full of heat, mosquitos and unconfortable seat we were pretty spent.
But after a quick shower at the coast with many surfers there we have got new energy for the day. Personally I felt that ozean water so intense because it was in the morning pretty cool so it was the perfect medium to wake up.



After some Tacos as breakfest we started our daytrip to Austin. It took about four hours for driving there. Most of the time I was driving but sometimes when I have got tiered my college has helped me well out.



The highways are great and very big. But one thing has bordered me all the time. So many cars are very big that we had to fear many times about crashes and other complications. Especially because we hat "just" a midseize car I wanted to drive with big distance to those huge cars around us.
After that first long drive I was pretty glad to have reached Austin. So the next challenge was to find our group in Austin.




After some calls to some interns we have also archieved that. My first thought about Austin was "Wow, this city has complicated streets.". But I shall be wrong. Houston was even more complex. But I will tell about Houston in my next blog post.
However, after finding our group we have got back this feeling of sharing our expierences. One person of our group immediately ran to the others and did not hestitate to tell our first story about Corpus Christi and about our troubles caused by the car rental. It was quite funny to see our excitment through their eyes.

After a short time of shopping in Austin with the whole group we had to say goodbye to them. They wanted to return to San Antonio so we wanted to continue our roadtrip. Next destination was downtown of Austin.



Downtown of Austin is just awesome. But not just Downtown is awesome. We have found a very interesting spott very close to Austin, the McKiney Falls. And those a were pretty gergous!






After enjoying that beautiful view we decided to go swimming there. It was just magnificent.
We were able to spring into the water from the cliffs because the water was pretty deep at some spaces. At other spaces it was just very flatt so that we could actually stand there. It was pretty much fun for us.





Afterwards we were heading again to Downtown to take dinner and to see more about Downtown!
The dinner was great. We have got some cards from the interns to eat at Whole foods market. So we took different meals which all were pretty healthy, more or less.

I took a Burrito and the others took a Salad and a sandwish. All of it looked very tasty. And for my part it was!







Later at night we started a little tour through the city to see the night life there. For me it was my personal highlight because it very similar to Germany, especially to Hamburg, but everything just much bigger, like everything here in the US. But take a own look:




[Texas State Capitol in Austin]






[6th street in Austin (very similar to Reeperbahn in Hamburg just was bigger!)]



And finally we have also found a bar to people who are under 21 years old.




All in all it was a very great day with many remarkable memories and I am very keen to return to Austin once more to see some things we could not fit in our reschedule.
Conclusion: Austin is awesome & Roadtrips in the US are even more awesome! 

ROADTRIP - FIRST DAY: CORPUS CHRISTI

[Euphoric moments of the arrival]

The first day was pretty thrilling.
The very begining was quite exhausting. We have woke up at 7 a.m. and went then to the rental. Unfortunately we have then found out that they made a mistake, The policy of the car rental was just allowing rentings to persons who are already 25 years old. That caused many troubles like bad mood, more costs and time lost. But I did not want to give up so I called several other companies in town for renting a car and one car rental eventually  (Hertz) offered me a car.

After all that trouble we began our roadtrip and we were heading to Corpus Christi, a city very close to the Atlantic. The drive to the coast needed about three hours. But it was worth it. Just after arriving there we realised many beautiful enviroment like palm trees and small sea animals.



[Many shellfishs in Corpus Christi]


[Jumping out of luck]

[Spontanous marriage at the coast]

One highlight in Corpus Christi was the museum as a man-of-war. It was just huge and very interesting to see it from inside.







We also wanted to drive to the islands near Corpus Christi where many students are heading to for Spring Break. We went there also swimming and it was great. The water was that warm that we had the feeling like taking a bath.

 

The first night was also pretting exhausting. We wanted to sleep in the car but we did not consider the heat and the mosquitos. Nevertheless it was a great first day of our roadtrip and I will for sure remember it for very long time as an expierence with great value.


[Taking dinner in black beard at the coast]

In the end of the day we also went eating. We visited the black beard restaurant. They had many nice waitresses. The one on the picture gave us all special souces even for free. And an other male waitress war very interested in our friend Minh so he was very keen to show us some "Gay bars".
Unfortunately we had not time and had to leave after eating. Great ending!

ROADTRIP - PLANNING

After my last stay in the US three years ago I was remembering often an event which was pretty spontanous but also very remarkable. Back then we did a "roadtrip" in California for one day to the desert north of Los Angles. That was my absolute highlight and I really wanted to repeat that here in Texas.

This last weekend we did a roadtrip for three days and it was again a great expierence. I have seen several aspects of Texas I would not have expierenced if I would not have done this roadtrip.

So how did I organize it? Well, I will explain it for all cases in which other fulbright students want to do so. 

Firstly I needed to check if I am allowed to drive here in the US. You should consider apply for an international drivers license. Also you should check that you are at least 21 years old. But pay attention on the rental shop because they have different terms for renting a car. So for instance you have to be 25 years old to rent a car at "Enterprise" car rental. But there are also other companies who are renting to people with lower age e.g. Hertz.

After organizing these conditions you should find some reliable people you can count on. Especially when you are doing such an investment you should be very picky.
In my case I chose three other students of our fulbright group to ask and that was the right amount because otherwise it is not possible to sleep in car. If you are willing to pay some dolars more you can of course take four friends with you.

Next you should simply check all other conditions. That contains creditcard (money in generall), insurance, period of time, driving expierence in the group, luggage, destinations and several other small things.

Fortunately I did a list with worth seeing cities and places in the first week here in San Antonio with a man who has lived several years here and who has worked as a guide in San Antonio at the river walk. Afterwards one person of our three man group did the timing plan for all destinations.

Finally if you have done all these things you can actually tackle your roadtrip.
So far so good. But that was just the planing. Now I will tell you more about what have actually happened. Look forward!

Museum of Texan cultures[We were trying to demonstrate something]



Last week we have visited also the Museum for Texan cultures. It is impressing how many German influences have been here in Texas. There are several cities here in Texas who are strongly dominated by Germans or by people with German migrationsbackground. It is going to become clear when you are hearing the lastnames of these people. For instance in Fredisburg there are many people of German origin.

Also very worthwhile is the culture here in Texas because of the history with Mexico. San Antonio for example used to be Mexican. Because of many conflicts like the battle of Alamo many places in Texas are very divers. There are many people with Angelo background and many people with Mexican background. As well there is a big group of Afro-Americans. But these three big groups are not the only ones. San Antonio and i think very many other places in the US are very divers populated.

In the museum we have expierenced many interesting szenes and we have even seen many interesting aspects of the history of Texas. These pictures will enunciate even more than pages of my description. Here we are:

Eid al Adha (Islamisches Opferfest)



Public holidays are always an adventure. But I have never expierenced that kind of celebraty for a foreign holiday of the Islam.
For me that day was not that special because in my own culture we have similar holidays but not the same. On the other hand I have several friends which are celebrating these days very intense.

Eid al Adha was this year a Monday. For our Diversity group of the Fulbright program 2016 this day was a great day. The students association for muslims have organised a great Dinner for everybody who wants to join and to celebrate this cultural day.

Personally I was amazed about the huge amount of people who were there even when they are not Muslims. I really appreciated the atmosphere there and all the happiness we have shared together.




Here you can see some pictures of some talents of our group:




And also star sanger with cultural songs:

Next stop: Religion lecture about the Quran


This is one of my favorite lectures here at Trinity. It is actually not the topic which is fascinating me so much, it is in fact the teacher of the lecture is really good so that I can really enjoy this lecture very good,

In reference to the latest event in the Islam which was the feast of sacrifice, we have talked about the meanings of "Eid" and "Hajj".
We enlighted then that the "Hajj" is a journey to Mekka which every Adult of the Islam should attend if there are not bad financial or physical shortage.
On the other hand "Eid" is just the word for feast days. So in generall spoken "Eid al-Adha" or the Festival of the Sacrifice  is just a feast day which are celebrated bigger than other feast days.

A short insight into my day



What is a "just" punishment?
That was the title of one presentation I have heard today in the North 040. It is 11:20 and we are beginning a big lecture about the philosophie of punishment.
In fact the lecture is about punishment in the United States of America.
The United states have the biggest number of prisoners in the whole world even though the rate of criminal actions is not that high in comparision to other countries. And now, we are going to enlight this topic more. Well, let's start:

Modern Punishment should reform the horrible public punishment like earlier. But what makes Modern Punishment?
Prisoners are inside a building and hidden from the public but the question is if that is the real solution to avoid injustice.
I will let this question unanswered.

Résumé for the first week in San Antonio

Showing my new acting skills

View in the Neuroscience class
Like I have already written in my last post, we have had many experience in different aspects of the American student life here at the Trinity University.
For instance I have visited serveral lessons like Neuroscience, Chemestry, Religion or Maths.
More over I had the chance to play different kinds of sports here e.g. Basketball, Football, Soccer, Schwimming or just working out in the Gym.
Therefore we have visited many places in San Antonio like the San Antonio River Walk, the Museum for Texan Cultures (see the pictures), the visiting tower of San Antonio and as well the North Star Mall here very close to the University.

Huge room for the chemistry class

Real cowboys (!)

In the end we can all surely confirm to have seen many interesting sites of the American culture, especially of the meltingpott of cultures in San Antonio. This will of course influence our view towards migration in Germany aswell.
I am curious what is waiting for us in the 2nd week!

Howdy, this is my first week in Texas!

First thought: I am back!


Liebes Tagebuch ...


I arrived on Monday just from Ecuador, Quito, in the United States, Houston.
It is not my first time in the US, so I was kind of prepared to the system. Probably that was the reason I thougt about my coming back to the USA. But something war quite different.
The last time I have been in California, Los Angeles. The people are acting differently and the weather is pretty hot. These impressions were my first ones. But after one week here at the Trinity University in San Antonio I am able to say that there are differences her in Texas in comparison to the other states of U.S.A.!

After my six week trip trough Latinamerica before I arrived here, I am really enjoying the population here in San Antonio. It is totally divers. There are many persons with Angelo background, many with Afro-American background and aswell many people with Mexican background plus many more people with different cultural background. Therefore I can really good practice my new learned spanish skills.

Our days here are pretty stuff. We have everyday something on our schedule and it is barely possible to do own plans. Nevertheless it is very interesting which kind of expierence we are having here.

This week I visited the Religion course, the Maths class and some different classes addionally to our regular programm (Neuroscience and Chemistry).
And I am very keen to attend more of the courses here. They are perfect opportunities to train my English skills in a very proper way and to interact with serveral students from all over the world.

I am very proud to present some pictures of our adventurer to be part of this "American dream":


San Antonio Fountain


Basketball match against US-Americans


Group picture on the campus of Trinity University




San Antonio - Briscoe Museum