I’ve been in Austin for three years now, and I have yet to complete all of the items I’ve always wanted to do. Coming from a big city in Texas, it was difficult to enjoy nature and culture. Many of my friends from Houston think I’ve turned into a hippie/hipster because of the changes in my beliefs and what I rather do on my free time. To my surprise, I feel like they are correct. I do participate in things now that I never thought I would do in high school.
Throughout this semester I have tried to do more Austin things. One of the cool things I did this semester is get a job at a local frozen yogurt shop in downtown. The place is called Berry Austin, and it has been the greatest thing that has happened to me. I used to work at the UT Office of Financial Aid. While working at that office I would be yelled at almost every day by callers who were angry with their financial aid. However, at Berry Austin, everyone is so kind and happy to be getting frozen yogurt. I highly recommend coming to check out my job because it is awesome. We even serve super bowls that are delicious (picture below). My boss actually created the mosaic walls and decorated the entire place by herself. I don’t think my photo below does much justice for the creativity the location is full of, that is why you all should come by and see for yourselves. I might even give you a discount!
The next thing that I participated in was going to my first ACL Late Night Show. I attended ACL last year, but this year I decided a late night show would be enough. The one band that I really wanted to see again was Two Door Cinema Club. They are an indie dance band that has been making music since 2007. The first time I had the opportunity to see them was my junior year of high school in 2012. They are like no other band, their set is unique and amazing. That is why I had to see them a second time for an ACL Late Night Show. They performed at Stubb’s Outdoor Theather at 11:30 at night. It was my first late night show and I realized I wasn’t used to being up that late. I started getting impatient and frustrated that they were on so late. Finally, the lights went off and the music began. I remember thinking that I needed to record this so I can watch it over and over again after the show. My phone was what was keeping those memories alive. I still look back at the photos and video and recall the way the music made me feel.
Another item that I did this semester is attend a social with the Jewish community on campus. I am not Jewish, but it was interesting to see the beliefs that this community had. I had to do a presentation for another course that required me to observe and immerse myself into a culture that we were not accustomed too. I chose they Jewish community because the have a building in West Campus called the Texas Hillel center that is like a sanctuary for all Jewish students and non-Jewish Students to hang out in. They are unique because they are not a type of ethnic group. Jewish people come from many backgrounds. During my project, I decided to record conversations with the Jewish community to help analyze them later. I don;t think I can upload the recording here, but the point is that I had to use my phone to take photos of the Hillel Center and also record the conversations. My phone allowed me to keep a tab of information about the location, while also allowing me to easily save the recording right on my phone. Here is a photo of the plant wall they have in the building. The address is, 2105 San Antonio St, Austin, TX 78705, if you want to go by. They are very welcoming and have free coffee!
The last Austin thing that I did was go on a trip to Hill Country in Austin. If you have been to West Austin, you would know exactly why it is called Hill Country. It was my anniversary and my boyfriend wanted to do something we both haven’t done in Austin. As we looked all over Yelp, we found The Oasis. Oasis is a restaurant that has good food, but what makes it a huge tourist attraction is the beautiful view of the sunset over Lake Travis. I had only heard of Oasis once, my friend had posted a quick photo on it on her Snapchat story. The drive there was most interesting. I had to reply on my GPS because I have no idea how to get there. (Shout-out to google maps!)I had been so used to being around the city I had forgotten how nice it is to have just open fields and the view of mountains. I was so cool to see this different aspect of Austin. It was calm and traffic-free. There was no worry in the world. When we arrived we only had 20 minutes left until sunset would come. To our surprise, it was packed. There was an hour wait for people to even sit at the bar. I was upset I was going to miss the sunset until my boyfriend suggested we just sneak upstairs to just watch the sunset for a few minutes. As we made it to the top, there it was, the sunset. It was honestly a really happy moment, and I hope everyone gets to experience that setting.
My digital culture had definitely developed throughout the semester. I was able to do things I might of not though of because of this assignment.
-Leslie Abdelgani