Raise your hand if you've been an awful blogger and not blogged in nearly a month...*sheepishly raises hand*. Many apologies but after the stressful fun of having my parents here, I was thrust into the madness of having two essays and two exams all on the same day, last Thursday so I was all over the place and panicking but now I can chill and chat.
Taking this much time also means I have to condense so much into one post you'll only get the good stuff no boring fillers!
The first 'good stuff' is my week the Daddy Mac and Mummy Mac as they're affectionately known in my phone book. I was so incredibly grateful that they made the big trip out here. I would definitely suggest to people who do something like studying abroad, try to get your parents to come out to where you are at in the middle of your time away because even if you don't realise it, it will be just what you need. Even though, as I mentioned in my New York blog, English people make me homesick, it's so worth it!! They even brought me Haribo star mix because America's silly and only does those gold bags of gummy bears. Also, having them here meant I could places and do things I probably wouldn't be able to otherwise. For example, we went all the way out to Houston to visit the Space Centre because dad's a massive kid about that sort of thing. His face literally lit up like a five year old's at Christmas as we wandered about the place, seeing all things space including the current astronaut practice centre and formerly used rockets. I personally, am utterly freaked out by space, it's just so expansive and scary, I can't get my head around it and quite frankly do not want to but I still adored it.
That's how you get a space shuttle from A to B across America - madness, right?!
We also had a long day out to the hill country surrounding San Antonio. On this trip we found ourselves in Fredericksburg which was first colonised by Germans, so has a large Germanic influence upon it unlike the Mexican influence on San Antonio. It was a classic looking cowboy town and I loved walking through it! We also got to nerd out at the WWII museum and saw an atomic bomb, never thought that would happen. On our way back we went to Luckenbach which has an official population of about three people. It consists of a shop, car park, bar, stage and dance hall, so the basics of life really! It was so quaint and there were old men bantering to each other in the bar in broad southern accents; I was weak at the knees the whole time.
Another day out that we had was to Austin, the capital of Texas. I really like Austin. You can tell that despite being the grand capital of Texas, home to all of the government buildings dating back to when Texas was a Republic, it is definitely the most liberal area. Down on 6th Street (the must visit area of Austin), there were bars, haunted houses, tattoo parlours, people with more than one colour in their hair! I flipping loved it.
My absolutely favourite activity was the daddy daughter bonding session at Nardis gun club. My dad is my favourite person on the planet, so sharing something that we wouldn't get to do at home and is so stereotypically Texan, it was a big deal for us both and we really enjoyed it.
It also helped that a practically got a bullseye and won! I'll treasure it all forever. Though not the bullet caps that I snuck out there as apparently, I'll never get them home on the plane...darn...
The rents left on the Friday after arriving the Sunday before, and I was rather sad to see them go. However, the Saturday evening kept me busy as my flatmates, Gabby, Hannah and I spent it downtown. We first stopped off at the Dia de Los Muertos festival and ate amazingly authentic Mexican food in a restaurant that ajoined the festival. Dia de Los Muertos, is a really fantastic (in my opinion) Mexican festivity. It celebrates the lives of those people who have past and really vibrantly combines death with appreciation of what has gone before. Afterwards, we wandered to the Indian festival that was also taking place. Unfortunately, I was too stuffed to check out the Indian food on offer (so I've put in an order for a takeaway as soon as I get home with mum and dad), but we all managed to take full advantage of the henna available.
Hanging out with my friends and my parents made for an absolutely great week and my friends and I have many more plans for fun before the end of the semester that I will be sure to catch you up with, hopefully more promptly too!
Also, you should all be aware that my ears have been loving Don Broco and Mallory Knox these past few weeks! Check them out if you haven't already :)
Taking this much time also means I have to condense so much into one post you'll only get the good stuff no boring fillers!
The first 'good stuff' is my week the Daddy Mac and Mummy Mac as they're affectionately known in my phone book. I was so incredibly grateful that they made the big trip out here. I would definitely suggest to people who do something like studying abroad, try to get your parents to come out to where you are at in the middle of your time away because even if you don't realise it, it will be just what you need. Even though, as I mentioned in my New York blog, English people make me homesick, it's so worth it!! They even brought me Haribo star mix because America's silly and only does those gold bags of gummy bears. Also, having them here meant I could places and do things I probably wouldn't be able to otherwise. For example, we went all the way out to Houston to visit the Space Centre because dad's a massive kid about that sort of thing. His face literally lit up like a five year old's at Christmas as we wandered about the place, seeing all things space including the current astronaut practice centre and formerly used rockets. I personally, am utterly freaked out by space, it's just so expansive and scary, I can't get my head around it and quite frankly do not want to but I still adored it.
That's how you get a space shuttle from A to B across America - madness, right?!
We also had a long day out to the hill country surrounding San Antonio. On this trip we found ourselves in Fredericksburg which was first colonised by Germans, so has a large Germanic influence upon it unlike the Mexican influence on San Antonio. It was a classic looking cowboy town and I loved walking through it! We also got to nerd out at the WWII museum and saw an atomic bomb, never thought that would happen. On our way back we went to Luckenbach which has an official population of about three people. It consists of a shop, car park, bar, stage and dance hall, so the basics of life really! It was so quaint and there were old men bantering to each other in the bar in broad southern accents; I was weak at the knees the whole time.
The rents left on the Friday after arriving the Sunday before, and I was rather sad to see them go. However, the Saturday evening kept me busy as my flatmates, Gabby, Hannah and I spent it downtown. We first stopped off at the Dia de Los Muertos festival and ate amazingly authentic Mexican food in a restaurant that ajoined the festival. Dia de Los Muertos, is a really fantastic (in my opinion) Mexican festivity. It celebrates the lives of those people who have past and really vibrantly combines death with appreciation of what has gone before. Afterwards, we wandered to the Indian festival that was also taking place. Unfortunately, I was too stuffed to check out the Indian food on offer (so I've put in an order for a takeaway as soon as I get home with mum and dad), but we all managed to take full advantage of the henna available.
Also, you should all be aware that my ears have been loving Don Broco and Mallory Knox these past few weeks! Check them out if you haven't already :)
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