I moved to Austin in July to attend summer classes for the MPA program. Having lived in Texas for most of my life, the majority of my summers were spent hiding from the heat in air-conditioned malls and movie theaters. However, I have found that 100+ degrees temps do not slow down Austinites when it comes to participating in outdoor activities, so I obviously had to get out and join them.

Over the past few weeks, I went to the Shakey Graves concert during Blues on the Green, a summer concert series put on by a local radio station, saw J.Cole concert with Big Sean at Circuit of the Americas, hiked and paddle boarded on Ladybird Lake, attended the Austin PRIDE parade, and tubed in the San Marcos River with some MPA peers.

I also dipped my toe in the ocean of Austin restaurants, eating at: Trudy’s, Tacodeli, Stubb’s BBQ, and (my favorite because desserts) Gourdough’s.

Throughout the summer, I took advantage of the quiet campus and explored. This is one of my favorite pictures of the Tower on a clear blue sky  day:

The UT campus area has so much to offer, and I especially look forward to spending more time at the Blanton Museum of Art, the Bullock Texas State History Museum and the LBJ Presidential Library (One of my undergraduate degrees is in History, if you could not tell).

Needless to say, with recruiting and beginning the fall semester, my first couple of weeks in Austin were packed, but I enjoyed every moment of it. While it is tough to say goodbye to summer, I definitely took advantage of what Austin has to offer and look forward to all that the fall has in store.