Category Archives: Megan

Megan Wagner’s posts

Megan, Student Life

Texas Fight

Leave a comment

This past Saturday night, I found myself standing in an ocean of burnt orange as it was the first UT football home game of the season. Having attended a university without a football team as an undergraduate, I was eager to experience a UT game since my acceptance to the MPA program and I was not disappointed. Obviously, my enjoyment was enhanced by the fact that we beat the Rice Owls 42-28, and the Tower was lit orange in celebration.

IMG_2493#lightitup

My favorite part of the evening was attempting to learn the words to the crowd’s chants and then the appropriate time to sing each one. I was successful in getting a few of the songs down at the right time, but I was mostly just good at yelling when our defense was on the field. My voice was a bit horse on Sunday morning as a result. If you ever consider going to a game, I recommend checking out the chants before you go, however it was fun to attempt to learn them with the other MPA students.

As students, we are offered what is called the “Big Ticket,” and for $175 (this year’s rate) you are given admission to all UT home football games as well as all other UT sports throughout the year. As graduate students, we have second selection (behind current seniors) for seat placement at the stadium, so we were placed in the sixth, seventh and eighth rows on the northern goal line. The view was pretty fantastic as seen below.

IMG_2479

My first game was an excellent experience, and I am so glad I made the decision to buy the Big Ticket. I look forward to attending the rest of the games this season. Hook ’em.

 

Austin, Megan

Hot Fun in the Summertime

Leave a comment

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.

IMG_2420

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:

IMG_2152

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.