Category Archives: Austin

Academics, Austin, Student Life

Balancing Life And Books

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As a first semester Integrated MPA student, I have a lot to learn about the program. The transition from being a BBA to an iMPA is a tough road. There are times when you feel like you cannot read another tax law exception or your brain will explode from information overload. All MPAs know this feeling. The key is to balance your life in school with a life outside of school. I know we hear this all the time but the importance of this advice never hit me until this semester. Take that study break you have been dreaming about for the past three quiz days and go out and have fun in the greatest city in Texas! Go to that football game even though you have two exams the next week! You can do fun things as an MPA as long as you maximize the time that you actually spend hitting those books.

Last week I had my first tax exam and financial concepts exam on the same day. These two classes are typically taken during the first year of iMPA. Naturally, I was so scared to take these exams, the week before I was already stressing myself out. Fortunately, I have a great friend who took me to a One Republic concert Thursday night, the weekend before my exams. The concert was at ACL Live’s Mood Theater, which is an awesome venue downtown. It was such a great show and definitely one of my favorite experiences here in Austin thus far. As a bonus, it was just the thing I needed to clear my head and forget about tax rules and financial concepts for a few hours. Sometimes you have to have a little fun to get things done!

What are your favorite things to do when you are on study breaks?

Austin, Events, Student Life

Bon Qui Qui Visits Austin

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Welcome to King Burger where you can have it your way but don’t get crazy!

If you’re familiar with this snippet from a Mad TV comedy clip, then you’d be excited to know that the laugh out loud Bon Qui Qui visited Austin over the weekend. With all the hustle and bustle on campus, a comic relief is always a very welcome invitation. This past Saturday, my favorite comedienne Anjelah Johnson performed at the iconic Paramount Theater to a full house. From the opening act to the very last second she was on stage, the show was just hilarious and purely entertaining. I sure got an ab workout from all the laughter, which was a nice bonus.

I went to the show with my good friend Ruth. What’s so funny is that we didn’t even know about it until that Saturday morning. But as dedicated fans, we decided to go anyway and see the girl who has made us laugh to tears with her YouTube videos. This is another reason why Austin is such a fabulous place to live. It is a small city with a big name that it attract stars like Anjelah Johnson.. There were three back-to-back shows and I believe all of them were sold out.

With perfect timing and clean jokes, Anj (’cause we’re close) did a fabulous job of entertaining the audience! I could have stayed for a later show, but figured I’ll give other people a chance. It’s experiences like these that remind me that some things really are priceless. As I sat there and listened to the chorus of laughter, I forgot about the stresses of school and recruiting and just enjoyed the fun.

It was a wonderful experience and made for a great Saturday night. It was just what I needed as two exams, a final, and a few interviews come. I feel like I’ve gained my perspective back and I can go through all these with a new sense of excitement. All work and no play make a person go mad. So before that happened, I’m glad to have taken my mind of off school for a little bit. Thanks Anjelah!

Austin, Feature

Maybe You CAN Teach an Old Dog New BBQ

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One thing about Austin I was anxious to check out was their world-famous Texas barbecue. Having grown up in West Tennessee near Memphis, I have been spoiled with great barbecue my entire life. Thus, most places I go outside that small area have disappointed me with their pathetic excuse for barbecue. For instance, I won’t even bother with barbecue in Nashville. Although the Carolinas are very proud of their ‘cue, it’s just not my style. I learned while living in New Orleans that they have a great food culture, but their heritage with barbecue is somewhat spotty. There was only one barbecue place there I would go to, called The Joint, but it was distinctly Memphis-style barbecue so maybe that’s why I enjoyed it. My goal with this series is not to join the debate about which region produces the best barbecue (Memphis will clearly win that one) but simply to find out if Texas barbecue is in the same league, whether as a rival or partner.

The differences between Memphis-style and Texas-style barbecue are many. Texas barbecue has its own style, and can even be classified differently depending on what part of the state you are in. For this series, I will be discussing Central Texas barbecue. The main difference I noticed initially is that Texas barbecue is mostly beef, while other Southeast US barbecues are typically pork. The pulled-pork sandwich is one of the main staples of Memphis barbecue, but it is less prevalent in the Texas style. The Central Texas style in particular is more focused on the quality of the meat and less emphasis on the sauce. This is a stark comparison to what I am used to, which is all about the sweet barbecue sauce.

I have heard a lot about some specific places to try out: Salt Lick, Franklin, La Barbecue, and Rudy’s to name a few. Hopefully I will be able to get to all of them while I am in Austin to make a proper judgment of Texas barbecue and  it will live up to my standards as everyone has assured me it will. The next article in this series will be about my first Texas barbecue experience, and it is sure to make your mouth water if this one hasn’t done the trick already.

Austin, Sarah, Student Life

Around Austin in 30 Days

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Like many UT students, I started making a mental bucket list of things to do in and around Austin the moment I set foot on campus as a freshman.From food trucks and swimming holes to the plethora of music opportunities, Austin is full of great things to do. Sadly, while balancing homework, exams and class, something always got in the way of whittling down my list. Now that I’m about to graduate and leave Austin for good, I decided it’s finally time to start exploring, and thus, the month of May became 30 days of experiencing Austin to its fullest.

First things first, I started out with the basics – delicious food. So far I’ve made it through Sno Beach, some food trucks, some tried and true classics like Hula Hut, Mozart’s, Madam Mam’s, and even made my way out to Lockhart for some killer barbecue. After all, you gotta eat, right?

After that I moved on to some less calorie-enriched south Texas activities – a Spurs game, swimming at Barton Springs, and climbing Mount Bonnell. Truth be told, I still have a long way to go on my list. Even if I did something Austin-y every week I don’t think I would ever run out of things to do. Now that classes and finals are out of the way, it’s time to make some progress on that list!

What Austin spots are on your bucket list?

 

Austin, Jamal, Student Life

A Weekend of Sunny Rays is Good for the Mind

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I spent this past weekend outside; eating dirt on the soccer field, (that’s fútbol to my Hispanic friends and football to my European buddies), flinging Frisbees around campus, and exploring Austin’s Mount Bonnell. The past couple of weeks have been a little stressful with school, work, and trying to get a hold of my personal life. All I needed was a date with Mother Nature to let it all go.

2013 Business World Cup Competition

Jamal rocks the soccer field.

The Business World Cup brings together the McCombs Affiliated Student Organizations (MASOs) to compete in a 5 on 5 soccer tournament. Teams have the chance to win McCombs glory, fame, and the alleged World Cup trophy. I was lucky enough to be allowed to compete with one of the Undergraduate Business Council teams. Unfortunately, we lost three out of three games, one of which was against the other UBC team. The scores were 3-0, 8-0, and 8-2 (I somehow was able to score one of the two points in the last game). There are those that play gracefully throughout the entire game, where they pace themselves and make sure they don’t push their limits too much at one time. I on the other hand, was weaving within minutes of starting and gradually began to play more and more aggressive as the panic began to set in.

I find it interesting that I have to pace myself when playing sports or when using by brain for academics and general schoolwork. Over time I’ve learned that if I don’t maintain a steady pace and take a deep breath every once in a while, I can’t perform at my best.

2013 Texas Blazers Frisbee Fling

Frisbee Fling is an 18-hole disc golf tournament that’s been held on UT’s campus for the past 12 years. All proceeds from the tournament benefit the Texas Blazers Endowed Scholarship for Eastside Memorial High School in East Austin. Definitely a great use of an hour and a half! I got to work on my Frisbee aim, eat a bunch of those Longhorn Bars, realize said bars were loaded in calories, smack someone in a chicken costume with a Frisbee  and receive a Gildan 100% cotton t-shirt. After playing in the soccer tournament, I was definitely not at my athletic peak, but I was still able to keep up with the rest of my team without having to keel over.

Trip to Mount Bonnell

Almost immediately after the Frisbee fling, I went to explore Mount Bonnell with a few friends. For those of you who didn’t know, Mount Bonnell isn’t actually a mountain. Though it’s described as being the highest point in Austin, it’s lower than the Jollyville Plateau (according to Wikipedia). While it was more than a little steep, it really wasn’t too bad a climb. We were able to get a great view of downtown Austin and of the tower. I really wanted to see the peacocks that I had heard so much about but I guess there weren’t feeling too friendly that day. I did get a great life-chat with my friends though, resulting in the perfect end to my day.

Though I’ve had more productive weekends for school, I really think this mini-vacation was good for the soul and for me to recuperate from academics. I was able to get some quality thinking in about what I wanted and what was important to me. Despite getting a little redder than I would have liked, there were a lot of qualitative benefits to the weekend. Truly some food for thought.