Campus Walk
The University of Texas Tower is the main building on campus and a landmark in Austin. You can se it from almost anywhere in the central city and it's very beautiful at night when it's lit up. For many outside of Austin, however, the tower is mostly known through the tragic events of a late summer day in 1966. It was then the university student Charles Whitman went on a killing frenzy and shot 45 people - of which 14 died - from the observation deck of the tower.
The first in a long line of presidents, George Washington, has a honorable position in front of the main building.
Another well known symbol of the university is Littlefield Fountain. Unfortunately, the water was turned off and the fountain drained for the winter.
Austin is known for its many musicians and artists. I must say the street art here is better than graffiti.
San Antonio
On the last picture, the photographer ended up in front of the camera.
Colorado Springs
From the Top of the World
Lucia
Last Sunday, SWEA had their annual Swedish Christmas Bazaar. As a part of the celebration, there was a Lucia procession. Sandra - tall, blond, and beautiful - was everything a Lucia should be.
Lucia Trick 1 - Walk straight. Follow the person ahead of you.
I wonder what to make of the fact that the best pictures of me are the ones where you see the least of my face.
Lucia trick 2 - Make sure the glitter head ring is not too big. It might suddenly fall down your forehead.
Lucia Trick 3 - Make sure the tomteluva is not too big. It might suddenly fall down your forehead.
Anna played the flute beautifully, accompanying a Norwegian girl singing "Gläns över sjö och strand" (who didn't make the picture since we don't know her).
Over and done - time to walk out. No one was happier about that than Sandra who couln't wait o get the heavy and uncomfortable Lucia crown taken off.
Me again - a nose and hair.
Daniel and Martin.
Never heard of Lucia?
Click here to learn more.
Click here to learn more.
Russell's B-Day
Last Saturday, we were invited to Russell's Birthday Party. (Russell is married to Sandra - Sandra is from Trelleborg and knows Anna - whom I found through the Scandinavian Language Group). Anyway. The party was great, with lots of nice people and good food. Here are some pictures. For some reason I only have pictures of a third of the people there, and almost only Swedes. Sorry about that.
As usual, people didn't really have read eyes. It's just me that forgot to press that damn anti-red-eyes button.
As usual, people didn't really have read eyes. It's just me that forgot to press that damn anti-red-eyes button.
Russell and Sandra.
Sandra.
No one look in the camera now, ok? Yeah, like that! Perfect. Anna, Sandra and Daniel.
Annika.
Anna and Sandra.
Find Five Errors. You better know the names by now.
Finishing off with a smile.
Lussekatter
Today Sandra and I baked lussekatter all day and despite our concerns with the yeast (they only have dry yeast here), they turned out great. We tried a couple just to make sure. The ones who survive our hungry eyes are to be sold on SWEA Christmas Bazaar next weekend. I love lucia and am so happy I get to celebrate it this year.
Also, we went to World Market yesterday. There they have all kinds of international food - mostly candy and German cakes, but fun things too. I got an Advenskalender, Glögg and Nyåkers Pepparkakor. No I am all set to wait for Christmas. Bring it on!
Also, we went to World Market yesterday. There they have all kinds of international food - mostly candy and German cakes, but fun things too. I got an Advenskalender, Glögg and Nyåkers Pepparkakor. No I am all set to wait for Christmas. Bring it on!
Frost
Last night gave us the first frost of the season. When I drove off at six this morning, the car war covered in white glitter. Now it's almost noon and 80°F (26°C) outside our window. I wonder if this is what's called winter is in Texas.
Austin's weather in numbers:
Austin's weather in numbers:
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
Avg high °F | 60 (16) | 65 (18) | 73 (23) | 87 (27) | 92 (32) | 96 (36) | 99 (38) | 98 (37) | 98 (37) | 90 (30) | 84 (21) | 72 (17) | |
Rec high °F | 90 (32) | 99 (37) | 98 (37) | 99 (37) | 104 (40) | 108 (42) | 108 (42) | 110 (43) | 112 (44) | 100 (38) | 91 (33) | 90 (32) | |
Avg low °F | 34 (0) | 39 (5) | 48 (9) | 58 (14) | 65 (18) | 71 (22) | 73 (23) | 73 (23) | 69 (21) | 60 (16) | 49 (10) | 42 (6) | |
Rec low °F | -2 (-19) | -1 (-18) | 18 (-8) | 30 (-1) | 40 (4) | 51 (11) | 57 (14) | 58 (14) | 41 (5) | 30 (-1) | 20 (-7) | 4 (-16) | |
Rainfall in (mm) | 1.89 (48) | 1.99 (51) | 2.14 (54) | 2.51 (64) | 5.03 (128) | 3.81 (97) | 1.97 (50) | 2.31 (59) | 2.91 (74) | 3.97 (101) | 2.68 (68) | 2.44 (62) |
The Sour Smell of Homesickness
Right outside the windows is a big pond for collecting rainwater. It's not very pretty, but a far better view than staring into some neighbor's bedroom. To add to the feeling, it has been named Lake Åsa, which of course gives it a sense of greatness. Also, I have gotten used to the constant croaking of the huge frog colony living on the property. It's surprisingly soothing falling asleep to their orchestra.
But now something new is happening at the pond. Since yesterday, the pond is drained and today a big bulldozer dug up load after load of marsh mud, drove a couple of hundred feet away and dumped it outside the fences. (Perhaps they are building a big swimming pool just for me, in which case I consider asking for a water slide from our bedroom window. I wonder if that is too straight forward.)
But now something new is happening at the pond. Since yesterday, the pond is drained and today a big bulldozer dug up load after load of marsh mud, drove a couple of hundred feet away and dumped it outside the fences. (Perhaps they are building a big swimming pool just for me, in which case I consider asking for a water slide from our bedroom window. I wonder if that is too straight forward.)
To the point - when I came home today, the air smelled of sour seaweed. I don't know if my senses added the smell of sea salt, but I can swear I felt it. It smelled just like Öresund, when the dark piles of seaweed on the shores start to rot. And for a brief minute, as I filled my lungs with the stinky air, my heart ached.
Isn't it crazy - the things that awakes homesickness?
Öresund. I miss thee.
My Seattle Office
Often when I have a lot to do in school, I have a hard time getting anything done. It's against all common sense, but I simply find myself so caught up in the stress of being busy that I have no peace to sit down and actually work. Instead I find a million other things to do. I organize my closet, do the laundry, clean up, bake, or check my emails yet another time. To get around this catch 22, I have forced a new rule upon myself: days when I have a lot to read or write, I am not allowed to stay at home.
So here's my new office: the Seattle's Best. It's very convenient, just around the corner from where I live. And they have great coffee. I also get to sit outside, which is nice; and as the picture demonstrates, it is not very crowded. Peace and quiet, great coffee, and no drawers to be sorted. What more could you ask of an office?
BTW - It is now the end of October and the weather is absolutely gorgeous. The last week, it's been about 25°C (77°F) and bright sunshine every day.
So here's my new office: the Seattle's Best. It's very convenient, just around the corner from where I live. And they have great coffee. I also get to sit outside, which is nice; and as the picture demonstrates, it is not very crowded. Peace and quiet, great coffee, and no drawers to be sorted. What more could you ask of an office?
BTW - It is now the end of October and the weather is absolutely gorgeous. The last week, it's been about 25°C (77°F) and bright sunshine every day.
Mr. Pumpkin
On Wednesday it's Halloween and tonight I carved my first pumpkin ever. Here I am drawing the face.
And off comes the hat.
The yummy seeds were roasted and gone before I had a chance to take any pictures :-)
Facescaping.
The scary Mr. Pumpkin. Now I am ready for All Hallows Eve.
And two pumpkin breads are baking in the oven.
Absolut Pasta Sauce
Went grocery shopping today and found this. I must admit that are two things I haven't put together before. Worth a try?
Walking by the Turtle Pond
These hard shell guys live in a little pond on the University of Texas' campus. There are tons of turtles in the area and sooner or later they won't seem exotic. But for now they do. I love the way they stick their heads up while swimming. First you don't notice them, but if you look closer... There are at least ten in this picture.
A Thousand Things to Tell
School started last week and it's taken all my time to settle in that situation. It's incredible how much of habit creating creatures we are and how much it messes with our inner stability when our patterns change. Right now, everything here is new, and as much as all of that is fun and exciting, it's also draining at times.
My schedule for school this semester is great. I'm taking four classes, all of them on Mondays and Wednesdays, which means I'll only be in school two days a week. I can either drive or take the bus to school; it takes about the same time either way, half an hour or so. The bus leaves only a few blocks from our apartment complex and goes directly to the University, so chances are I'll take the bus most days.
My schedule for school this semester is great. I'm taking four classes, all of them on Mondays and Wednesdays, which means I'll only be in school two days a week. I can either drive or take the bus to school; it takes about the same time either way, half an hour or so. The bus leaves only a few blocks from our apartment complex and goes directly to the University, so chances are I'll take the bus most days.
My New Best Friends.
These are the books Texas State University wants me to read during the months to come. I wonder if I'll even have time to catch my breath in between.
My New Identity.
With a fake smile, I accept my new role and become a Texas State BobCat. It's incredible how with every new commitment you make in this world, there is a new number to memorize. 565894 is from now on synonymous to my name.
- - - - Austin, a pretty cool hot place - a pretty, cool, hot place - - - -
Austin holds the Capitol of Texas, which means that Texas State's Government operates from here. This beautiful building is where the political top shots go to work every day.
The Texas Capitol - the perfect place for a starry fence.
Congress Avenue runs from the Capitol, through Austin City, and ends down in the southern outskirts of Austin, right where Marty and I live. On its way, it runs over Congress Bridge, where the bats live.
- - - - Austin Hot Sauce Festival, anno 2007 - - - -
Texas loves hot food - Austin loves festivals. Put them together and you have Austin Hot Sauce Festival - the perfect event for those who can't imagine a better way to spend a hot summer day than slurping liquid fire. One cool thing about the festival was the entrance fee: three cans of food (or $5). The annual event raises food and money for the Capital Area Food Bank to help the poor.
It was about 100 °F, 38 °C, last Sunday. Still, a countless amount of people lined up around the tables in Waterloo Park to dip into one sot sauce after the other - a true challenge for the taste buds.
This lady charmed us all, but I wonder if anyone bought her flowers.
- - - - Colorado River - - - -
A peaceful picture of a beautiful place. The Colorado River flows through Austin (although its called Austin Lake for a little bit). This is just north of the city.
With a fake smile, I accept my new role and become a Texas State BobCat. It's incredible how with every new commitment you make in this world, there is a new number to memorize. 565894 is from now on synonymous to my name.
- - - - Austin, a pretty cool hot place - a pretty, cool, hot place - - - -
Austin holds the Capitol of Texas, which means that Texas State's Government operates from here. This beautiful building is where the political top shots go to work every day.
The Texas Capitol - the perfect place for a starry fence.
Congress Avenue runs from the Capitol, through Austin City, and ends down in the southern outskirts of Austin, right where Marty and I live. On its way, it runs over Congress Bridge, where the bats live.
- - - - Austin Hot Sauce Festival, anno 2007 - - - -
Texas loves hot food - Austin loves festivals. Put them together and you have Austin Hot Sauce Festival - the perfect event for those who can't imagine a better way to spend a hot summer day than slurping liquid fire. One cool thing about the festival was the entrance fee: three cans of food (or $5). The annual event raises food and money for the Capital Area Food Bank to help the poor.
It was about 100 °F, 38 °C, last Sunday. Still, a countless amount of people lined up around the tables in Waterloo Park to dip into one sot sauce after the other - a true challenge for the taste buds.
This lady charmed us all, but I wonder if anyone bought her flowers.
- - - - Colorado River - - - -
A peaceful picture of a beautiful place. The Colorado River flows through Austin (although its called Austin Lake for a little bit). This is just north of the city.
Bat Watching
Yesterday at sunset, I was back at Congress Bridge in the hope to catch a better glimpse of the bats than last time. It turned out that the best spot to "bat-watch" is from under the bridge, not standing a bit away as I had done. It was pretty dark when the small creatures finally came out, but the pictures turned out OK anyway.
The Lone Star of Texas
The Lone Star is a symbol of Texas, a single five pointed star as seen on the state flag.
Texas Star is also the name on a flower, a nickname for the Hibiscus coccineus.
San Marcos
The closest town south of Austin is San Marcos, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) away. The town itself has less than 35,000 inhabitants, which is a drop in the bucket compared to Austin's 700,000. Still, there is surprisingly much going on.
San Marcos is the home of Texas State University at San Marcos, a school with over 21,000 students and one of the prettiest campuses you have ever seen. That's where I'll be going to school. Unfortunately, Texas State University seems to suffer from an inferiority complex compared to University of Texas at Austin, which with its 50,000 students and much greater reputation, is the main University in the area.
Say "San Marcos" and most people will either think of the University or Shopping. Despite its humble size, San Marcos was recently ranked the third Best Place to Shop in the WORLD (!), after Dubai and Brooklyn, by ABC's "The View". I have yet to experience the Prime Outlets of San Marcos, but I will make sure to let you all know when I do.
For those who want something a little more soothing than shopping, San Marcos River, which runs right through town, offers a great variety of activities. The water keeps a constant 72 °F, 22 °C, all year around and is perfect for swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, tubing, canoeing, and kayaking. It is not uncommon in the area to own your own canoe or cayak.
After my orientation last Wednesday, I found a place where you could rent tubes for the day. You basically rent a tube, hop in the water and let the stream take you down the river. After about forty minutes, you find yourself at a series of small waterfalls where you can either show your courage and tube down them or get out of the water. However, you then take a "river taxi" back to the starting point and do it all over again, and again, and again.
It was a perfect end of a day. After having ran around campus a whole day, I was sweaty and tired. A couple of hours floating down the river on that tube was pure meditation for me. The river itself was absolutely beautiful. Again, I was surprised to find the nature in the heart of Texas so lush and clean. The water was crystal clear and you could make out every rock at the bottom wherever it wasn't covered with water lilys or seaweed. Everywhere you looked, you saw tons of fish swimming around. Amazing.
Since I couldn't bring the camera, I borrowed a picture of tubing people online instead.
I think I am falling in love with Texas.
San Marcos is the home of Texas State University at San Marcos, a school with over 21,000 students and one of the prettiest campuses you have ever seen. That's where I'll be going to school. Unfortunately, Texas State University seems to suffer from an inferiority complex compared to University of Texas at Austin, which with its 50,000 students and much greater reputation, is the main University in the area.
Say "San Marcos" and most people will either think of the University or Shopping. Despite its humble size, San Marcos was recently ranked the third Best Place to Shop in the WORLD (!), after Dubai and Brooklyn, by ABC's "The View". I have yet to experience the Prime Outlets of San Marcos, but I will make sure to let you all know when I do.
For those who want something a little more soothing than shopping, San Marcos River, which runs right through town, offers a great variety of activities. The water keeps a constant 72 °F, 22 °C, all year around and is perfect for swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, tubing, canoeing, and kayaking. It is not uncommon in the area to own your own canoe or cayak.
After my orientation last Wednesday, I found a place where you could rent tubes for the day. You basically rent a tube, hop in the water and let the stream take you down the river. After about forty minutes, you find yourself at a series of small waterfalls where you can either show your courage and tube down them or get out of the water. However, you then take a "river taxi" back to the starting point and do it all over again, and again, and again.
It was a perfect end of a day. After having ran around campus a whole day, I was sweaty and tired. A couple of hours floating down the river on that tube was pure meditation for me. The river itself was absolutely beautiful. Again, I was surprised to find the nature in the heart of Texas so lush and clean. The water was crystal clear and you could make out every rock at the bottom wherever it wasn't covered with water lilys or seaweed. Everywhere you looked, you saw tons of fish swimming around. Amazing.
Since I couldn't bring the camera, I borrowed a picture of tubing people online instead.
I think I am falling in love with Texas.
The Austin Bats
The Congress Avenue Bridge, which runs over the Colorado River in the heart of Austin, is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. More than one million Mexican free-tailed bats bats live in crevices under the bridge. Every evening at sunset, the bats emerge from their hideaway and fly out to seek food. Together, they eat up to 200,000 pounds (more than 90,000 kilos) of insects a night. No wonder Austin loves its bats.
The bats' takeoff brings hundreds of people to Congress Bridge every evening and right now is the peak of bat watching season. During the end of the summer, July and August, the bat colony is at its largest since the pups are big enough to hunt their own food.
Depending on how hot the day's been, the bats fly off sooner or later and if it's still light enough you see huge clouds of dark silhouettes against the evening sky. I went bat watching last week but wasn't very successful. (The picture above I found online). When the bats finally came out, it was too dark to see them. However, the darkness didn't hide the flapping of a million wings. Impressive.
Austin, the city of music festivals, of course shows its appreciation by dedicating a festival to the bats - Batfest.
The bats' takeoff brings hundreds of people to Congress Bridge every evening and right now is the peak of bat watching season. During the end of the summer, July and August, the bat colony is at its largest since the pups are big enough to hunt their own food.
Depending on how hot the day's been, the bats fly off sooner or later and if it's still light enough you see huge clouds of dark silhouettes against the evening sky. I went bat watching last week but wasn't very successful. (The picture above I found online). When the bats finally came out, it was too dark to see them. However, the darkness didn't hide the flapping of a million wings. Impressive.
Austin, the city of music festivals, of course shows its appreciation by dedicating a festival to the bats - Batfest.
Oak Alley Plantation
Mask Factory
