Texas

This morning I'm definitely feeling the time zone change. We are currently in Austin on Central Time, but my body feels like I just woke up on Pacific Time. Every time locals say Austin or South Austin with an accent, my ears keep hearing Boston and South Boston.

The hostel is pretty nice, minus the fact that the hot water heater is broken. :( Normally that wouldn't be a big deal but the other night I decided not to wash my hair and now it's going to feel really gross all day. I just couldn't get myself to stick my entire head under the cold water. I met a very nice older lady last night while in the bathroom. She was just talking my ear off. She was friendly and I enjoyed talking to her. It seems like there are a lot of people living in this particular hostel.

Last night we had dinner and hung out with Brandi and Colin. It was so refreshing to see them! Brandi has been in Austin visiting Colin for a few days, and it was definitely great to be able to see both of them.

Yesterday we did a lot of driving like normal. The open road without many cars and not much scenery leads to my mind wandering a lot. I've been thinking about where I want to live after I graduate in May. In my head I've been thinking of the pros and cons of each place, and places are definitely getting eliminated based on the weather! I've decided if I get to pick where I'm going, I'm going to be more picky this time around. I don't want to walk outside in the winter and instantly feel my snot freeze, and if possible I'd like to escape the humidity.

While we were driving out of El Paso we had to go through the Border Patrol. It was the silliest thing I've had to do. The guy had me roll the window down and asked if I was a US citizen and I responded yes. Then he pointed to Ilona in the passenger seat and asked her if she was a US citizen. She just nodded her head yes without saying a word and he let us drive on. I think you could say we experienced some racial profiling.

There are A LOT of churches in Texas. You can see them all as you drive along the highway and it's hard to tell at first glance which buildings and signs are for churches and which ones are for stores. All the churches are large buildings with giant flashing neon signs out front, and they are all located really close to one another. My other observation about Texas is that the gas here is the cheapest I have seen it in the entire US. Coincidence maybe?

This morning I think we're going to drive around Austin a little bit, have breakfast, and hit the road to New Orleans.