The day after Thanksgiving, Russel and I headed out to San Antonio, Texas, home of the Alamo. What a wonderful city with such atmosphere! But I must admit, that wasn’t my first impression. As we followed the directions to central San Antonio, we got more and more nervous. The buildings were continually getting more worn down, dirtier, and more decrepit. But finally we found the Alamo.
What a building full of history. Russel and I were both slightly disappointed about the lack of respect that visitors failed to show the fallen 170 men of the Alamo. Men from all across the early United States, Ireland, Whales, Germany and Italy. They fought through impossible conditions: 4000 Mexican soldiers marching across the border, against the 200 Americans defending a small fort and mission for thirteen days. There was a comparison made of this fight to the Battle of Thermopolis when the Spartans went against the Persian army with impossible odds. There, they claim that a warrior ran home to tell of the story, where 300 men stood against thousands. But at the Alamo, no one survived. The women and children who were present for the battle were safely hidden in a room without windows and no sight to witness the ongoing battle outside. A few days later after the massacre, the Mexican army under the command of Santa Anna was defeated by a band of supporters from Southern Texas, the Texians, who defeated the Mexican army in the Battle of San Jacinto in less than 18 minutes. The incredibly history of the Revolution of Texas and the men and women who died there is still intriguing and interesting for the thought that those men gave their lives in an improbable situation to a freedom that didn’t even yet exist.
Later, we headed to the Riverwalk, which had a totally different atmosphere than the street nearly 25 feet above. It was lush, romantic and exotic. The walks were lined with sidewalk cafes, and as it began to get dark, the trees and bridges were lit with thousands of tiny Christmas lights. It was an amazing way to spend our last day trip in Texas, and with only two weeks left, definitely an experience worthwhile.
For the first time in 22 years, I spent a major family holiday away from my family. I thought that it was going to be slightly traumatic; I mean, I know that I’m supposed to be an adult, but there is something about just heading home for the holidays. When we first moved to College Station, we were told that the Aggie family is a very strange and powerful thing. And at that point I thought we understood it, especially when people said ‘howdy’ to us on the street, held open doors and waved as they drove by. But what I didn’t understand were things like Bonfire, and the people who take you in when you don’t have your own family to be with for the holidays. We spent the night before Thanksgiving celebrating with an older couple with whom we had stayed with when we first arrived. After a mountain of delicious turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoe casserole and 2–count them–2 helpings of my first experience with pecan pie… we were truly and honestly accepted as part of the family. It was wonderful.
I definitely missed my family this Thanksgiving, no doubt about it. But I also can’t deny the emotion I felt as a family accepted us into their home, and when I saw the support that two schools, who could never be on the same side, join together in remembrance and memorial of a horrible loss that had a major impact on the student body. I wasn’t even here, nor even knew about the collapse, but my eyes still misted over at the thought of the compassion and humanity that is stronger than a 100 year rivalry. It’s something that each of us can take a little something away from.
The State Capital of Texas, in Austin, is beautiful. It’s filled with lots of history and a rich sense of… redecorating. Although it’s been redone several times, monuments moved, disappeared, and changed, the history remains solid. The grounds are surrounded by an iron picket fence, each topped with a gold star. It is a replica of the original fence that originally surrounded the capital building since 1853. In the beginning, the officials of the soon-to-be-independent state held a nationwide competition for the design of the new capital. The winners would be paid with 3 million acres of land in west Texas. They declared a Detroit architect the winner, and laid the 12,000 pound cornerstone on March 2, 1885, the Independence Day for Texas.
s, it’s possible to see all the way to the bottom and all the way to the top. What was the most interesting, is that there is a portrait of every governor/president that the Republic of Texas has ever had. And each new term when a new governor is elected, each portrait, as you can see lining the walls, is shifted a section to the left, to make room for the new governor after their term is finished. All of the leaders in the state government of Texas spiral up the rotunda, making their way to the Goddes of Liberty, who is stationed at the top of the dome with a star of Texas in her hand.
It was fun to be able to go out and see what everyone’s levels of creativity were. I will say though, the best costume that I think I have ever seen was worn last year by an OSU student who was dressed as a jellyfish (that’s Scyphozoa in the Phylum Cnidaria, for us biology fiends). And as this jellyfish floated by me, surrounded by layers of sparkly tulle and ribbons, I was completely impressed. But the Aggies definitely put that costume, and my creative skills to the test.
Fortunately, nothing serious occurs frequently. Most of the time, it’s dealing with heatstroke at the football games, and twisted ankles from the bleachers. The best part about it, is that we get to see the events we work at for free! You see, here at A&M, our student tickets to events are not included in our tuition. We have to pay for tickets separately. We had the choice of buying football tickets, not football athletic tickets, or both together. Since we just bought football tickets, that means that we have to pay a few dollars everytime we want to go see a volleyball or basketball game. With TAMECT, it’s great! We’ve been able to watch soccer, volleyball and basketball. And fortunately, the fans are a little less rambunctious than at football, so we rarely have any serious medical conditions to deal with… so we have been able to watch the team ‘saw varsity’s horns off’ more than once! The biggest thing though, especially for pre-med students who don’t do ANYTHING by the way of medical until they actually reach medical school, is that we are provided with some good first responder training, and if we choose, can work toward the EMT Basic qualifications. 
