And that's the other UT for everyone outside of Texas and the Big 12. I am officially a Longhorn and am supposed to start wearing Burnt Orange instead of the more attractive Clemson Orange. Life has changed a lot in the past four years. This time four years ago I was a Clemson freshman, living in a new state, making new friends, and starting the best four years of my life. Now I'm starting all over again, in a new state, trying to make new friends, and hopefully having at least two great years here in Texas.
As far as starting over goes, I am enjoying it thus far. This is the first time I have ever truly lived on my own; no roommates, no parents, no rules, and I definitely like it. I've only been in Austin for about 10 days, and it's been swell so far. Although I have not been as adventurous in discovering new places and people, I have enjoyed some good alone time in my apartment, the shopping in my area, and discovering random shortcuts, neighborhoods and roads around town. Speaking of driving, that is one new and somewhat challenging thing here in Texas. So I heard before how much Texans love their roads and love to drive, but I really think they have a few things to learn.
First of all, what's with all the overpasses and u-turns? Simple intersection with traffic coming from four directions is too simple for TxDot. You would think with a slogan like "Keep Texas Moving," the simplest road design for maximum traffic movement would be ideal, but oh no, something more like this apparently makes sense to the engineers.
Now you may be thinking that just looks like a normal interstate interchange, but it is not. This is the "intersection" of two major highways that basically take me everywhere I need to go, or "stacks" as they're appropriately called here. Oh, and it's the least impressive of the Austin stacks. To make things more confusing, these highways are generally aligned with feeder roads which serve the same purpose of the highway as far as lanes and speeds are concerned, but also provide access to businesses and other roads. It's rather confusing to explain in words and pictures, you just need to experience the roads here for yourself. Personally, I like to think of myself almost as a road or directions connoisseur, because I enjoy driving and finding new ways to get places, and Texas roads provide a frustratingly irrational challenge. My first few days here were spent yelling at the gps women for "recalculating," too many u-turns for my liking (which are basically a daily requirement for drivers here apparently), drastically shooting across multiple lanes in order to take the right road or exit, and even driving between two lanes because there were no painted lines to designate the lanes during construction.The roads here are a perfect example of how Texans pride themselves on doing things differently in an attempt to make it seem bigger and better than everyone else's seemingly more rational, simplified, and proven ways. But don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to hate, it is just taking some time to adjust to the Texan way after spending four years loving the way things are done in the South and even coming to appreciate FDOT's own ideas. Although my 22 years as a Floridian and Orlando native have been spent hating tourist drivers, 7 of which I myself spent driving/conquering them, I have come to miss them to a certain extent. After figuring out the necessary algebraic formulas for navigating the Austin roads sans accidents and a gps, I still feel that my local drives are lacking in a few things. 1) Texas drivers are not aggressive. Aggressive and defensive driving is a must when driving, isn't that what they teach you in drivers ed? Well Texas drivers are just too nice. This was true in South Carolina, but it didn't stand out as much to me probably because I never needed to get on the interstate in Clemson, which does not apply at all here in Austin.
For example, my daily drive to campus has become somewhat frustrating. Last week I tested the drive midday to learn the route and see its optimum driving potential, i.e. the fastest I could get there. It isn't more than a 10 minute drive with no traffic. Then last Thursday I had to be on campus at 830am for orientation. I knew this my drive would unfortunately occur during the morning rush so I gave myself plenty of time and it only took about 25 minutes at the most with traffic and I had allotted myself 45, so no prob right? Well today for the first day of class, I allotted myself 30 min to arrive 10 min before my 8am. Bad idea. I forgot to take into account Texans' slow and passive driving style. Let's just say driving in an exit-only lane in order to pass the snail's pace traffic quickly became my new driving-style a la Texas. I have always found this to be an incredibly rude driving style, but if it means saving me approximately 10 minutes in my morning commute, I think it is a grand idea. It also makes me feel a little like I'm sticking it to the man, well at least the TxDOT.
Well, I didn't see this first blog taking this turn, but I guess I just needed to post some freeway frustrations. I know I will have lots more to say in the coming weeks and months about my move and new life here in Austin. A lot of different emotions and ideas are flowing trying to meld my southern comforts courtesy of Clemson, with my Florida roots and my new Texas trails. And hopefully in the next week or so I will have completed adjusted to the time change. That might have to be my next posting--frustrations and adjustments to the central time zone. One hour makes a whole lot of a difference, I'm just saying.
