Take me back to Austin!

Today we took a trip to Austin with our Interns Mica and Enrique. It took us 1 ½ hours and about 80 miles when we arrived.

First, we visited the Capitol. It is a very huge, impressive and beautiful building! It reminds me of the Capitol in Washington DC but this one in Austin is 4.5 meters higher. I expected the inside of the building to be as beautiful as then outside. And I didn’t get disappointed! High ceiling, antique furniture made of wood and big windows that show a perfect view on Austin downtown. It was simply amazing. 

         

After that we went to Torchy’s. And guys this was the most delicious meal I have eaten since I am in America. We first got nachos with guacamole and a chili-cheese sauce. Those were the tastiest nachos I have eaten in my entire life! We also had a breakfast taco and a regular taco which I really enjoyed. I recommend everyone to go and eat at Torchy’s. It is so awesome and cheap!  

We also went to a graffiti park which was pretty cool. It was fun seeing all the pictures on the wall. After that we went Kayaking and this was such a great experience! The weather was simply perfect. On our right and left side were many trees and right in front of us the skyline of Austin. I was in one Kayak with Melita and we were such a good team together and had just so much fun. We both wished we could do it longer than “just” one hour. At the end of the Kayaking Maria, Persis, Chioma, Mica, Nadja and I jumped into the lake and swam.

This day in Austin was one of my biggest highlights during my time in Texas and I will never forget it.

"We're glad to have you here..."

If someone had told me in Germany that the mayor of San Antonio is going to say this to our FISTU group, I would have simply laughed. But it is the truth. He invited us to the City Council of San Antonio and we felt very honored and glad about that.

(Me infront of the City Hall)

After the security-check the mayor, Ron Nirenberg, and some of his colleagues came and talked to us. I really must say that every one of them was super friendly to us. For German politicians, it is very unusual taking time for speaking with people who were even not their citizens. They do not give us the feeling that we are less worth or they something better.

The city council’s meeting was about the budget for 2018. Many of the 10 council members have a Hispanic or Afro-American background what surprises me in a positive way. Texas is a conservative state so I am very glad to be in a city which is more liberal.

(FISTU-Group with the Mayor of San Antonio)

One of the council members prepared a short film that showed him talking to citizens about the public transportation system in Texas. We Germans were very confused that the only public transportation possibilities you have are just a few busses. We realized that when you want to life in America you desperately need a car. Even going to the nearest supermarket by foot took us too much time! In the film the people are explaining why it is important for them to have more busses in the city which drive in a regular time. It was very catching so see how the council member interactives with the citizens and I really wish that the German politicians also put more effort in talking to the people.

One citizen, Mr. Finger, really caught our attention. He is a very conservative man who constantly talked bad and disrespectful about immigrants. He wants the council to spend less money for helping poor people and immigrants. What I really liked was that they do not really care about what he is saying and still vote with “yes”.

This excursion was very interesting and gave us a view of Texan-Politic.

After the fire

"After the fire - A true story of heroes & cowards" was a book reading recommended by Dr. Noor. When we went to the auditorium it turns out, that it was actually a documentary, continued by a short book reading and space for questions.

I never expected, that those two hours would influence my life that much. 

Basically the story is about Alvaro and Shawn who tried to escape from their burning dorm. They were asleep when, the fire alarm suddenly went on. It was the third time at that night, so they first do not took it seriously. When Shawn and Alvaro opened the door they realized that everywhere  was black smoke and that the building was actually really burning. They tried to escape and the next thing they remember, is waking up at the hospital… after a few months. 60% of Shawn’s body was burned and 90% of Alvaro’s. Therefore the recovering process was very hard and took a lots of time. Seeing those two people fight for a normal life and their family members praying for them and supporting them was so heartbreaking and emotional! So what exactly did I learn from this story?

1. My faith became even stronger than it already was. What really surprises me. Shawn told us that while Alvaro was in coma there was a time when his condition became worse and the doctors were sure that he will die so they talked to his parents to prepare them for this. Alvaro’s grandmother was very strong in her believe so she prayed many times to God and begged to let Alvaro alive and let her die instead. From day to day his condition became better and hers worst. Suddenly the doctors found out that she had cancer and after a short of time the grandmother died and Alvaro woke up from the coma. This is a perfect example that faith can move mountains. And sometimes when your hole world is falling apart and people start giving you up, the only thing you can do is to pray and trust in the plans of God. Shawn and Alvaro said, they truly think God would not give a battle to someone, who cant win it. The strongest soldiers will always get the hardest battles. 

2. The second thing they taught us was to always look for exits when we enter a room we have never been before. The entrance we take is usually also the exit we take when there is an emergency. But in dangerous situations people tend to panic what makes escaping even more difficult. So there should always be a plan B for the worst case. 

3. Shawn ans Alvaro showed me that I should always believe in myself and never give up. Life is like a rollercoaster with many ups and downs. There will be so many situations ins our life that try to make us believe we cannot handle them. But this is not true. Although sometimes it seemed like our world is falling apart we should never give up. 

„After a storm comes a calm“ - M. Henry 

Neither the society nor a specific person should be able to bring us down an give us the feeling that we are less worth. Although 90% of Alvaro’s body was burned and his appearance did not fit into the expectation of our society the tried to life a normal life and gained self-confidence. We can never be replaced. No one has the exact same life-story so we should learn to love every inch of ourself and expect the unique person we are. 

After meeting other people who were burned and still live a normal life Alvaro and Shawn said: „They inspire us to live and we wanna live to inspire.“ 

Maybe the next one...

After being five days in America, there is a lot to say. But first things first.

I had to take the train at 12:45 p.m. from Hamburg to Frankfurt Airport. Sleeping was almost impossible, I totally forgot how uncomfortable those train seats are. The flight from Frankfurt to Dallas took us 11 1/2 hours and those seemed endless. I watched two movies, several series and played some games but it seemed like we will never arrive. That may be because of my fear of flying. I thought I will get a heard attack every time there were turbulence. Besides the airplane was much smaller than expected so it was very cramped.

(FISTU-Group at the Frankfurt Airport)

Arriving in Dallas there were only two hours left, till we had to take the flight to San Antonio. It my sound like there was enough time but it definitely wasn't! Going through the Security Check, we were separated into two groups. Some could go immediately to the baggage while others had to go through another Security Check. I was in the second group. Maria and I agreed, that we will wait for each other because we felt very lost at this big airport. Going through the second Security Check and searching for our baggage did not cost us much time so we were sure, that we will get the plane. It took us 25 minutes till we got through the customs duty and after we gave our baggage for the flight to San Antonio Maria suddenly realized that she forgot her mobile phone in the outside pocked of her suitcase. She was totally shocked, run through the cordon and tried to grab her luggage. The lady who worked there run after Maria and screamed "Miss! Stop, please!". She explained that it was already too late to take the suitcase back. Maria was very shocked and sad, what I totally understood. She was afraid that someone would recognize that the outside pocked was not locked and might try to steal her mobile phone. So we run through the airport and tried to go as fast as possible to our airplane. We realized that the boarding-time was over, 2 minutes bevor we arrived.

A man who worked there saw that we were very frustrated and had sympathy for us. He tried to book us a two seats for the next flight to San Antonio. After this we had a little bit hope and start trying to see the best in the situation. Which worked pretty well. We found out that besides us there were two others from our group who missed the flight too. As it is said "A problem shared is a problem halved".

"Maybe the next one..." was the sentence we said three times to each other because the plains to San Antonio were always full and we could not take it as it was planed. We almost lost our hope, were super tired and hungry when we suddenly heard our names called for finally taking the plain. It was really a long and hard way to the Trinity University. And this is why we were even more happier, when we finally arrived.
My first impression is that everyone on campus and even at the airport is super polite, friendly and helpful. There are so many buildings and the campus is so large that I can not even image how to remember where I have my classes.
Missing my flight showed me that I should always try to be calm because there are always friendly people who will help me out of difficult situation and there is in general no situation I could not handle. This is probably one of the best starts I could have had on this journey.