All posts by rockh

Traveling to Texas

Snapshots
Group photo at the airport.
Our group before we departed from Indy!
Looking out an airplane window.
Such a clear day to fly to Texas!

We arrived at the Indianapolis International Airport this morning at 6am for our 8:05am flight to the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.  It was a much anticipated flight as I had been so eager and excited to travel to Texas for the first time.  The first leg of our journey was as smooth as is humanly possible, as we had no issues checking all seven of our bags, and no issues boarding all seven of us.  And as Leann so precisely put it, our landing was “literally as smooth as butter.”  When we arrived at the DFW airport, we indulged in a delicious breakfast at Pappasito’s Cantina!  Everybody really enjoyed the jalapeño cheddar sausage!  After a short layover, at the DFW airport, we departed for the San Antonio International Airport, where we picked up our (brand spankin’ new) rental van.  It only had 15 miles on it!

Group photo at the Alamo.
Our group at The Alamo.

From the rental car company, we traveled to The Alamo to do some site seeing, and then we visited the River Walk.  It was my first time visiting both sites.  It was so interesting to learn about The Alamo and to see it! It is truly a beautiful piece of history, aside from the sadness the event ensued on Texas in the form of many deaths.  I really enjoyed seeing cacti and palm trees at The Alamo site!  I have never seen either in real life and I was completely enthralled by their beauty!

Group photo in front of a canal
At the River Walk.
Group photo in front of cacti.
We had to stop and take a picture in front of the cacti.

After walking the River Walk, which was gorgeous, we travelled to our hotel to get settled

Group photo with metal statue.
Our group at Buc-ee’s!

in for the night.  On our way to the hotel, we stopped at Buc-ee’s, the biggest gas station I have ever seen in my entire life!  The place was massive!  It had everything you could ever want in a gas station, from every type of candy imaginable to decorations for your home.  We each got two kolaches, which were absolutely delicious!  And after seeing the amazing world of Buc-ee’s, we had to get a picture with Buc-ee himself!

After we were through exploring Buc-ee’s, we checked into our hotel and got settled in before visiting HEB.  What a cool store that is!  I have only heard about HEB but I have never been.  It was a really cool store that lived up to all of my expectations.  It truly is a store that sells everything!  I could not get over the cheese selection they had!  After HEB, we went to Sonic to get a quick bite to eat for dinner before settling in for the night to plan for our day tomorrow.

Today was such a fun day of exploring and site seeing!  It was a day of many firsts for me, and I am very much looking forward to tomorrow and the rest of our time here in Texas.

Haley

Fears, Worries, and Excitement

Reflections

As the craziness of my first year at the University of Indianapolis winds down and our departure to South Texas fast approaches, I keep asking myself if I am prepared.  I wonder if I have bought all the things that are necessary for the 12 days I will spend in Texas.  I wonder if I am prepared both emotionally and physically for this trip.  I imagine how it will be, but the reality is that I have no idea what it will be like until I get there and I am immersed in the work we will do.  I am both extremely excited and extremely terrified at the same time.

I am terrified to encounter a scorpion or a snake, but I am excited to overcome my fear of these creatures.  I am nervous about how hot it will be while we are there, but I am excited to be in a different culture and meet different people.  I have heard that Texas food is very spicy and I am not a big fan of spicy food.  However, this will be an excellent way to become more accustomed to spicy foods.

Over all of my fears and worries though, I am excited and humbled to be a part of this amazing mission.  I have a strong belief that every person on this earth deserves the same basic human rights outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  I believe that regardless of sex or ancestry, every person deserves to live a free and happy life and if an untimely death occurs, every person should be reunited with their family.  In my “Human Rights” and “Peace and Justice Studies” classes at Michigan State, we delved deep into basic human rights and how those rights have been denied to people over the course of our history.  We discussed how we might be able to help people who are denied the basic rights of life and we talked about how it seems impossible sometimes, to help people who are in desperate need of assistance.  I wish this world were perfect.  I wish that no human would ever suffer and I wish that no human would ever be left unidentified.  Unfortunately, that is not our reality.  The reality is that a crisis is occurring at our border and the world needs to know about it.  While I cannot stop this crisis, nor directly inform the world of it, I feel extremely grateful to be a small part of the process working towards change.

As the days fly by and our departure to South Texas rapidly approaches, I find myself eager.  I am eager to take part in this amazing mission.  I am eager to visit Texas.  I am eager to try spicy food.  I am eager to meet new people and get to know my team better.  And I am eager to better understand the crisis occurring at the border.  I know that the knowledge I will gain while in Texas will positively impact me, and I look forward to sharing this knowledge with my family and friends.

Haley