Participating in Team Sessions

For the better part of June and July I was a quasi-intern in Pete Sessions' (TX-32) office. When I say quasi-intern, I mean that though I did help in the office a couple of days, I was first and foremost a participant in Team Sessions.

Team Sessions was something like a "camp DC" experience. Imagine the freshman year McDermott trip to DC with less friends of the University speaking to you and more friends of the state of Texas. All in all it was a terrific way to launch my six-month tenure in the Capital.

We toured many of the monuments and museums, heard from several locals (including Congressmen, lobbyists, and judges) and schmoozed with Texans and Washingtonians alike at a few of the countless DC cocktail parties. All in all I think it was the perfect way to get acclimated to living on the Potomac.

Pete's race last year, you might recall, proved quite divisive on the UTD campus (in more ways than one). For the half of the students on-campus who didn't live in Sam Johnson's (TX-3) district, it was a bitter fight between incumbents (thank you redistricting) Pete Sessions and Martin Frost.

Whether you agree with his policies or not, Pete was really nice and Team Sessions was a fantastic experience.

Visiting Buenos Aires and Puerto Iguazu

The weekend before last, I went to see the capital, and I'm glad to say that Buenos Aires and I have reconciled after our rough start. I loved the city, and the place we stayed was incredible. It was an apartment of a couple who rents out rooms, and they were some of the most interesting and kind people I've met! Damian is a carpenter and his wife is an artist, so they had redone their whole apartment themselves. It was in San Telmo, the oldest part of Buenos Aires, where tango was born. If anyone ever plans to go to Buenos Aires, I highly recommend staying there - it really made my trip. I took a tour of Buenos Aires to see all the must-see places like La Boca, Palermo, Puerto Madero, La Recoleta, and of course Avenida 9 de Julio, one of the 3 widest streets in the world. I also went to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, the fine arts museum, several markets that are world-famous, and had some excellent steak! But the highlight of the trip was meeting up with Mom for a day when she arrived to study in Buenos Aires. We had a great time together, but I was still glad to return to Cordoba on Monday, which has really begun to feel like my home here in Argentina.



Last weekend was unbelievable. I went to Puerto Iguazu, a town in the province of Misiones at the borders of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brasil. I met up with Mom in Buenos Aires and we flew to Iguazu, and as we approached the airport in Iguazu (which has only 2 gates and looks more like a little hostel from Europe than an airport in the middle of the rainforest) I saw the a dense jungle of the most intense green color that I could have ever imagined. On the ride to our residencia, Mom pointed out that if you walked 10 meters from the road you'd be completely lost - that's how thick the trees and plants were. We spent the whole day Saturday in el Parque Nacional de Iguazu, the national park on the Argentinean side of Iguazu falls. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I had looked at a lot of pictures of the falls before going, but my imagination didn't even begin to do them justice. In addition to the falls, there were more butterflies there than I have seen in all my life put together. We saw coatis, which are animals that look like a cross between a racoon and an anteater. They were not shy at all, those little guys will steal food out of your purse while you are holding it! We also saw enormous iguanas and even a toucan! On Sunday we went to the park on the Brazilian side, which we weren't sure if we would be able to do, since Brasil requires a visa from Americans, which we did not have. However, there weren't any problems, although my passport now has a stamp that says I left Argentina and returned but doesn't say where I went, since you can't technically enter without a visa. So according to that, I disappeared for one day... my teacher is now calling me an illegal immigrant. The falls were amazing, though, and if you ever get the chance to go, it's a must see. Apparently when Eleanor Roosevelt saw them, the first thing she said was, "Poor Niagara."

Reporting from Cordoba, Argentina

Que aventura ayer!

At 6:30 yesterday morning, as most Argentineans were just coming home from their Saturday night out, I sat on the curb outside the residence with Thursten - a German software engineer who goes to my school here - waiting for our guide Martin to pick us up in a van headed for Las Sierras Grandes de Cordoba. At 7 (right on time, if you're from Argentina), the van pulled up and I hopped in, still under the impression that the day I was about to spend trekking would be reminiscent of all those hikes I've done in the Smokies over the years.

Wrong. Way wrong.

You'd think after almost a month of living in a country where it's not unusual to see dogs walking on roofs of stores or restaurants, where the men hiss at women instead of whistle, where some phone numbers are given with 6 digits, some with 5,7,9, or 10 (still haven't quite figured that one out yet...) -- you'd think I'd have realized that everything is different here.

Trekking is NOT the same as hiking. Trekking does not involve trails or signs that say "Rainbow Falls: 5 miles," or even plans to get from the start to the finish, apparently. It does, however, involve holding onto a tree limb or rock or pampas grass or whatever you can manage to grab before you slip and roll down the face of the mountain. I'm not talking about one really tricky part of the trip - that was the majority of it.

So there I was, in the middle of the most gorgeous landscape I can remember having seen, complete with cascades, rivers, and ravines with unforgiving cliffs. During the day we spotted falcons, eagles, and even a condor. Our group of about 15 was being led by a ruggedly good-looking cliché of a trekking guide, who didn't seem to have that great of a sense of direction, as we had to retrace our steps several times when we were pointed in the wrong way. And every time we came to another cliff or peak and I thought there was no way we could be going forward - that we had no choice but to go back - there was no way we could be going that way! - I would watch as Martin skillfully maneuvered his way down the mountainside.

Just when I thought I had the hang of things (literally...I was hanging from things), one of the women in our group fell and broke or maybe dislocated her ankle. The "first aid kit" was fully equipped with Band-Aids and aspirin, but luckily two nurses happened to be in our group and skillfully crafted a splint out of two water bottles and my Italian scarf/wrap thing. There was no way the woman could go anywhere - it was nearly impossible with two good ankles! So while a few people waited for help to arrive, the rest of us climbed to the nearest road - two hours and three peaks away. Several firemen and federal police (the CAP, they're called here) came to carry her back up the mountain on a stretcher. I'm not sure how they did it, but it took more than three and a half hours. Luckily, she made it to the hospital just fine.

All in all, it was a very exciting day. Beautiful weather, amazing views, interesting people from all over the world. I'm not sure if I'll elect to go on another trekking excursion, but it certainly was an experience!!

Tango and horseback riding is still really fun. Next week I'll start my Argentinean art history class - in Spanish!

Four McDermotts study in Guanajuato, Mexico

Four members of the 2004 class of McDermott Scholars (Zac Cox, James Fickenscher, Rachel Markowitz. and Jordan Youngblood) spent this summer studying in Guanajuato, Mexico. Here they all are having a fancy dinner above the city, where the food was spectacular and there was always tons of it to eat. Guanajuato, nestled in the mountains, was particularly magical if watched from up in the hills while night fell and the lights began to twinkle.

Recounting a Greek experience

An overview of Santorini, Greece.

Υποδοχή στην Αθήνα, Ελλάδα or Welcome to Athens, Greece. Those were the words that excited me the most on may 25th after traveling for more than 20 hours to one of the most fascinating and beautiful countries of the old continent. Along with other UTD students and faculty, I spent two weeks sailing across the waters of the Aegean Sea and visiting the Islands of Kea, Serifos, Sifnos, Folegandros, Santorini, Astipalia, Nisiros, Symi, Rodhos and finishing in Kos right next to the Turkish border.



Our home in the Aegean, the Arethousa yacht.

Visiting a country with so many similarities to mine (Mexico) made me felt like I was right at my homeland. We sailed during the day for about 4 or 5 hours, and around dinner time, we gathered together to discuss a topic that each of us selected, ranging from mythology to geology and politics. I researched the importance and influence of Greek in the romance languages. As well, sailing techniques were part of our daily routine so I got to learn a little bit more about this fascinating activity (after dropping one or two fenders and a couple of mistakes trying to tie a rope…)



A panoramic view of Αθήνα (Athens) from the top of the Parthenon.

Having such a unique opportunity going around the islands and getting to know remote places with an incomparable beauty has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life. The breathtaking views, the friendliness of the people and the richness of the ancient Greek culture (and did I mention the food?) are some of the factors that made of this summer an unforgettable journey. And by the way, if you get the chance to get a little bit closer to the Greek Pop Culture of nowadays, try to listen to the song “My Number One” by Elena Paparizou. I am sure you will enjoy it, as many of us did wherever we went.





Approaching to the Island of Symi, the Aegean Sea.