Jackpot

I absolutely love Austin.

It was a little rough getting in with storms and delays, but today was sunny and the temperature was in the 80s. I rented a little white Hyundai Accent and blasted country music as I drove around town.

It's been a productive day. I'm pretty sure I found a place to live. I also met with my advisor and have some ideas for the fall. I chatted with some grad students that I met during my interview here and found out that basically all the apartments I was looking at were in very dangerous areas of Austin (think guns and prostitutes) - hence the cheap prices. So I think I'll stick with the 2 roommates in the condominum where mommies stroll around their babies at night. I'll drive by this evening just to make sure the area is safe on a Friday night.

So since that eliminated most of the apartments I was going to look at today (I'm still looking at 3 tomorrow - just in case), I drove around and got to know the roads better - to the point where I can get to some places without a map. Oh, did I mention I learned to read a map for this trip? I did a drop-in class at a Yoga studio I found online and absolutely LOVED it. It is so much better than the studio I attend in Ann Arbor. Definitely thinking about joining in the fall.

I also spent some time looking up churches online. I found Austin Stone Church off the UT Intervarsity website, and liked what I saw. It's a mobile church with solid values and doctrine and a plethora of community groups focused on post-undergrad young adults both single and married. There's also a strong focus on theological training as well as missions and church-planting. I learned all this before I found out that the worship leader was CHRIS TOMLIN. Of course I still have to check the church out, and having someone so well-known could have its drawbacks, but I feel like I just hit jackpot.