From things as simple as trying out a new restaurant to hanging out in the VIP area with producers and artists at South By South West, I did many things to expand my comfort zone.
On the first night, Friday, I kicked off my week by going out for ice cream and to Zilker on a whim with my best friend, Alina.
The next morning, my two close friends from Houston arrived at my house to spend Spring Break with me. We saw new movies at the theatre, went shopping, hot tubbing, and explored the nooks and crannies of downtown Austin.
After two days, four of my closest friends and I headed out to Lake LBJ for a couple nights. We spent our days there catching up, tanning, and avoiding the (disappointing) cold water at all costs.
We came back from the lake Wednesday afternoon and almost immediately headed back out the door that evening to see what was in store for us downtown at South By South West. This was my first year doing anything SXSW related, so I wanted to see as much as I could.
Because the music started Wednesday, it was crazy down town. We were surrounded by a frenzy of unique people.
To my right was a woman in a cowboy hat desperately trying to hand out flyers that nobody would give a second glance at. To my left was a young man on the street corner with nothing but a bucket, some drum sticks, and a small jar, creating a peculiar rhythm that people were dancing to as they walked past. Behind me, a group of just turned 21-year-olds giggling as they make their way from bar to bar. And in front of me, Red River Street seemed to stretch on forever.
We walked up and down streets countless times before calling it a night. Just being a part of the excited energy was enough for me, even though I couldn't get into any shows that first night.
The next morning my Houston friends left and early that afternoon I met my friend Zoe at the Urban Outfitters on the drag to spend the day watching free shows. I only knew one of the artists performing that day, Khalid, but I decided to check out the rest of the artists. All the shows were incredible and I headed home for an early night after a day of meeting new people in the crowd and listening to some new music.
Friday was a laid back day. I stayed home and got my house ready for moving and ended the night with the largest sushi dinner I have ever imagined.
Saturday was the day for the books. I woke up early and started my day by dying my hair a gross shade of neon green. Thinking about it now, it was a terrible idea to begin with, but my good ol' brain thought it would be cute because I was going to one of my favorite artist's shows that day. He has neon green hair. But trust me, a blonde teenage girl cannot pull it off like Mike Posner can. After about 2 minutes of my family making fun of me I washed it out and headed downtown with two of my friends for the day.
We spent the morning aimlessly walking around downtown. By some stroke of luck we ended up running into multiple music producers and beginner artists. In the evening we saw the beautiful and poetic Mike Posner perform at Waterloo.
Afterwards we headed down towards 6th Street and Red River to see what shows we could watch down there. As we were walking past the Viceland Bus (ahhhh i know!!!) one of the producers that we met earlier in the day spotted us and invited us into the VIP section.
I was so excited and nervous and got to meet so many aspiring artists, DJs, fashion designers, and public figures. Our time of feeling famous came to a stop when we spent almost two hours waiting to get into Stubbs for a concert.
We didn't let the bad news get us down though. The next day I topped off my unscheduled and unpredictable week with a couple hours of roller-skating at my favorite childhood roller rink.
All in all, I would say that my Spring Break taught me to let loose and see where life takes you. There's no time or place for stress when you are with people you care about.
No comments:
Post a Comment