In my last blog, I told you about the National Collegiate Honors Council. In this one, I’m going to tell you about San Antonio (as you can tell by the title…). Although we were there for the conference, we got to do some sightseeing, too. Two of the sights we saw were the Riverwalk and the Alamo.

The Riverwalk is one of the main attractions. It’s 13 miles (I think) of manmade river that runs through downtown San Antonio. Along both sides are numerous restaurants, bars, and a few shops for tourists. We went on one of the Riverboat tours, and the guide gives some of the history of the river. There were ducks everywhere along the river, especially near restaurants that give out chips and salsa. I fed the ducks so many times. One of them even ate out of my hand.

 

The Alamo is also in the heart of the city.  There are only two buildings left, one that houses a gift shop, the old mission, and another one, but I don’t remember what it was for. There was a lot of information about the history of the Alamo, including the people who died there (like Davy Crockett). The area was very well kept. There was a well in the back, old cannons, numerous flags that represent the countries of those who fought for the Alamo, and one really big tree with branches that grew to the ground. I wanted to climb it, but I thought the Alamo officials walking around would disapprove.

 Oh, I forgot to mention the Rivercenter mall. Of course we three girls went to the local mall…and dragged poor Dr. Villa along with us. The mall wrapped around the river, which was really pretty cool. Instead of one long strip, it was three floors shaped in a horseshoe. It was pretty exciting, because there were stores we had never seen before. Ivana and Timea especially enjoyed the cowboy store. Dr. Villa and I were hardpressed to get them two leave the mall. We were worried we might have to drag them out.

 

The only problem with San Antonio is that there isn’t any vegetarian food! They had barbecue, Mexican, Italian, Tex-Mex, etc., but there I could barely find anything to eat. At some places, even the salads had meat in them, and I had to ask for no chicken. Dr. Villa said he ate at one restaurant with a vegetarian menu, but that his food wasn’t very tasty, so he didn’t recommend going back.

On Sunday, our flight left at 7:00 in the morning, so we all woke up at 4, left the hotel at 5 and got to the airport where we decided to eat breakfast. Except Timea. Who wanted a cheeseburger. At 6:00 in the morning. She had to make due with a sausage egg sandwich; no one serves cheeseburgers that early in the morning.

Overall, the trip was really fun, and beneficial in terms of a learning experience. I think we were all less than eager to come back….all our homework was here waiting for us…