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Adjusting to Houston

As of this coming weekend I will have lived in Houston for three months. Originally from the Philly area, I have also lived in South Carolina, Colorado, Indianapolis and Stamford, Ct.

Houston is different. So different from any of the other cities I have lived in.

It's almost December and it was 80 degrees outside today. 80! It's coming up on Christmas time and they are decorating the palm trees at some of the shopping centers. And in the Galleria, the really big mall, they have an ice skating rink. I guess it's true what they say - everything is bigger in Texas.

After three months I still only know a handful of people in town - my coworkers and a few others. It makes for sometimes boring weekends, but at least it's easy on my wallet.

But it does have anything and everything I can think of. The shopping, the restaurants, the running trails and parks - there's always something for me to do. The thing is, I think the older you get, the harder it is to "make friends." I mean, really, I'm not outgoing enough to introduce myself to strangers at a restaurant or while I'm out running. And I no longer have teammates or classmates to hang with and I've moved away from everyone I've ever known.

Whoa the traffic. How could I forget the traffic? I thought Ct was bad. If you tend to have road rage issues or are just an impatient driver, then Houston is not the city for you. It drives me crazy. It generally takes me 30 mins to drive the five miles to/from work.

With less than 50 days until the Houston Marathon I won't have much time to do anything. But I'm looking forward to what I consider fall weather this winter and taking a little bit of time to continue exploring the city. I want to go to the ballet, get lost in the huge Borders bookstore over in River Oaks, find a good Sunday brunch spot and venture outside of my general area in Houston and figure out what there is to do here.



Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 28, 2012 at 8:02 PM

    You need to get involved in a group! That's how I made friends here. I joined a book club, went to alumni happy hours and joined a running club

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