Labor Day and Dallas!

Hey, lovely people!

Last weekend was one of the most relaxing weekends so far since I am in the States. I visited Galveston, Texas where I spent a whole day on the beach of the Gulf of Mexico. Weather and water temperature was perfect! Probably in 2 weeks, I will have the chance to visit again!

This week was quite busy as usual. The week started with Labor-Day. This is the celebration of work and it is a Holiday, just like the 1st of May in Romania or Hungary. On this day, and basically the weekend before, all the shopping malls and supermarkets offer huge discounts on products. You can score a lot of good deals on clothes, electronics, gadgets, home appliances, etc. This Holiday is probably the second holiday after the Black Friday madness where you can truly buy products on discounted prices.

Of course, I had to do some shopping because of the deals. I went to a place called Allan Premium Outlets. Almost all the famous brands have a store in such outlets (Converse, American Eagle, Polo, Armani, Nautica, North Face, Columbia, etc.) The outlet features almost 100 stores where you can spend the time and money.

One of my favorite brands is Converse, so I had to stop by that store and I picked up 3 pairs of shoes. The only question remains how will I bring it back home, but I guess I will figure it out. Another one of my favorites is the Wilsons Leather store. Quality leather jackets for an amazing price. I bought my motorcycle jacket there 2 years ago and now I scored a leather motorcycle glove.

So basically Monday went by only doing some shopping. This is the only time I like to do this activity.

During the week I visited the University of Texas in Dallas. This University has also a huge campus and very modern buildings. Lots of students with Indian heritage attend this university. The campus has lots of green places and nice fountains.

This sign was posted on the campus of the university:

"Just like at home"... am I right Mr. Bolojan? (the mayor of our city who only cuts down trees and never want to replant one). You should take example!

Some fun facts about this university:
1. The number of students: ~30.000
2. Tuition/year: 15.000 USD
3. Housing/year: 6.000 USD
4. Parking/year: cheapest 144 USD, the most expensive 396 USD

Alright, enough about universities. :) Let me write some fun stuff!

Last year we searched our good friend, Google, "things to do in Dallas" and among the results was a free brewery tour. Of course, we had to try it out! So based on last year's success, we visited this brewery called Four Corners in Dallas. During the tour, you can have free beers, as much as you want, or as much as you can drink. They have lots of different beers, so I had to try as much as possible! One of the coolest things in this factory is that the cap of their beer can be entirely removed and you don't have to sip the beer out of a small hole, it is like you are drinking a draft beer. The beer is tasty and the quality is so good, I did not have a hangover the next day. You can check out their website (https://fcbrewing.com/year-round/) After the tour we stayed in the factory's pub and had a few more drinks. Great atmosphere and even greater beer! Every Saturday they have a free tour of the factory, so you can go and enjoy it! If you are in Dallas, I highly recommend this place!

Besides the brewing company, we visited the historic downtown of Dallas. Dallas is the city where J.F.Kennedy got shot. This first photo whit the X on the road marks the place where the president received the first bullet. A few meters away there is another X on the road for the second, fatal shot.

The following pictures were just randomly taken in Dallas.

You might ask, why there is no picture of Southfork Ranch, where the hit series Dallas was filmed. I have to tell you that I visited that place 3 times already. Once in 2012, another time in 2017 and 2018.
But just to make a clearer picture of the whole Dallas, I upload some pictures from previous years about Southfork Ranch. The most interesting fact about that place is that all the outside scenes were filmed here, but the inside scenes were filmed in a Hollywood studio.

Now I am off to San Antonio (my second favorite city in the USA, can you guess the 1st?) and I will meet with Laura and Derek and we will have a great time. Laura is my former host sister (when I was an exchange student in Texas back in 2003-2004) and Derek is her husband. They came to Romania in May 2019 and we did a small tour in Romania and Hungary for almost 2 weeks.

Until next time, have a great and productive week everyone!

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”