Texas Tech University

Spring Break Trip - 2016


International Student Life took 23 students on a trip to Central Texas to enjoy the diversity of Texas. The Texas Tech Center at Junction is the perfect location for spring break. The Center is located on a bend of the Llano River. The Center offers a great place to study biology in a hands on experience designed to stimulate the imagination and help understand difficult abstract concepts. The International Student Spring Break trip was designed to study and learn a different field of study.

Students from 14 different countries loaded up in vans to make the 4 hour drive from the Plains over the Plateau to the rolling hills of Central Texas. The vans were full of life and discussion throughout the drive there and back. Students' discussion ranged from culture to education to theory to recreation activity to religion and was inundated with shared laughter. Texas Tech draws the best and brightest from around the world, and the students that go on our trips have a lot to talk about.



Students packed up to visit the TTU Center at Junction in Central TX

These conversations and relationships continued to grow and deepen as all meals were being cooked over a fire pit. Students were greeted with the forest lit up by a new sun dancing on the trees and hills surrounding the Center and the fog rising up from the nearby river. Breakfast was prepared and cooked by many skilled hands over a large outdoor fire pit. Dinner was prepared in the same way. Breakfast burritos and “Cowboy Coffee” on one morning, and baked potatoes, burgers and corn on the cob for dinner. Meal time brought back the true culture of the Texas Hill Country and the meaning of “mealtime.” We planned meals that were slow-cooked in order to spend more time in conversations and building relationships.

Activities included tubing down the Llano River, hiking and exploring. Most of the tubing was gently moving water, but at the rapids, laughter and surprise echoed on the river banks. We also visited the South Llano River State Park where we took a hike to the top of a hill to catch a view only found in Central Texas. At night, we took the infamous, “Midnight Hike,” before going to bed. The Center has almost no light pollution, so even the Milky Way shines down in detail. Both nights of the trip the night hike took our breath away with the peace and calm of a starry sky and no other noise than the wind in the trees and the wildlife surrounding.

We plan on going back to the Center at Junction for the next Spring Break. We know that the peace and quiet of that place will welcome back students from all over the world with open arms.

Written by,

Chris Lemmons
International Student Life Administrator

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