#47 Things My Friends Are Doing: Harrison

Harrison is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, one of my best friends in the world. So please excuse me while I sing his praises from the eleventh floor of my building for the next several minutes, or however long it takes you to finish reading this. In addition to being one of the most well rounded people I know--the guy is crazy smart, has taught himself to play instruments, and plays several sports (but he'll be quick to tell you that he can't play soccer, that's for sure!)--Harrison is also one of the nicest and most generous people I know. He's quick to help anyone out with whatever they need, which in my case has been a junior cotillion date, several good calming down talks, help understanding what on earth C++ means (it's not a grade you get in school, just so you know), and a college basketball education, among infinite other things. My point is, what makes him such an extraordinary friend is his constant willingness to do things for his friends and expect absolutely nothing in return. I will forever feel indebted to him because he's been such a generous friend to me the past several years. I know I can always count on him to calm me down, share in my troubles, and listen to me when I just need to talk about something stupid that I've probably talked to him about a million times before. Not to mention he's always willing to make a Whataburger or Ultimo Taco run and convince me to finally watch great movies like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, anything made by Disney that I missed out on as a kid, and, of course, Nacho Libre, which pretty much speaks for itself. And even though our schools might have a volatile past, this Longhorn loves her Aggie friend dearly, and I know you all will too!

Life at Texas A&M, contrary to popular belief, is not all cowboy boots, country music, and guys in army uniforms. While I do love boots and country music, I think I could be considered as one of the “normal” people that goes here. And yes, there are the occasional rednecks and cowboys, but not enough to make us regulars stick out like sore thumbs. In a sense, A&M is much like any other university: lots of normal people, some frat guys and sorority girls, a couple weirdos here and there, and a lot of pride. With that said, here's what I've done so far at school.

I'm an engineer at Aggieland, so I have my work cut out for me for the most part. Lots and lots of math to do is the norm. I'm a computer science engineering major to be specific, which means multiple hours spent in the lab on the computer. I thought it was cool coming into college being somewhat bilingual, as I spoke English and understood Spanish, but that was nothing. I now know four languages: English, Spanish, Java script, and C++.

I guess computer programming is pretty cool in the long run. The work we have to do now kind of sucks, but it should get better soon! Lately all we've done is write programs where a user puts in a temperature in degrees Celsius and it converts it to Fahrenheit...yeah, boring. But next week we start with programming graphics and begin a video game project so more fun stuff is on the way.

But enough about school! It's time for the fun stuff.

Like all schools in Texas, football is a religion at Texas A&M, and, this year, there was almost no better place to watch a game. This was the first year for the Aggies in the SEC, so I got to see my school play some of the best football teams in the nation in Florida, Alabama, and LSU. On top of that, A&M had its first Heisman trophy winner in almost 100 years: the first freshman ever to win the award. This honoree was quarterback Johnny Manziel, who, despite seeming a bit pompous when I met him, is probably one of the most exciting players I've gotten to see play football.

I think the biggest thing for me this year is the fact that I've met a lot of new people. Fish Camp in the summer brought some of my new best friends into my college experience. On top of that, I joined a Freshman Leadership Organization (FLO) called FORME (Freshmen Organizing and Running Mixed Events). Through FORME, I'm now close friends with 60 of some of the coolest people I've ever met. We all hang out together, go to campus events together, and organize our own events around campus. I've enjoyed both Fish Camp and FORME so much that I hope to be a counselor for both next year.

While College Station is no Austin in terms of music, we do get our share of good concerts. This year, I've seen two of my favorite country musicians, Josh Abbott and Randy Rogers, at Hurricane Harry's, Aggieland's country dancing club. But, like I said, the town isn't all about country music. Last semester I also got to see the likes of Awolnation and the All-American Rejects. I highly recommend Abbott, Rogers, and the All-American Rejects if you haven't seen them live. They were awesome. I love Awolnation, but they struck me as more of an MGMT type band: they're good recorded, but they just don't do it for me live.

Another category that doesn't get much credit in Aggieland is food. Yeah, we don't have as much selection as Austin, but we do know how to make traditional American food. Want a burger? Chicken sandwich? Look no further than the Dixie Chicken or Koppe Bridge. They are, hands down, two of the best bar & grill restaurants that I've eaten at. But the big thing in College Station is the Battle of the Chicken Finger. Layne's versus Cane's. College Station unique versus nationwide chain. Basically, if you live in Aggieland, you have to pick a side on which chicken joint is better. Personally, I side with Layne's, so if you like Cane's don't talk to me. As good as it is though, I've only had it once this second semester in an effort to try to stay healthy.

The first few weeks of this second semester have been jam packed so far. I've joined two basketball intramural teams: my coed team, The Barden Ballas (named for my ongoing obsession with Pitch Perfect), and the all guys team, The Shooting Stars (yeah, lame name...I didn't come up with that one). Playing basketball here at A&M has been an experience for me. While I may be tall in my hometown of Brownsville, 6 foot 3 is only average height in College Station. It's been quite the adjustment! Thank God we've got my 6 foot 7 friend on our coed team to help us out.

Well that's about my life up to now! It's got a nice little mix of boring and exciting things in it. All in all, I'm pretty happy with it, though! I love my new school, my new friends, and my new life. And thanks to Morgan, I've been able to share it with you. I wish all you readers the best in the remainder of this semester. Thanks and gig 'em!

What a great face for Texas A&M! And I told you he knew what he was talking about with that C++ stuff, unlike me, who only speaks a minimal amount of HTML!
Morgan