Life Is But A Dream

Beyond Chinatown

This afternoon I beat the heat and drove south of downtown to Rice Univeristy. I briefly stopped to check out their campus and athletic facilities. My experience with colleges is that they are normally integrated in to a city environment. However, Rice, unlike most of the universities I've visited, is situation in a metropolitan part of town containing tall buildings, crowded streets, and non-university businesses.

On the trip I also found a store that supplied parts and consumables for the Narguila. This was a major find and will work for future purchases in the aforementioned field.


From Rice University, there was a great view of downtown. Through the haze of the heat, you can see the skyline of downtown behind the looming skyscrapers of the university.

Once one finds "Main Street," the major thoroughfare through Rice's campus, you can deviate from that road more often traveled and find streets familiar to any college student: student slums. It goes to show college is college no matter where you go or what city you're in. While I miss the easy-living lifestyle of Ann Arbor, I can't help but be excited for what awaits in America's fourth largest city.

It appears, from my short exposure to the city, that Houston was once a major player in international and national business. However, during the oil lulls of the late 80's and 90's, it delved in to a small depression. Now, with oil prices on the rise and oil companies thriving, the development and reurbanization of Houston is evident. I have hope that Houston will grow in to the hotspot for young professionals it once was.

posted by brent @ 5:07 PM