Hope you have a good time there, Marijan.
How long will your stay be? I'm sure you could convince your co-workers to have a night out on the town? You should bribe them with drinks on you.

(I didn't mean try to get them to take body-shots off you, but hey, whatever works!)

Thanks for the info. And no worries, if it was a tourist trip it'd be kinda cool, but I probably won't have a chance to hook up with anyone, let alone weird out under-aged strangers...;)

We'll probably be leaving on Friday. It might or might not be fun, depending on how the negotiations go (Americans are notorious hard-asses...;)) but I have to say, I'm looking forward to them a bit, if nothing else, I won't have to adjust my accent so people understand me (everyone I work with has a thick Italian/Croatian accent and look at me like I speak Chinese when I forget myself and throw out the round r's). And if we do go out, It'll be for corporate dinners with corporate douches...:\

Say. Can anyone imagine me in a business suite doing some serius corporate business...:D

Well in either scenario, you'll still be in a place you've never been, around people you've never been around, and for it to all be worked out without any funds from you (I assume) it's gotta at least spark the curious adventurist in you. Regardless of what happens, you're still fortunate to be able to do it. Most people I know haven't even been out of their own state, much less off their own country or continent. Make it fun, even if it's near impossible to do so!


That'd be pretty hot, yo.

Seriously? Yikes!

Neat! Sucks you have to go to Texas though :p:

In related news, I'm trying to study abroad next year, ideally in an English-speaking country in the UK such as England.

I can proudly say I've been to plenty of states. Hoping to go to London if I get the internship at last.fm headquarters :D

Yea seriously. Southern Louisiana for ya...
I was probably being a little restrictive with the demographic though...

Folks I know who're my age and older have usually traveled to at least 3 or 4 states that closely neighbor Louisiana. Still yikes.

Yeah Houston may be mostly conservative/Republican, but there are some cool people there and some cool areas. Sure it was build on oil money, but it's not like everyone's walking around in tight jeans and cowboy hats. Food is king, you'll find some of the best food of any nationality there. It's all about dining in that city. It's so damn hot most of the year, you just want to sit somewhere to eat and drink. Make sure to get some good Tex-Mex, margaritas and even some real Mexican food at a Taquaria! Those are definitely Houston's (and Texas in general) specialty.

Sounds like you'll be on the West side if you're by George Bush park. Too bad, basically the burbs. I'm not too familiar with that side of town though, could be nice but probably not that interesting. If you get a chance, I highly suggest heading inside the 610 loop toward downtown. Check out the Montrose, Upper Kirby, River Oaks, West University, Museum District (including Hermann Park) and Midtown areas. Memorial and Sabine Parks are great...take a cruise on Memorial Drive from 610 West into downtown, one of the prettiest drives you'll experience in Houston. Then turn back the other direction on Allen Parkway to River Oaks and Upper Kirby and the rest of the inner loop (all the stuff I mentioned above). I really do miss that area of Houston. Houston Metropolitan as a whole...meh. Much too spread out and ugly except for the man-made master developed communities- which look nice but fake and are rather boring unless you have a family. Even then, it's suburban life.

Enjoy your trip though! I'm sure Conan and Nonsubmissivewife can give you more accurate/recent pointers if need be.

Yeah, still yikes for sure. Reminds me of a guy I used to know from Alabama who was actually proud of the fact that he had never been north of South Carolina or west of Mississippi.

Haha.. I don't know why he'd be "proud" of that. I think the major reason why most people around here don't get very far out is they lock down region-specific careers (which around here is the oilfield) and/or end up with families and little means to travel far for the sake of traveling far when they've got their lives to attend to.
But I guess there is that "southern pride" thing after all...
You're from up north... Have you eaten your food? It's like cooperative, non-insulting, man made materials. ;)