by Isai Carmona | sports editor
Brand new students from out of state are already experiencing change in the new year as they accustom themselves to the culture shock that San Antonio has brought to them. Junior Austin Evans, along with his family, traveled from a small town in rural California to the big city.
“I moved just a couple days ago, on the second,” Evans said. “It probably won’t be known, but I moved from a small town in California.”
The reason for their interstate travels was based largely on Evans’s future.
“We moved to Texas since my parents really did not want me to grow up in a small town,” Evens said. “They did this mainly because San Antonio opens up more opportunities for me.”
The idea of choice when it comes to masks was one of the many differences he experienced after the move.
“There is an absolute difference,” Evans said. “At my old school, it was, ‘you 100% are supposed to wear a mask.’”
The COVID precautions taken in California were largely different than the ones held by San Antonio.
“There was really no choice about it, unless you were outdoors,” Evans said. “And that is like the biggest change that I have noticed.”
The major difference Evans encountered when moving to Texas was centered around an idea most natives share when it comes to the lone star state.
“The size is the biggest difference for me, because my old school was about five times smaller,” Evans said.
The biggest surprise Evans experienced when arriving in Texas was centered more around the people’s personality, than their politics.
“Also the niceness of the people; where I came from it was not like a good area,” Evans said. “Here there are just generally nice people and kind people.”
Sophomore Tehani Gorgonio, who moved to Texas from Hawaii in October, started in-person school this semester.
“I moved from Maui, Hawaii, since my family wanted to get away from the islands, mostly for my siblings and I,” Gorgonio said.
Like Evans, Gorgonio was also surprised by the difference in COVID safety policies.
“It’s definitely different. Here you have the option to wear a mask, but in Hawaii you have to wear it,” Gorgonio said.
Yet, Gorgonio enjoys all the different opportunities Texas opens to her, which she couldn’t find in Hawaii.
“There is definitely more to do here,” Gorgonio said. “Hawaii is small so there are not a lot of options, here there’s more options.”
After moving more than halfway across the country Evens is focusing on the good things Texas has to offer.
“I do enjoy the better quality of hospitality of the people here,” Evans said.
