I visited Houston for the first time recently for the Texas Minority Counsel Program. The city reminded me a lot of Dallas, except downtown Houston felt more vibrant.
After a week full of networking, working, and spending way too much on Uber, I feel like I got a sense of the city.
Some things that surprised me:
- There are multiple downtown-like areas in Houston — specifically, the Galleria/Uptown Houston neighborhood is the size of a mid-sized city’s downtown.
- There’s a proper gayborhood, although instead of storm water sewers, they have open pits on the side of the sidewalk.
- The traffic is horrendous, particularly in the suburbs.
- All Omni hotels are not created equal.
- Houston has a suburban Chinatown.
- Downtown Houston has an extensive tunnel system.
- Our office is also downtown and has great views!
This was also my first time at the Texas Minority Counsel Program.
The TMCP is one of the largest CLE/networking events for diverse attorneys in the U.S. — it was a great opportunity to meet lawyers from across the state, including some potential future clients.
Now, I’m not exactly going around pitching clients as a first-year associate that doesn’t even have business cards yet. But it was an excellent opportunity to lay the groundwork for strong future connections. (That’s at least what I’m telling myself.)
Plane drama
One odd thing that happened during the trip is that a cop hauled a woman off of the plane in Washington D.C. — she apparently got onto the plane without going through security.
I have no idea how that happens, but the woman didn’t cause a scene or leave a bomb, so everything was fine. I also got to test out my new CLEAR membership, which is a lovely way to skip the line.
My trip was fabulous, and I’m excited to go back. Although I am not working on any Texas-based projects yet, but I look forward to returning in the future. Although next time I’m totally staying downtown and renting a car. 🐄
No Comments