WHO is this Planet Longhorn I keep hearing about?

Planet Longhorn is a social organization run by students who are passionate about the world and dedicated to making the international-UT experience memorable for both our international and UT student members. Many of us have already studied abroad and had such an amazing time we want to give back to the UT international community!

Planet Longhorn organizes social events and cultural outings throughout the Austin area that are open to all students, not just international students. Through our events, we hope to create an environment where foreign students can meet some “good ol’ Texan folk” and for UT students to meet interesting people from all over the world!

A few of our Signature Planet Longhorn events include:

• The legendary Texas-Sized Welcome BBQ and trip to Midnight Rodeo
• Floating the River
• The Sixth-Street Bar Crawl
• Cocktail Party in downtown Austin
• Halloween Extravaganza
• and loads more!

We also provide services to the exchange students such as: airport pickups, resources for housing/transportation, and you know, the occasional trip to HEB. Lastly, we have a lot of casual gatherings as we head over to 6th street, attend concerts and music festivals, and get together for tailgates or at each other’s apartments just to throw a few back.

HOW Can I Get Involved?

As a UT student, you have five ways (thats a lot!) that you can get involved with Planet Longhorn.

The first way:

Fill out the membership form. and head out to our weekly meetings on Tuesdays, 7PM in CBA 4.332. These meetings are the best way to get to know the UT students who hang out with Planet Longhorn, and the coolest part about the meetings is that anyone can contribute whether its the president or a n00b. Since the officers of Planet Longhorn are always going abroad, or graduating, and because we’re a small group, its really easy to get yourself a leadership position in only a few semesters!

The second way:

Come out to some of our events. Events are the best way to get to know the international students studying about at UT, and they’re dying to meet you! How great is it to be loved for having an American accent… in America! We have two type of events: formal and informal. Formal events are our big events where about all the exchange students come out, while Informal events are smaller, more casual, and good to get to know people one on one.

The third way:

Sign up for our monthly newsletter by emailing members@planetlonghorn.net. The newsletter updates you on what shenanigans Planet Longhorn members have been getting up to, both at UT and abroad. We also highlight an alumni of the month! One of our lovely exchange students will divulge everything they miss/love about UT, Austin, and PL. You may even be featured in some of the pictures!

The fourth way:

Check out our international school brochures (coming soon). At the end of every semester, Planet Longhorn has our exchange students fill out a comprehensive questionnaire about their university and university city. We ask them questions like: what’s the best restaurant in town? where are the popular student living areas? how hard are the classes?… all the important stuff you can’t find in a Lonely Planet guide. We have this information compiled into a brochure from schools all over the world, so head over to our brochures page (coming soon) and see if we have your school!

The fifth way:

Take advantage of our Alumni Abroad program. This program is a database of exchange students who have had such a great time with Planet Longhorn when they were here, that they wanted to help out exchange students that will be studying abroad at their school or country. Just contact us at members@planetlonghorn.net and come out to a meeting, and we can get you in contact with someone!

WAIT… How are you guys so awesome?!

The best way to answer this question is to come out to an event or meeting! We, at Planet Longhorn, strongly believe in the personal benefit of studying abroad, and so we encourage all of our members to do so during their college career. Once you realize the challenge and excitement of studying in a new culture with sometimes a new language and even new beer, you’ll see how important Planet Longhorn is to the international students here!