For seven of the nine players on the Texas women’s golf roster, home is a long flight away.
For them, “home” might mean a quiet town in the English countryside or a bustling city in southern Taiwan. But in Austin, their different versions of home unite through familiar meals, homesickness and the occasional conversation about a grocery store thousands of miles away.
Junior Isla McDonald-O’Brien grew up in Shrewsbury, England, a town about 40 miles west of Birmingham that looks straight out of “Downton Abbey.” Moving from Shrewsbury to the U.S. came with plenty of adjustments, and one thing Americans quickly noticed was her accent.
“I still get (comments about) it every day,” McDonald-O’Brien said. “Like if I go to the supermarket, everyone’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, I love your accent.’”
After three years in the U.S., she has picked up some American expressions as well. When she returns to England, those new words stand out just like her accent does in Texas.
“I now go home and say, like, ‘trash can’ (instead of ‘bin’) and my family’s like, ‘Isla, what are you doing?’” McDonald-O’Brien said.
Even as her language has changed, McDonald-O’Brien said having six other international teammates makes being far from home easier. She and freshman Charlotte Naughton, for example, recently bonded over memories of Marks & Spencer, a British retailer, finding comfort in sharing experiences with someone who understands what it feels like to miss the same home.
“It makes it a lot easier to know that they’re also missing home,” McDonald-O’Brien said. “Everyone experiences homesickness; it’s normal.”
Like McDonald-O’Brien, senior Selina Liao has found ways to keep pieces of home with her in Austin. For Liao, who grew up in Tainan City, Taiwan, that often starts in the kitchen. As a self-described cooking enthusiast, she prepares Taiwanese dishes for her teammates on the weekends.
One dish was a Taiwanese-style corn chowder soup, typically served alongside steak at Taiwanese steakhouses.
“It’s kind of weird because in (America) people don’t have soup with steak,” Liao said. “That’s just something that’s kind of interesting, but I make that, and I really like it.”
While Liao has brought a taste of Taiwan to Texas, the cultural exchange goes both ways. Liao has developed an affinity for Texas barbecue and country music, two parts of local culture she has come to embrace. She said adjusting to American slang and an unfamiliar school system took time, but Austin has gradually become more than just the place where she plays golf.
“I really feel like I have connections with Texas and (I’m) slowly feeling like this is like my second home,” Liao said.
Both Liao and McDonald-O’Brien have built lives in Austin without losing their connections to the places they grew up. For McDonald-O’Brien, that has meant finding a balance between the two, with home no longer belonging to just one place.
“I feel like I have two homes now,” McDonald-O’Brien said. “I have people in both places and memories in both as well.”
