exploring atlanta

1st - 2nd September 2012
This was last weekend before the semester started and a group of exchange students travelled to midtown for shopping at the Atlantic Station.  In the end though, I ended up separating from the group and explored midtown with Sunbear. On the Sunday, I explored both midtown and downtown by myself.

Warning: Image heavy.




I-75. By the end of the 4 months, I had been on this interstate more times than I can remember.

Stumbled upon this park with Sunbear nestled between homes in midtown. I couldn't find it again.



When I told people that I was going on exchange to Emory University in Georgia, USA. Most people my age didn't know where Georgia was. Truth be told, I only knew where Georgia was because Chris Lowell (who played Piz on Veronica Mars who was the best part of Season 3 {it was a weird season}) was born in Atlanta, Georgia and a simple hyperlink revealed the exact location of the state. I had to resort to telling people that I was 'going on exchange to Georgia, the state above Florida'. Once they realised that, they started to comment that it was in the south and to be 'careful'. Though, people who were older than me were aware of where Georgia was because the 1996 Summer Olympics were held in Atlanta.


Georgia Aquarium

Atlanta is also the home of the Coca-Cola company. This statute was in front of the 'World of Coca-Cola' museum. There are a thousand and one places called Woodruff, named after Robert W. Woodruff, president of Coca-Cola from 1923 until 1954 and a philanthropist: Woodruff Circle, Woodruff Park, Woodruff Arts Center, Woodruff Library, etc. There is overall a strong impact of Coca-Cola on Atlanta, especially at cultural attractions and educational institutions. For example, the business school that I attended was Goizueta Business School, named in honor of Roberto Goizueta, a past CEO and philanthropist whose foundation had pledged millions to the business school. There is actually quite an extensive display about him at the school though I can't remember 99.9% of the information that I read.

I love clouds.

Atlanta from the Ashes



One of the best playgrounds. Second to the one at Darling Harbour.

Skyline of midtown from Piedmont Park

When I went into Piedmont Park (which is massive! There are dog parks, picnic areas, sporting fields and trails), there were a lot of people. The demographic of Atlanta is as follows:
I am convinced that all the Asians lived near/ on university because if I was to explore any area, 90% of the time it almost always consisted of only African Americans. When I caught public transport, it was 100% of the time. I basically had a neon sign above my head that screamed, "TOURIST/ FOREIGNER" as nearly every local had a car and wouldn't be catching public transport. I used to 'play a game' where we would try to spot the other Asian or Asian girl. It never happened. I digress.

In the park, everyone was African American and in pairs and soon enough I realised that there were a lot of lesbian and gay couples which was slightly odd because I couldn't understand why there were around 100 couples. Eventually I stumbled across the sign; it was the weekend for the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Pride Celebration. Awkward; I was the only lone Asian girl wandering the park.

Atlanta is also known as Hotlanta in the summer simply because of the weather; 35 degrees celsius and 100% humidity is not great. Near the Fox Theatre, there was this amazing contraption (which was also present at Turner Field) where there was a massive fan and some water, creating a cooling mist. Despite the heat, I managed to walk a lot that day.

A walk that could have been planned a little better I do believe. I don't even think that I had lunch that day.

Atlanta Braves

31st August 2012
As part of our cultural immersion, the exchange coordinator had organised a trip to a game of baseball with the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. We had nosebleed seats, as they were the cheapest seats.








This was the day that I met Sunbear. It is a weird and amazing moment when you manage to talk to someone who has similar values and priorities. The baseball game itself was incredibly dull. I am not much of a sports fanatic. It was the first time I visisted downtown Atlanta and the seats were great as it showed an amazing view of the skyline of Atlanta.

When we got bored, we wandered around the stadium and Sunbear started to talk to a random man (as he does) who turned out to be the manager in charge of the fireworks and the three of us managed to get a certificate which said: "We visited our first baseball game". I am sure that they were meant for 4 year olds. The other memorable moment was the fireworks. There were fireworks at the end of the game however all the exchange students had left but I wanted to stay and watch and so the three of us watched the 9 minute long fireworks. It was interesting to catch the bus and train back to Decatur, a learning experience for all the future solo trips on public transport. There is something quite intimidating when catching public transport, especially when you are unfamiliar with the route.

Roller Derby: BSK vs SAS

I have been intrigued by roller derby since watching Whip It! and also a Cold Case episode which featured a victim who was a participant. A mutual friend had commented that he was attending the first bout of the season, however, for that event I was at work and couldn't make it. This time, I bought my ticket and left work early for the bout.

It has been bucketing rain in the past week and whilst it is nice to an extent, it is also a little annoying having to deal with puddles and splashes from cars/buses.










Overall it was a lot of fun. Intense but fun to watch it in action. The only thing that I was surprised about when the BSK did their victory lap was that all the girls were a lot older than I imagined.

And a follow up to my previous post. I know what I want and what I want is to let it go. To let them go. Tonight was a good night in a sense because it showed me that there is a life after. It was also so frustrating to hear that the mutual friend was treated poorly by the devil incarnate; it just reinforced my negative feelings against that individual. But the night was also awkward. Why? Well, we went to dinner and it felt weird as though it was date (which it wasn't). I am also never eating at Dixon Street again. By the time we got back to the city, it was already 10pm and I honestly wanted to go home. But he was hungry and we stopped off at Dixon Street for Chinese food (I honestly would have been content with Maccas). Not entirely pleased that I had to pay $19 (!!) for a tiny portion of Singapore noodles. Yeesh.

Manly Cemetary & Balmoral Beach

For the past 3 months (basically the university semester) I have been sedementary and glued onto a chair at home, on the bus or at university. Hence I decided to go on a walk. A long walk. A 11km walk. Though to be fair, there will never be a walk that will be longer than the one in Rome which turned into a 20km walk. Whoops. (I got lost. Majorly).

When I was overseas, the way that I planned my day was by attractions and to get from A to B usually involved walking down roads that seemed vaguely in the right direction. I couldn't really do that with this walk since I do live in the area and although I have never walked those roads before, I am aware of the major roads. Nonetheless, I wanted to visit two places: Manly cemetary and Balmoral beach.




Until New Orleans, I had never visited a cemetary. My mother was very superstitious and I can't recall the exact reason, but it was so extreme that it was 'wrong' to even look at them from across the street. That being said, cemetaries are freaky. The idea of walking near coffins is a little unsettling. I always hope that the coffins are buried within the parameters of the markers and I make sure to stay on the paths at all time. Not the eeriest cemetary I have visisted (Lafeyette would take the cake) but I do think it is odd that a public school was built across from it.




I saw bats. Bats freak me out. Is it because they hang upside down and that is unnatural? Or maybe it's the screeches? I am not entirely sure. All I know is that I saw bats on one tree and then I proceeded to scan the area and saw another 4 trees filled with bats and it creeped me out; there must have been at least 100 altogther.








I also stumbled across a flock of rainbow lorikeets. I was so close to this one, but then it slowly started to edge away from me in a very adorable manner.





Balmoral beach is not my nearest beach and the first time I visited was around this time last year. I had visited the beach  at night after a date. In hindsight it was a perfect first date (cosy Italian restaurant and ending the night with a walk down the beach and star gazing) but with a terrible person. Ah well.

This burger looked good. Until I took a bite. The biggest waste of $10. The chicken was 2mm thick and not only that, it was inedible. I feel that the chicken was either a) left on the counter and dried out or b) it was in the fridge for too long/ stored inappropriately and dried out because the chicken was stringy, leathery and un-chewable. Oh, sure there was maybe 1% of the entire piece of chicken that was edible. Very unhappy.

Also, on my hike up one of the steepest streets I have encountered, some hooligans (I am estimating 18 year olds) threw something at me. Well, I believe with the intention of hitting me but they missed. Not entirely sure what it was, a water balloon or something that had liquid. Calling me a f*cker is not lovely but I do believe in karma. Or as Veronica Mars put it, "I'm gonna run him over with my "karma."" But not really.

My legs are now extremely tired.

Chicago Day 2

25th August 2012

Apart from the fact that it isn't centred, I love this shot. Though the OCD in me is frustrated that the swans weren't evenly spaced out.

I had plans on waking up early to watch the sunrise from Lake Michigan. However my plans of sleeping went out the window and stayed up all night; the first all-nighter in my entire existence. Though, it was truly beautiful watching the sun rise from Lake Michigan, the sky changing from pinks to violets and to orange and yellow.




Finger prints galore!





I also found the Bean/ Cloud Gate which was mainly the only thing that I had wanted to see in Chicago. It was amazing and so much larger than I imagined. As it was 6am in the morning, there was no one around and I took many photos of the bean,  reflecting the skyline of Chicago. In hindsight, it was rare to be able to take a photo without any tourists milling around.

The streets were quiet as I headed back to the hostel for the complimentary breakfast. After breakfast, I headed out and just wandered. I headed down the Magnificent Mile until I was so tired and stopped at Maccas for a large coffee and a breakfast burrito. Officially the most disgusting thing I have ever tried. I headed back down to the park and tried to nap for an hour before meeting my Chicago Greeter.






I am not entirely sure how I discovered the program but I am very glad that I did. The idea is that a local Chicago-an would hold a free tour for a few individuals/ small group. I was lucky and I was the only person in the group so it turned into a private tour. The woman was very lovely and she took me around the highlights; Millennium Park, Art Institute of Chicago, into Macy's to sign me up for a free discount as I was a visitor and I also got to try Frango Mints for free. There were many more places that she also showed me (and I never got around to jotting it down and I have completely forgotten now. D'oh). Oh, she also showed me the place the Barack Obama and Michelle Obama used to work at (Sidley Austin). It was also the first time that someone (Macy employee) asked me this question: what is your heritage? Which is actually a brilliant way of asking someone their background without sounding like an utter idiot (should probably educate the Belgium/ Indian on this). I didn't take any photos because I was worried I would slow her down and I would look like a total retard. It was mainly because I was the only person so she was always looking at me and I didn't want to great a hassle. At the end of our 5 hour tour, she brought me down to Greek town (which was very interesting) and there we parted.

In addition to teaching me about Chicago, she also taught me a trick for conversions from F to C. Subtract 30 and divide by 2 (not exact and does not work for numbers lower than 32 {below freezing}).

I didn't try the deep dish pizza because the idea was a little nauseating. However, I couldn't leave the city without trying at least one of their famous food items: Chicago Style Hot Dog.

My Overall Thoughts
I loved Chicago downtown and 1.5 days was definitely not enough time. Chicago was so vibrant and diverse and I wanted to visit outside of downtown and the Loop. This page explains it all; there is just so much to see.

Would I re-visit?
Yes! Without a doubt.