Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola & CNN

8th September 2012
I purchased the Atlanta City Pass which was a $74 ticket that would allow entry to: Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, CNN tour, Zoo Atlanta/ Atlanta History Centre and Fernbank Museum of Natural History/ High Museum of Art. I visited: Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, CNN tour, Atlanta History Centre and Fernbank Museum of Natural History. In hindsight, it wasn't really worth it; the only worthwhile places were World of Coca Cola and the Georgia Aquarium.

I visited 3 places that day, starting with Georgia Acqurium. It is the world's largest aquarium (or the world's largest tank) and I arrived fairly early, beating the rush and the crowds. I have only been to the aquairum in Sydney which in comparison is fairly pathetic. It is almost like a bicycle compared to a Ferrari.




This was one of my favourite part of the of the place. You had to crawl underneath and then there were certain areas that you could stand up to see the penguins close up.








Another brilliant part of the aquarium. After walking through the tunnel, it ends in a ginormous viewing glass. There were two massive whale sharks, hundreds of fish and a few large sting rays as well.




 

Overall, I quite liked the aquarium, especially the spa music although I will probably never visit another aquarium in the near future. Seen one, seen them all, especially going to one as large as Georgia Aquarium.

The World of Coke was interesting. The best part was the tasting room although I found it amusing that there were drinks divided by continents however Australia (and Antarctica) were missing. The worst drink was the infamous Beverly.




The CNN tour was very boring but I visited purely because I already had a ticket. I visited on a Saturday ergo there was no one working at the studio hence the empty chairs at the computers. Although the floor of the food court was very cool; there are yellow tiles for the location of CNN studios around the world.


Of course I couldn't live in Atlanta without trying Chick-Fil-A. Chick-Fil-A is also headquartered in Atlanta. The burger was pretty good and I love the waffle fries. I met an interesting gentleman at the food court. I believe the conversation went along the lines of, "can I get you a coffee? Are you sure you don't want a coffee? You look really beautiful. Okay bye."

"What'll ya have?"

The Varsity is an iconic fastfood restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. It has the world's largest drive in and serves overpriced and terrible food. Upon entering the restaurant, you are exposed to a typical diner setting and also a very long counter with the workers yelling, "What'll ya have?" repeatedly. When I went the first time with some girls, it was very off-putting. The restaurant was pretty quiet and there were 5 employees just yelling it repeatedly.








I went a second time with all the other exchange students before the Georgia Tech football game. It was completely packed and only then was it appropriate for the employees to be yelling. I believe that my arteries clogged up from the greasy food.

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.