Friday, July 6, 2012

Atlanta, GA

Me, Jake, Gary, and Ashley at the World of Coke on the American Idol couch.

Hello again!  Last weekend some friends and I decided to do a weekend trip up to Atlanta to see all the sights and hit up a Braves game.  Originally we were supposed to be a group of five but our friend Dewey decided to head up to Ohio for a week at the last minute.  He goes to GA Tech so we were supposed to be staying at his apartment but instead he just gave us the key which was nice.  So we make the four hour drive and arrive at his apartment to an angry security guard telling us that we can't park without a resident.  We call up Dewey's roommate, Bennett, (who we know to be the only resident of this apartment) and he kindly let us in despite never having met us.  As soon as we get into the apartment we find about seven more people all hanging out.  Most of them were Georgia State kids, one was a marine, three were straight from South Korea and came to Atlanta to learn English (we taught them how to say "nah mean?").  They were really friendly so we felt welcomed in no time but it was a little awkward just showing up without Dewey haha.

Anyways, we went to bed and woke up bright and early to start our day off at a tasty diner by the aquarium (I forget the name of it).  That's where we met up with Lydia who was passing through town.  We then intended to go to the aquarium but after a ridiculously long wait in line (while it was well over 100 F out) we decided to do coke world instead.  I should explain that we had CityPasses and got a ticket for the aquarium, coke world, a cnn tour, and two museums so we waited in line to pick that up which is why we could just go to coke world.  Anyways, Lydia didn't want to go to coke world so she left and we had THE BEST TIME in coke world.

First of all, they had the 2012 London Olympic torch and we got to take a photo with it.  Secondly, they had a coke tasting room where you could try coca cola products from around the world and some of them were delicious but the more entertaining flavors were absolutely disgusting haha.  Don't try The Beverly.  We also got to see the vault, a little bottling area, some really cool art... it was awesome.  Then we headed off for the Braves game.  I forgot to mention that we walked from Dewey's place to Coke World (about two miles) in the ridiculous heat and then attempted to walk to Turner Field but it was way too hot and we ended up catching a bus.  The game was great though because Jake had strategically chosen seats in the shade so we sat back, had some peanuts and bratwurst (I don't know what happened to the ball park franks from the days of yore?), and watched the Washington Nationals lose... :(

After that we were pretty exhausted so we took a taxi home.  Well, first the driver tried to drop us off at a strip club but then we told the guy, "WEST Marietta street, not Marietta street..."  Hah.  We cleaned ourselves up a bit and headed out to an amazing restaurant with Bennett called Ecco.  It was absolutely amazing.  We had Gouda with salami and oven baked pizza mmmmmmm it was delicious.  After that day we were simply exhausted and passed out really fast when we got back to Dewey's place.

The next day was more of the same.  We started out really early at the aquarium (the largest in the world) and had an absolute blast there.  The dolphin show: amazing, the whale sharks: awesome, the belugas: fantastic.  My favorite part was probably either the dolphin show (despite the story line haha) or the awesome tank that you could go under and have whale sharks and manta rays swimming over you--or maybe this place where an entire wall was just glass.  I could have sat in  that room watching the tank all day.

Anyways, after the aquarium we did a tour of the CNN studios.  It was pretty cool but not nearly as cool as coke world or the aquarium.  I'd never been to a Hard Rock Cafe which is where we ended up eating for dinner so that was a really cool experience too.  I saw them in nearly every city in Europe it seemed so I guess it was about time I went to one hah.  Our last stop was the mall so that Ashley could get her computer fixed.

We rolled out for Savannah around 6:30pm.  Ashley looked at the sky and said "do you think it's going to rain?"  I said, "yeah probably, those clouds seem pretty dark."  Well, it rained.  A lot.  Maybe around 7 or 7:30pm it started pouring and there was lighting all over the place with an accompanying roar of thunder for each bolt.  At one point the rain was so thick I could only see two dashed lines on the highway in front of me.  We passed by a jack knifed semi, a flipped over car, and saw a bolt of lighting hit a tree in front of us--it was madness.  At one point I was only driving 25 mph!  We made it back by 11pm to find that our apartment had no power but it came back on while we were asleep.  It was certainly an adventure!

We're actually heading out to Atlanta to finish up using our CityPasses tonight, woohoo!  Thanks for reading!

Holding the 2012 London Olympics torch!  We're planning on being a relay team basically haha

A CNN couch.  We like our couches.  Jake is doing the "Mother of God" pose in case you're in the dark :)

Railroad tracks and some cool buildings

City skyline with... I-75?  I-20?

Breakfast at a diner!  I had the grits and they were not so awesome... haha

The entry room

Some of Coca Cola's other products.

Tasting cokes from around the world!  They have many flavors.

Why thank you sir.

me and Ashley in a crazy camera (left) and the vault to the secret formula (right)

Gary (left) and one of the cool art pieces (right)

Gary burning himself while trying to take a photo haha it was 106 F (41 C) plus the humidity out so it was a rough day.

Centennial Olympic Park was apparently setting up for something that looked cool

They didn't seem to have hot dogs but I think the bratwurst will do just fine :)

Braves vs. Nats

A panorama attempt

Ecco's had the most amazing food I've tasted since Italy...

At the aquarium bright and early

That would be a whale shark--the largest fish in the world.

Big Tank

Friends :)

Belugas!

Penguins

The awesome lobby/epicenter of the aquarium

Cleaning Crew

He looks adorable but unfortunately his skin is poisonous.

One of the many petting ponds

Fish

The CNN escalator is only connected at the bottom and top making it the tallest free standing escalator in the world.

Hard Rock Cafe for dinner!

Jake got an awesome drink and glass.



Shooting

After my second attempt at shooting the 40 I managed to hit the target and then the wind blew it away so Marcus told me to keep it haha.

Ashley and I went shooting with our friends Marcus and Kyle.  Marcus was very generous and let us shoot his guns (40 Beretta, 22 Magnum Rifle, and a 308 Rifle) at a free outdoor shooting range in Richmond Hill.  I didn't/don't know a single thing about guns really and had never been terribly interested in shooting one but actually it was a lot of fun!  I did't really even know any people that owned a gun (probably because I've lived in DC, NY, and London....) except maybe some people at RPI who leave them at home so I guess I've never had the opportunity but I'm always up for trying new things and I'm glad I did it because it was (dare I say a blast?  pun intended?) a good time.

Marcus teaching me how to shoot the 22 Magnum Rifle

Kyle, Marcus, and Ashley

Moving to Savannah

Me and some fellow intern friends chillin in my apartment's pool.

Hey y'all!  My padre and I made the 9 hour trek down to Savannah on June 2nd (I realize I've been a bit slow on posting anything) and now that I've had sometime to settle in and visit a few places I thought I'd get back to blogging--especially since some UK friends said they want to hear about America. :)

Unfortunately I'm not allowed to take photos at work or anything or really talk much about it on the internet hah but I am certainly having a blast down here.  My job is really fun and interesting and the people I work with are great.  My roommate, Ashley, is the best--I definitely lucked out!  Anyways, I'll post more about Savannah itself in another post but here are some photos of the place we're staying in.  The company puts up the interns in apartments together.  It's actually in Pooler, GA just outside Savannah.

I've visited Hilton Head, SC a bit and we're going to Atlanta for a second time tomorrow so eventually I'll get some stories from those places up as well as some cool photos from the fourth of July.  We're also going to hit up Jacksonville, FL again and then roll up to Charleston, SC so there should be plenty more to come hopefully!  Thanks for reading!

Pa in the living room.  The place comes furnished which is really nice.

Supah nice bathrooms and my recording studio/bedroom hah

Kitchen/Dining room with laundry in the closet there