Atlanta -- my new home!
First, I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome! Special thanks to Carrie and Christyna as well as Laurie for helping me out with my first few days. I am honestly excited to be here and I like it so far. :)
I moved to Atlanta for both a professional and a personal reason. Professionally, I wanted to break into mobility and I am excited about doing device marketing (I am in 1055 Lenox Park, temporarily on the 1st floor but should be joining my group on the 3rd floor in late July). Personally, one of my goals in life is to explore the American South and there is no better base for that than Atlanta.
In some ways, I am imagining the next six months to be like “Shanghai” again; I am approaching it with a similar mindset to when I was studying abroad. Like I did during study abroad, I should be exploring the city and the region, trying different foods, taking in the culture and history, and hanging out and partying with my pre-existing cohort while also making friends with locals. Like study abroad, there is an opportunity to extend in the end if I perform well and if it fits my career and personal goals. And perhaps like study abroad, this will be a life-changing experience.
Given that, I do have a list of activities I want to do for starters and perhaps some of these were on your list as well:
Atlanta
[ ] National Black Arts Festival (July 12-18)
[ ] Drum Corps International in Atlanta (July 31)
[ ] Tour of CNN Headquarters
[ ] Stone Mountain
[ ] MLK Historic District including Ebenezer Baptist Church
[ ] The Varsity
[ ] Jimmy Carter Library
[ ] Lenox Square Mall and Phipps Plaza Mall
[ ] Chastain Park
[ ] Piedmont Park / Atlanta Botanical Garden
[ ] Georgia Aquarium
[ ] Lake Lanier
[ ] Sweetwater Brewery
[X] Atlanta Braves game
[ ] Gone with the Wind Museum
[ ] Atlanta History Center
[ ] Check out the Atlanta bars, clubs, and speakeasies
[ ] Try more Southern food
Weekend Trip Options in the South
[ ] Go to a SEC football game (UGA?)
[ ] Savannah, GA
[ ] Charleston, SC
[ ] Nashville, TN
[ ] New Orleans, LA
[ ] Miami, FL
[ ] Memphis, TN
[ ] Hilton Head or Myrtle Beach, SC
[ ] Asheville, NC
[ ] Charlotte, NC
[ ] Great Smoky Mountains
[ ] Jacksonville, FL
[ ] Tampa, FL
I would be more than happy to help organize the weekend trips. Let me know if you’re interested in doing any of the activities in either category and we can plan to do them together!
-Kevin
P.S. Sorry if I missed anyone! I just got here and am honestly shocked at how many LDPs are in Atlanta. I’ll keep track of everyone eventually!
