My first trip to Atlanta

I was driving in Downtown Atlanta today and it brought back memories of my first ever trip to Atlanta.

Two of my girlfriends and former co-workers and I at the
rooftop bar at the Hilton in Downtown Atlanta

I came here for work in January 2011. We stayed at the Hilton and Marriott, which are connected by an overpass in Downtown, and our convention was at the Congress Center. 

The first night we were there we went to Gladys Knight's Chicken and Waffles. Since it was the first night our work schedule wasn't too hectic yet, so we were all sort of in party mode. Well, little did we know, no alcohol is served at Gladys Knight's, because she's Mormon. Who knew? Not me. Needlesstosay, we (me, ok, it was me) were very disappointed.
Then, I got green beans as a side dish and they were disgusting, absolutely inedible. A couple of my friends asked what was wrong with the green beans so I said I didn't like them and they proceeded to try them-- well my friends loved them. I had never had Southern green beans before so the flavor was totally off for me, but my friends families are from the Carolinas so they were in love with these foreign objects. I actually like vegetables and prefer them not to be cooked to obliteration-- lesson learned. 


Then, one night a group of us went to an Irish bar near the hotels for some drinks and I had an unusual experience in the bathroom. Two women were in there together, let's call them Big and Tiny. Big was mad about something and was just ranting and raving. When I got out of the stall they were fixing their hair in the mirror. I washed my hands while trying to stay out of Tiny's view of herself and when I thought I had blocked her I said, "I'm sorry, excuse me." Well, this was enough for Big to turn her rant on me. "I don't know what you're sorry for," she said, "What you should be sorry about is your ancestors having slaves!" She was a lot bigger than me so I did not educated her on my family, and it's nonexistent history regarding slavery, which is: 1) I'm from the North, 2) My family has never been that rich, 3) My dad's side is Pennsylvania Dutch, who historically never owned slaves, 4) The majority of my mom's side didn't get to the U.S. until well into the 20th century and anyone who was here before that refer back to #2. Anyway, I got back to my table and told my friends what I'd experienced in the ladies room. I turned to one friend, who is a fellow Ben Folds fan, and said I felt like I was in "Rockin' the Suburbs." (Ben Folds is from Chapel Hill, NC and the line of the song I related to is: In a haze these days, I pull up to the stoplight, I can feel that something's not right, I can feel that someone's blasting me with hate and bass, Sending dirty vibes my way, Cause my great great great great grandad, Made someone's great great great great grandaddys slaves, It wasn't my idea...) 

A pic of the Atlanta ice storm of January 2011 from CNN

Then, since Atlanta is nicknamed, Hotlanta, I thought it wouldn't be as wintery as D.C.-- boy was I wrong. One night while we were at dinner a snow storm hit. Getting back to the hotel was cold, wet and dangerous (at least for my one co-worker in high heels). The snow turned to ice and the entire city shut down. Our shuttle bus to and from the Congress Center got a police escort. The only people working at the Congress Center and the hotels were the few people who'd gotten stuck there and had to spend the night. It was difficult to get any food or drink to say the least (though I don't think I would have eaten those green beans had they been offered). After we worked a full day with limited substinance, we had to wait for hours (no exaggeration) to get food at one of the four restaurants at the two hotels (luckily, we had that overpass). We finally were able to order burgers from one of the bars and eat it in the lounge area. I still remember how good that burger tasted because we had to wait so long for it. On our cab ride to the airport to go home, there was still some ice on the highway, and for some reason our cab driver insisted on driving on it! I thought we were going to die. 

Handsome and I at the Georgia
Aquarium on my second trip to Atlanta

So that was my first trip to Atlanta. I never thought I'd be back. Seriously. But then a couple weeks later, the semester started and Handsome was in my class again and now two plus years later, here we are.