Crazy Weather,..."CRAZILY" Good BBQ

I like to point out one thing before I babble on about today. It was crazy. Furthermore, the weather forecasters were crazier, but maybe we just picked the wrong days to be at places. On the day we leave Houston, its weather was bright, sunny, and glamorous without any thunderstorms. Why, because the thunderstorm decided to travel alongside us to Atlanta. What even.

Ready for another awesome day!

I was the first to wake up from our double-turned-triple room but Joanne heard my lovely loud cookadoodle-doo alarm and decided it was the right time to be awake. I finally felt how precious sleep was after that intense day yesterday of walking and tripping and stumbling. We mumbled in agreement and got ready for today's awesome trip to Atlanta (not you weather). We grabbed breakfast in Houston and crammed it all in since the wait for our food to come out was way longer than expected. Southwest did a great job today as we landed in Atlanta on schedule despite the various reports of having signs of potential thunderstorms around the area. The moment we landed in Atlanta, I felt the vibe of Coca Cola dominance. There were actually Coca Cola vending machines spread throughout the domestic terminals to remind everyone, whether you know or not, that Atlanta is the birthplace of the well-loved beverage. After getting our luggage, we were greeted with a rush of humid, sticky air. I was okay with this weather as summertime in China's WAY worse, but Rudy let out a loud, " Oh my God, it's so hot!" He then did a small dance to commemorate this feeling; nice one Rudy. While waiting for a taxi-van, a security officer introduced us to the immediate shuttle service down the street; she explained that we might have a shorter wait there. We got a van almost immediately and the driver was nice and friendly. He offered to give us a ride to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express, to drop off our stuff plus giving a ride to Emory University. That was convenient in many ways and we thanked the driver for his service. 

#Emory 2020? :)

Thankfully this time, we arrived at Emory on the dot. Scott Allen, a well experienced admissions counselor, was kind enough to take his holiday weekend off tomorrow and gave his undivided attention to us. I loved his presentation because he did not simply give admissions statistics or personal statement claims and comments, but a background of Emory and how it was made upon and how everything ties together. Their holistic view on your application revolves around these four principles: preparation, potential, personality, and perspectives; the four P's. Are you open minded? Did you prepare before applying? Do you have raw talent that you like to invest time in? Who are you? This gave me a better sense of what I should do to create a well- rounded application when the time comes. The campus tour followed immediately and so did the rain. Five minutes into the tour, it started raining cats and dogs on us so we took shelter at one of the libraries. Our tour resumed indoors until it stopped pouring. We passed by museums and architectural buildings that were pleasant to view even in the rain. And yes, the rain came and went throughout the whole tour but that did not stop us from getting the full view of Emory.

Picture within a picture

I am very glad that we finally got a tour done since the weather prevented us yesterday. When we got to the Duck which was the dining commons, I realized how hungry I was. We had breakfast at 7AM and it was already 3:50PM when my tummy couldn't take it. Mr. Hillyer was aware of our cohort's stomache and assured us that we will get barbeque once the tour ends. Elexis and I nodded in approval to BBQ instantly. Our tour ended with a bang and we decided to do a quick group photo. Did it come out well?

We beat the weather!

Our Holiday Inn shuttle arrived promptly and delivered us to one of the most delicious BBQ place ever: the Community BBQ. When we got there, the menu sounded delicious. I mean like, real delicioso. Because we were so indecisive, Mr. Hillyer decided to take the lead and ordered combos so we all could share and try more flavors. This turned out to be a great idea and boy I had to say that my links were amazing. The sauce was amazing too but it could have been hotter. Our California self kicked in when we saw how big and scrumptous the meals looked and decided to get our selfie stick out and take a group selfie with our foods. We were commented by a worker there and she said something that surprised us, "I've never seen those in action." I guess selfie sticks aren't popular everywhere? Anyways, we gobbled down food portions probably enough for a table of 10. The food was simply too good to stop eating. If you've eaten the coleslaw at Community BBQ, you will never want to taste KFC coleslaw ever, at least that's how I feel now. 

Yummmmm-y

Can ribs get any better?

This is the bomb

Without wanting to feel bloated, we decided to walk back to Holiday Inn as it was only a ten minute walk. This was a nice walk because the weather decided to let us off the hook and gave us some sunny time. The grass was lively as ever and everyone was tired yet happy from today's experience. We got to our hotel in no time by cracking jokes along the way. Our way of dividing the girls hotel rooms switched from yesterday's ro-sham-bo to today's coin flipping. Of course, Chiamaka who had to sleep on the uncomfortable steeled sofa couch, had immediately been placed in doubles room. One more slot in that two person room was in play. Both Joanne and I guessed heads and we had a final facedown. I eventually won with my scissors, but Joanne was in good hands with Elexis and Justeen so all was good. Since everyone still had some leftover energy from the tasty BBQ, we decided to hit the pool and swim. The pool was clean and this was a nice way to end the day. I'm sad that this is our first and last tour of the out-of-state trips but I can't wait until we land in Philly tomorrow. Here I come!