Goodbye Houston, Hello Atlanta!!!

On our way to the airport, middle lane

Woke up well rested and ready to go! 5:00 AM and my alarms go off, I had set them up to go off every 3 minutes to monitor my pace. I packed my things and checked everything 3 times then I made myself some tea and texted my loved ones to let them know I'm well. I walked downstairs 10 minutes before the shuttle arrived and John was the only one there. He called the others and they were on schedule. We walked outside and it was warm! The streets looked wet but the rain was gone. It felt really nice, 5 AM and it was warm and humid, the sun hadn't even come out yet! Everyone came downstairs and we were ready to go! The shuttle calls John soon after and we got on after they sorted out some technical difficulties with parking and where we could load the things and get on.

We got to the airport fairly fast since there was no traffic that early in the morning. On our way I noticed that there was a line on the freeway where it was in between both sides and there was undisturbed traffic running through it. It was really cool because it was separated from both sides of the freeway by a wall and it stretched pretty far.

Breakfast Buffalo Wild Wings 

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time, checked in our bags and got our tickets. Four of us got to skip the lengthy security line which was surprisingly short. I was glad I was one of them because I didn't have to take my shoes off or anything. We waited for less than 5 minutes for the others and we gathered together to discuss breakfast and flight time. We had a little less than an hour til our flight by the time we decided to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings. We ordered water meanwhile we decided what to eat. Since there was a lot of people coming in the waiter took a while to return and take our order. We were ready to order and so we did quickly for time's sake. We waited a while for our food and when it arrived we only had about 10 minutes before we had to leave. I finished fast, I was the second done, after John. Everyone was done soon after and we left. I noticed the bags under the table and since Jun had already exited the restaurant and her bag was there so I took it to her. 

We Landed On Schedule!

We got on the plane and everything was on schedule unlike the first day. The plane ride was sweet, I got to take a nap for most of the time and we even sang happy birthday to a young lady turning 10 and made a plane cake. We turned on the lights and shut off the windows and after singing happy birthday she blew the lights out, it was cute. We got to the right airport in Atlanta on schedule! It was awesome the airport was huge! There was even a tram inside to take you to the baggage claims and the gates. We walked to the baggage claims after exiting the tram and it took a while because Chiamaka's bag didn't show up till 20 minutes after. We thought we would have trouble getting to the hotel but we ended up finding a shuttle with an awesome driver who also brought us to Emory's campus after we got to the hotel and dropped off our things. The hotel had a really cozy lobby with a really cool couch.

Airport Art

We all took a bathroom and coffee break after putting our luggage away. We hurried into the shuttle and we were off to Emory University! Everything was on time and it was going great! On our way to Emory we couldn't but notice how beautiful the brick houses were. In California we didn't see that at all, unless it was fake brick. With the beautiful green plants in mid summer we were a bit jealous of Atlanta. We made it to the beautiful Emory campus and the first thing we noticed was how beautiful the buildings were with all the marble they had. We walked to where were supposed to check in for the tour and we didn't know we had to sign up online so john talked to them and we signed up right then and there. We were in luck because they still had space for all of us. Since we were early we went to the gift shop and bought some things. The 25% discount on one item we got from the tour guides and Joanne also let us use her Barnes & Nobles gift card which they accepted to get a discount on the other items came in handy.

Bipolar Weather

Elexis At the Gym Kicking it With the Statue

The tour started off with an awesome inside presentation from an admissions officer. He showed us a video about what life is like at Emory and it was an awesome video that featured regular students at Emory and what student life was like! Then we moved on to asking questions about admissions. After someone asked about deadlines for college applications he asked us who was exited to apply to colleges and I raised my hand fast, as soon as my hand was up everyone had their eyes on me and I lowered it back down because I got a bit embarrassed since I was like the only person who raised their hand. We learned a lot of things about Emory, it is a medium sized university with two campuses founded at different times. The second was founded by the owner of Coca Cola being the biggest sponsor and he's still the one who donated the most money to Emory. So as an aftermath the word Pepsi is a taboo on campus and most of this city. We leaned that the admissions officers looked for four major factors that a student must have to be accepted, preparation, potential, personality, and perspective. We can turn in up to six recommendations two of which must be from teachers. I asked about the early decision deadlines and he said November 1st-15th, I asked because I plan to apply for early decision to the college of my choice. They use the common app so that is very convenient for those who apply. Another good thing about it is that 92% of the freshman class make it to senior year at Emory. Finally I found the southern accent to sound really cool! It was awesome to listen to all the questions and answers and I learned a lot, makes me wonder how the Rice tour we missed because of the storm was like.

"Most beautiful architecture on campus"

Our Tour Guide Talking To Us About Food

We got split into three groups and we got a lady named Maddie who was a rising senior. She did a great job and kept answering every question I though about before I got to ask. We had a great and our cohort was ready for the showers that came at us! We all had an umbrella and I had a poncho. The campus was beautiful and the weather bipolar, it would. Rain then the sun would come out then repeat again, the only thing that stayed the same about the weather was the humid heat. We visited a freshman dorm and saw an actual room for freshman a to stay in, they were bigger than the ones at Berkeley and they even had a sink. The space was very organized and they maximized space by putting bunk beds and space for the person staying in the bunked under it. The cafeteria was amazing and the food was diverse and smelled great! We then passed by the sports building where they had a lot going on, from rock climbing to dancing, the sky was the limit! Finally we ended the tour walking to the building we began at and saw Dudley the King of mischief! He got to get students out of class after testing and he sounded like an awesome skeleton! 

Freshman Dorm Room

After everything was done we went to eat an amazing diner at Community BBQ!!! It was amazing as soon as we came in the mouthwatering smell from the BBQ screamed at us "you chose the right place!!!" We were all tired from the tour and were hungry and ready to eat! The staff was amazing and I even got a shirt from there. We had a lot of different food and it was all great!!! I tasted real mac and cheese for the first time and I loved it!!! Although the collard greens were fabulous it wasn't to my taste. We had a great dinner and we devoured the scrumptious food, it was to die for!

Best BBQ Ever!

Cooling Off

We got back to the hotel and John got our keys and we then got out our luggage from the room where we left it and went upstairs to our rooms. I again got a room to myself. I settle in my room and put music while I worked on the blog. Since I learned there was a pool I went first and there was even a sauna. I invited everyone to join me and they did soon after. Jun was the first to come and then she went upstairs to get a swimsuit.  We all had fun at the pool and stayed down for about two hours. We then got together to eat snacks and watch a movie at Joanne's, Elexis', and Justeen's room. I was exhausted and didn't finish the movie instead I went back to my room and went to sleep after calling my loved ones.