Thursday, July 2, 2015

Pepsi is a Taboo

I looked at the time and it was 4:45 A.M. which meant that it was 2:45 A.M. over in the Bay Area. It was not dawn yet and the outside was still dark and the moon was still out. I had already had everything packed the night before so therefore I just needed to back my backpack. We met at the lobby around 5:30 A.M. and waited for our Super Shuttle to come. The good thing about leaving the hotel early was that we beat the rush hour and got to the airport relatively quick. After checking our bags, Mr. Hillyer gave us our plane tickets and Justeen, Elexis, Rudy, and I got a TSA pre-check so we went ahead of Mr. Hillyer, Jun, and Chiamaka. The Houston Airport was decent and nicer than Oakland Airport but wasn't as nice as San Francisco Airport. We quickly found a place to eat and ordered breakfast. 
Before leaving Hilton
After eating, we immediately boarded the plane and found seats. The flight attendant told us that the plane was going to have a full flight today. Everyone fell asleep right away on the plane so there was no chance to socialize with them. We arrived at the Atlanta Airport and quickly made our way to the baggage claim. We had take a train to the baggage claim. I did not realize how big the airport was. After three stops, we finally arrived! 

Our baggages came quickly and after everyone got their luggage, we went outside to where the taxi stop was. It did not feel hot in Atlanta but it was very humid. We took at shuttle to our hotel and then dropped off our stuff and went immediately to Emory University. The campus looked very nice and very European. In our info packet, it included a brief summary of Emory University and also a 25% discount in the gift shop. I bought a lanyard from the gift shop. From the info session, I learned that the university was found in 1836 but as Oxford College and then in 1915 it was branched off as Emory University. Both campuses are about 40 miles away from each other. We learned that Emory University helped found Georgia Tech. When the idea to start Emory University was drafted, the founder of Coca Cola, helped with the move and  Emory University would become an all liberal arts college. The admissions officer, Scott Allen, said that the trumpet and torch of the symbol of the college represented the "creation of knowledge and doing something with that knowledge."

When looking at college applications, the admission officers look at a students preparation, potential, personality, and perspective also two teacher recommendations are needed. Students will apply to Emory through the Common App like the other private universities. We were led by a rising senior at Emory named Maddie Clifton on the tour. Within a couple minutes of the tour, it began raining and gradually it rained heavier. We were led into one of the studying rooms and waited for the rain. The architect in the building was beautiful. and looked very European and elegant. After the rain stopped, we were led into the dorms and saw the dorm room. I was very surprised to see how big it was; after seeing how UC Berkeley's dorms were much smaller, I decided to use UC Berkeley as a rubric for the other rooms. The rain came back so we had to sit in the living room and Maddie informed us about life in the dorms. Many of the students decide to stay in the dorms for all four years but move to dorms that are more like an apartment complex when they are a Junior and Senior. When the rain cleared up again, we were led to see the chapel located on campus. It turns out that Emory is a Methodist college but you don't have to be Methodist to attend. Next to the chapel was the newest building on campus and it was the College of Theology. Anybody can take this course no matter what their major is. We were led back to where we started and the tour ended. Some of us bought gifts from the bookstore while others just looked around to see if they wanted anything. 
College of Theology
Dining Hall



As we exited the campus, we saw the Emory University sign as waited there for our shuttle to go eat dinner. The shuttle picked us up not too long after we took a group picture. We figured that if we were in the South, we had to try BBQ. We got off at Community BBQ (which is 5 minutes away from the hotel). Mr. Hillyer ordered us a little bit of everything so we all got to try little of everything. The food was very delicious best BBQ that I have ever had. This is not something that the Bay Area can offer and even if there is BBQ it's not as good. Since Coca Cola's company started out in Atlanta, everywhere we went had Coca Cola and not Pepsi. We asked the waitress if the word "Pepsi" would get us in trouble and she looked at us and shook her head. Coca Cola is the pride and joy of Atlanta. After eating, we walked back to our hotel and went swimming for a little bit. 

Tomorrow will be the day we go to Philadelphia and then celebrate 4th of July there. So far we aren't walking zombies and everyone has been very enthusiastic in the mornings. Thankfully we made it to Atlanta safe and sound and hopefully it will be same to Philadelphia. I have to wake up at 7:00 A.M. tomorrow so that I could eat breakfast at the hotel. 


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