Georgia on my mind

Two parts to this post: Atlanta and Athens, both in Georgia (in case you were unaware). We'll start with Atlanta, since that's where I was for most of the past 6 days or so. First, let me say that Atlanta is HUGE. It also has a very poor public transportation system (unreliable buses), virtually no bike lanes, and some very sketchy neighborhoods that white people without bulging muscles and pit-bulls would do best to avoid. So it's a driving city, like a lot of big cities, I suppose. On top of this, city planners for Atlanta seemed to be schizophrenic and anti-collaborative at best, so the roads make no sense, with one-way signs and traffic circles all over. I got so turned around the couple of times I had to drive, it took at least 15 minutes longer than it should have to get anywhere.

And then there was Eric (the friend I stayed with)'s house. One of his housemates had an xbox 360 and a huge widescreen tv, and he had GTA 4, which I'd been dying to play for ages. Placed in this situation of daunting prospects at braving the roads, cold weather, and a fair amount of exhaustion from the past two cities visited, it made it pretty easy to just spend a lot of time during the days sitting in front of the tube playing video games. And it was glorious. I really didn't feel like I was missing much, maybe there were things to do around town, but they all cost money and I'm trying to conserve, so whatever. It'd been a while since I'd been a couch potato, so what the hell, I thought, let's take a break.

Friday night, Eric and I went out on the town. Little 5 Points, The Clermont Lounge, and the Majestic Diner. Little 5 Points was interesting, certainly a very eclectic mix of people, but all the bars were packed and we didn't feel like standing, so we walked around for a bit and then headed off to another bar down the road that was less crowded to play Battleship and drink beer.

The Clermont Lounge was a trip, to say the least. Apparently a mainstay of seedy Atlanta culture, this was definitely the fugliest strip club I've ever seen. Now, I would certainly say the girls were all attractive in their own ways, but they were definitely all over the age of 30, most of them were.....rotund, and I spent more time laughing at their antics than feeling at all aroused. It was great! The most interesting thing I saw was the surprising number of women in the crowd. Most strip clubs I've been to (okay, the one) have been pretty much entirely populated by men. Not so with The Clermont. I'd say there was probably 1 female for every 3 males in the crowd, it was quite impressive! Granted most of them were there with a guy, but the fact that they would even agree to step inside is a testament to the Clermont's draw. It's more than a strip club, it's a real experience.

Then there was the Majestic. Reminded me very much of Ann Arbor's Fleetwood, only a bit bigger with more cooks behind the counter and waitresses in front. And they served grits with pretty much everything. It made me happy.

We also went over to a friend of Eric's' house for the Superbowl on Sunday, which was quite the fun time, I must say. The condo building he lived in was a ridiculous fortress, with requirements to phone the desk once at the gate to the parking lot and once to get into the building. Considering its location smack dab in the middle of downtown, I suppose I can understand the security precautions, but it was wild nonetheless. During the game we pulled out the poker table and played an epic series of poker rounds. It started with 8 players and ended with 1, and I'd say the game took about 4 and a half hours total. I actually made it to the final four, and if I had stayed in for one more elimination I would have actually won money (something that I've never accomplished in a poker game before), but alas it was not to be. Eric took me out on an extremely close hand (he had king-queen I had king-jack, the first card to come up in the flop was a jack, but then the queen came out on the river. It was intense!). I also found out that evening that Georgia still has a no-alcohol on Sundays rule, which I found surprising. Thankfully the guys had thought ahead and there was plenty of booze to keep us satisfied.

So that was pretty much my experience of Atlanta. Didn't get a chance to meet up with my aunt Sue, as they were super busy preparing for lectures and whatnot, so that was sad. But other than that, I think I had as good a time as was possible, so I'm happy.

Onto Athens. I enjoyed Athens much more than I did Atlanta, even though I was only there for one night. One thing this trip has made clear to me is that I am not a big city boy. I could probably survive in a city with descent public transportation, but growing up in the college town of Ann Arbor has definitely given me a preference for mid-sized cities that are walkable/bikeable. College atmospheres also help make me feel at home, which is interesting. Athens was both. And on top of that, it's warm and the people are beautiful, the food is tasty and the bars are hoppin, so what more can you ask for?

My couchsurfing host got a tummy ache after our curry-dinner-cooking extravaganza, and the guys we were going to go out with ended up going to a bar on the outskirts of town with a $5 cover, so I ended up roaming the streets of Athens stag for the evening, wandering in and out of bars as I saw fit. I tended to gravitate towards bars that were emanating the booming sounds of live music or had enough people in them to look entertaining but not so many that you couldn't even get to the bar. The best part of the evening was conversing with all the drunk girls. They're so entertaining!

The next day Cristal (my host) and I went on what turned into a 6 mile hike through a nature area nearby. It was quite the excursion, my feet were so tired by the end! But it was definitely fun just walking and talking and enjoying the sun and nature. Yay for uv-rays and d-vitamins!

So now I am in New Orleans, and it is yet another new and unique experience. I'm hoping tonight will give me a better impression of the town than last night, but that remains to be seen. I am now going to take a nap, since this town never sleeps and I have a feeling I'm going to be up late once again... Let's all meditate on me not getting mugged! Hooray!