Fall break!
This fall break, I decided to visit Atlanta with a bunch of my friends from Vanderbilt. While staying on campus during fall break with my roommate last year wasn’t as bad as people made it seem (we slept in, have some good roomie time, and went to Green Hills for the first time), I really wanted to break out of the Vandy bubble and just leave Nashville for a bit… And thus, I made the spontaneous decision (well, not really, since I planned this about a whole month ago) to go to Atlanta. The thought of traveling and spending my fall break with good old friends that I haven’t really had the chance to relax with really excited me ever since October stepped in.. And after a few weeks of tests, I finally got my deserving four-day weekend.
The eight of us took Megabus on Thursday morning, and the whole trip took about 4.5 hours, which was bearable. On the way, my friend and I watched The Help (great movie for anyone, just by the way) and basically slept during the rest of our time. The great thing about Megabus is that if you reserve your tickets online in months advance, the tickets are ridiculously cheap – I paid about $20 for my round trip, which is such a great deal for a student.. My friend who reserved them earlier and only paid $10. Plus, the seats were quite nice, the drivers polite, and you even get to charge your laptop during the whole trip (which calls for a movie marathon on the way!). So for those of you who don’t have a car to drive but don’t want to pay all that money for a plane ticket, book a trip for the Megabus!
After a few hours on the bus, we got on the Marta subway station, and our friend’s mom (one of our friends live in Johns Creek) picked us up with her car. When we arrived at the friend’s home, there was delicious home-cooked Indian food waiting for us… Did I mention how much I love any kind of Asian food/dish/snack/whatever?! Needless to say, our plates were all clean after the meal.
We actually didn’t do much during our long weekend in Atlanta, apart from going to the Coca Cola Factory on Thursday, visiting the Mall of Georgia on Friday. When we weren’t outside being all touristy, we just stayed at our friend’s home, eating more good food, watching movies (New Year’s Eve, Five-Year Engagement, The Avengers), watching TV shows (Once Upon a Time, Jersey Shore), and just relaxing in each other’s company. The Coca-Cola factory was GINORMOUS, and my favorite part of the tour was getting to taste all the different soft drinks from around the world (surprisingly, Asian countries had the best tasting soft drinks, as opposed to Europe….) and the 4D movie. The Mall of Georgia was simply huge.. I am always genuinely shocked by the size of department stores and malls in America.. The ones I always went to in Shanghai or Seoul are nothing compared to malls like the one I visited this fall break. Atlanta is a beautiful city, and it really made me miss big cities like Shanghai and Seoul, which are the two places I call home. Although I’m not the typical big-city type of person, it feels nice to see skyscrapers, the subway transportation, and big shopping malls once in a while.
What I liked about this fall break so much was that we didn’t exhaust ourselves by being super tourists everyday, but instead took our time strolling around the city (and enjoying the summer-y sunlight and warm day), sometimes getting lost on the way, while also just staying at home, catching up on sleep and making fun pranks at each other.. Nothing amazing or super eventful happened, but the fact that I had good company for fall break really made my four-day weekend meaningful, relaxing and unforgettable. The fact that we had no class was such a relief, and having the time to catch up with my good friends was such a blessing. I guess it really isn’t about the destination, but the journey, and the people you share that journey with. :)
So… when’s Thanksgiving break again?
– Bonnie