Uncle Sam

I’m on an exchange semester at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in Atlanta. It’s been phenomenal so far, and I finally understand why all my seniors at SMU kept going “Oh dude, you have to go on exchange!” America is everything people make it out to be. And then some. There's a lot to write about this place. Not sure I want to bore everybody with the details! And I’m lazy. I’ll just direct you to my friend Ying’s blog. She’s been documenting her life as an exchange student here, and she’s doing a great job. And she's got a better camera than mine, so she has some great pictures there!



Some highlights of my semester so far have been my trips to New York and Savannah, seeing Tiësto and U2 live, and well just living in a house with people from 14 different countries. The business school is simply great. We have this “networking session” every Thursday, which is essentially free beer and pizzas. I’m definitely recommending that for SMU on my exchange feedback form. My professors are awesome, and there is no “I am your professor, listen to everything I say” air about them. So my classes have been super so far. Except that I made the stupid scheduling mistake of taking 10am classes everyday. Waking up is hard to do!

Getting around the city is a bit of a pain, if you don’t have a car. Taxi’s are expensive, and the public transport, yeah, lesser said the better. But we’ve managed so far. Most night outs end up with nine of us squeezing into a cab (usually driven by the ubiquitous Mike, or Muhamed, who are stories for another time!).

Atlanta is a city that takes great pride in itself. The southern culture really shines through. There’s a lot on offer for the camera-slinging tourist. It takes a little more digging to find gems such as Little Five Points, a kitschy neighborhood like no other. Eddie’s Attic is another such gem. It’s the place that made John Mayer famous, and it’s where I discovered the fabulous Ten out of Tenn.

I’m here till mid-December, and so are the good times. Flying to Chicago this weekend, and the west coast for Thanksgiving. (Vegas, baby!). Can’t have too much of a good thing, right? Except the song “I Gotta Feeling”. Tonight's always gonna be a good, good night. Get over it.