adventures in atl

two things about atl:
1. transportation sucks
2. people are lovely

so my flight landed at 7pm last night and i took the marta into town, flagged a cab, and asked the guy to take me to clifton apartments. "at emory?" yeah. great conversation... super friendly guy. talked all about benin and learned a lot. but once we got to emory he looks at me for some direction. uh, you're the cab driver that lives here and knows where to go, right? wrong. luckily some super friendly freshmen said they could point me in the right direction and give me a map! yay! oh, silly frosh. unintentionally misleading. they eagerly take me back to the dorm, hand me a map and highlight the path i should take. so efficient. i get to my supposed destination only to find that they've sent me to clifton tower, which is not apartments... it's the student health center. shoot. i recall learning at an early age that when you're lost it's best to stay put. so i called my friend and host graham (who was busy playing/coaching in a very important softball game, hence my need for a cab in the first place) and left a message saying "i'm on a bench outside the public health building... come find me when the game is over." luckily it was a nice night. kinda well lit. safe enough. i came home and crashed.

next morning (this morning) graham dropped me off at candler (by the way i'm in atlanta looking at divinity schools, forgot to mention that) at 6:45 on his way to work at the hospital. my appointment was at 8:15. did i mention i was tired? but actually it was cool watching the sun come up and i felt pretty good about life over all.

great visit. great class. love the school.

part 2 was a visit at columbia theological seminary, which is only 5 miles from candler. no biggie. i take the emory shuttle to the bus station and call a cab. after about 15 minutes (at least i got some sun) i called columbia to say i was waiting for a cab, and didn't think it would show. what is it with cabs in atl?!?! a sweet little lady in the admissions office came and picked me up (like i said, lovely people) and i had yet another great visit.

luckily, the guy in columbia's development office is a wlu grad (and thus a gentleman, of course) and offered to drive me home after my interview... so no travel woes there.

and now i'm ready for a nap. and some time to actually catch up with my dear friend.

come to atl. enjoy the people. avoid the cabs.

ps emily saliers' (of indigo girls) dad taught my class this morning, and opened it in prayer. how cool is that?