26/3-15: A weekend on the countryside

Gucci bag

Versace and Louis Vuitton wallets - perhaps a Cartier watch

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I kølvandet på min vilde rundrejsen omkring Orlando, Savannah, Boston og New York (m.fl.), var min Spring Break næsten ovre. 

Først havde jeg dog en GRSP student weekend i Pelham ca 1,5 time fra Valdosta. 

Der bor ca. 4-5.000 mennesker i Pelham, så det er jo næsten ligesom Ry derhjemme - og så alligevel ikke. 

I løbet af weekenden var vi på alligatorfarm hvor man opdrætter alligatorer til at sælge til firmaer som Louis Vuitton, Versace, Gucci m.fl. som bruger skindet til tasker, punge, bælter osv. 

Farmen er den største producent i verden, og har altså flere tusinde alligatorer af gangen. 

Vi var også forbi et statsfængsel hvor vi endda fik mulighed for at komme ind og se cellerne i forskellige afdelinger, og stå øje til øje med de indsatte - godt vi også fik lov at gå ud igen ;-) 

Så kan man da tale om skræmmekampagner!

Om aftenen var der barbecue, fried chicken, fried alligator, og naturligvis mac 'n cheese. 

Vi var også ude og spille et par huller golf. Jeg vil ikke prale og sige at det gik godt, men det var jo også min første gang :-)

Pelham (og Camilla) Rotary har en lang historie for at holde GRSP student weekends, og for hvert år bygger de på deres collage som går tilbage til 1965. 

Det er tydeligt at rotarianerne her gør et stort stykke arbejde ud af at få alle de studerende helt ned til South Georgia og ud i en lille landsby, hvert år. 

Lørdag aften underholdte vi alle sammen med forskellige sketches om livet i Georgia, og da vi nåede søndag morgen var alle enige om at det havde været den bedste student weekend hele året :-) 

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Following my crazy traveling around Orlando, Savannah, Boston and New York (and many more), my spring break was almost over. 

However I did have one weekend left to spend in Pelham for a GRSP student get2gether.

Pelham has around 4-5,000 inhabitants, so it's almost the size of my hometown Ry - and then again, not at all like my hometown!

During the weekend we visited an alligator farm where they raise alligators to sell to companies like Versace, Louis Vuitton, Gucci etc.who uses the hides for purses, wallets and belts.

The farm is the biggest producer of alligator hides in the world, and they have thousands of alligators at a time.

We also visited a state prison where we got the opportunity to go inside and see the cells, and stand eye to eye with some of the inmates - good thing they let us leave again ;-) 

Maybe a visit like that will keep us all on the straight and narrow.

In the evenings we had barbecue, fried chicken, fried gator and of course mac 'n cheese.

We also played a few holes of golf. I can't brag and say I was great, but it was my first time playing :-)

Pelham (and Camilla) Rotary have a long history of having GRSP student weekends, and every year they build onto their collage, which goes all the way back to 1965. 

It is clear that the rotarians here work hard to make sure that the students make a trip all the way to a small town in South Georgia every year.

Saturday night we entertained everybody with sketches of life in Georgia, and as we got to Sunday morning we all agreed that it had been the best student weekend all year :-)

Ticking one off my bucket list..

I weekenden var der en lille drøm som gik i opfyldelse for mig - jeg var nemlig til NBA kamp i Atlanta!

Jeg har spillet basket siden jeg var 8 år gammel (tro det eller ej), og jeg har altid gerne villet ind og se en rigtig NBA kamp, og det stod højt på min liste da jeg fandt ud af at jeg skulle til Georgia i et år. 

Heldigvis var jeg ikke alene om at have dette ønske, og Nadine fra Schweiz som også var med i New Orleans, ville også rigtig gerne ind til en kamp. 

Billetterne var, som forventet, ikke billige - vi skulle nemlig ind og se to gode hold: Atlanta Hawks og Toronto Raptors, og vi ville også gerne sidde så vi faktisk kunne se noget og ikke helt oppe under taget. 

Inden kampen var vi på verdens største drive-in restaurant, The Varsity. Vi valgte dog at gå ind og spise, da vi faktisk havde taget toget (JA toget!) derhen. (Atlanta har rent faktisk offentlig transport - wow!). 

The Varsity er kendt for chilli cheese dogs (hotdogs med en slags "chilli" con carne på), og i øvrigt deres "frosted orange" som er en blanding af en slush-ice og en milkshake med appelsinsmag. 

Det var en fedtet omgang, og ikke umiddelbart min type mad, men nu har jeg prøvet det også :-) 

Kampen var desværre ikke alt for god set med Hawks-øjne, eftersom de tabte med omkring 30 point - til gengæld betød det at rigtigt mange udvandrede de sidste 5 minutter af 4. periode, og Nadine og jeg endte således på 10. række hvorfra sidste billede er taget. 

Vi havde indlogeret os hos nogle andre GRSPere på Georgia State University som ligger i Downtown Atlanta, og havde på den måde en god base for en fortsat god weekend :-) 

Hvis jeg lige hurtigt tæller så er to af de ting som jeg rigtigt gerne ville opleve, nu rent faktisk lykkedes i løbet af de sidste 2-3 uger, og det er uden tvivl blevet væsentligt nemmere at få disse oplevelser til at lykkes fordi jeg nu har adgang til en bil. Så det er altså virkelig fantastisk!

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This weekend a small dream of mine came true - I went to an NBA game in Atlanta!

I have played basketball since I was 8 years old (believe it or not), and I have always wanted to see a real NBA game, and it was on the top of my bucket list of things I wanted to do when I found out I was going to spend a year in Georgia. 

Luckily I wasn't the only one to have this wish, and Nadine from Switzerland, who was also on the trip to New Orleans, also really wanted to go see a game. 

The tickets were, as expected, not cheap as we were going to see two really good teams: The Atlanta Hawks and the Toronto Raptors, and we also wanted to have decent seats and not have to sit all the way up under the roof. 

Before the game we went to the world's largest drive-in restaurant, The Varsity. However we did chose to go inside to eat as we took the Marta there (woho! public transportation!). 

The Varsity is known for their chili cheese dogs and frosted orange, which some of you might know. If not, a chili cheese dog is a hotdog with a kind of chili con carne on top of it, and the frosted orange is a mix of a milkshake and a slushee with taste of an orange. 

It was a greasy experience, and probably not my preferred meal, but now I have tried it :-)

The NBA game was unfortunately not the best seen from an Atlanta Hawks viewpoint seeing as they lost by around 30 points - however, it did mean that a lot of people left the arena the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter, so Nadine and I ended up on the 10th row, which is where the last picture is taken from. 

We were staying with some other GRSPs at Georgia State University, which is right in downtown Atlanta, so we had a good base for a great weekend. 

If I just quickly count, two of the things I really wanted to experience coming over here, has actually happened within the last 2-3 weeks, and it has without a doubt made it a whole lot easier to actually get these experiences now that I have access to a car. Just to say, that is pretty amazing!