World’s busiest airport. Coca-Cola. 1996 Olympics. 2^nd largest aquarium in the world. OutKast. Welcome to the capital of Georgia, the state I have spent most of my young life in.

Whilst in Georgia for the winter holiday, I ventured to the capital for a weekend to see one of my best friends, Grace, and her super cool family. Grace, who visited me in Budapest in 2013, is by far one of the most generous, loving people I have ever met – one example was the plane ticket she purchased for me to see her. Although my body does not quite agree with being above the clouds, I flew with stars in my eyes to see her again. Due to the fact that I am just going to refer to them by their names from here on out, let me introduce the clan (what I call them) now: Mark (dad), Denice (mom), Hope (sister), and Beau (dog).

Mark, Beau, Grace, Hope, and Denice.

Mark and Grace picked me up from the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport without any bumps, which was incredibly fortunate for all of us – I did not have a phone on me during my whole time in Georgia and Wi-Fi was sparse. We jetted off to the clan’s condo, located in the Midtown. This district is known by some as Atlanta’s “Heart of the Arts,” being home to the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Fox Theater, Atlanta Ballet, Music Midtown, Atlanta Pride, and so on and so forth. Being in Atlanta and in this district in particular was food for my liberal soul. After walking around Piedmont Park, a stone’s throw away from the condo, the clan and I went to ride Macy’s Pink Pig (a strange yet delightful experience). Our last stop for the day was Joe’s On Juniper. Clever, provocative signs littered the premises and iconic pop music blasted through the speakers.

The next morning after eating amazing sweet potato biscuits at Highland Bakery, we walked the Atlanta Belt Line: “This sustainable project is providing a network of public parks, multi-use trails and transit by re-using 22-miles of historic railroad corridors circling downtown and connecting 45 neighborhoods directly to each other.” Awesome art lined the trail (seriously, really cool art). Denice knew a lot about the buildings on the line, due to the fact that she is originally from the area. Hordes of people were out and about walking on the belt line, enjoying the nice weather. As I sit here in my flat shivering from harsh lows of Budapest, I am missing the cardigan weather Georgia had last month.

BIG AIR.

A beautiful nightmare.

After walking for a good two hours, I met up with a man who shares interests in the finer things of life like Britney Spears, Final Fantasy X, and Sailor Moon – Jesse. If you have been following my blog from the beginning, you would know that Jesse is also one of my best friends and traveled with me to Hungary back in 2012. His life is art. I have no other way of explaining it. We picked up another lovely man, Nadim, took some pictures and videos on Nadim’s roof, and jetted off to Atlantic Station to eat at Moe’s.

Nadim and Jesse.

All was fun and games with Nadim and Jesse until I realized that my compact camera (the one I use for videos) was missing. I have lost many things over the course of two and a half years: two bus passes, a debit card, a cell phone, a grocery store card, a purse + everything inside of it (the burglary in Slovakia), etc. We checked Jesse’s car, my purse and pockets, then went back to Moe’s to ask about the camera – all I got was a sympathetic, “Mami… no, no.” The cashier basically was telling me that if I lost a camera in Atlantic Station that there was no hope for its return. Holding onto a sliver of hope, we drove back to Nadim’s. I could have sworn that I grabbed the camera, but the men were persistent. As Jesse parked the car, Nadim and I ran to the roof. LOW AND BEHOLD it was there in all of its black, steel casing glory. I screamed (in excitement of course), but Nadim said that it sounded like I was being accosted. I managed to throw in a few casual “woos,” but they probably weren’t that convincing. Let me now add that five minutes after we grabbed my camera it started raining. Oh, how the stars aligned for me!

Upon returning to the clan, we dined then went to Garden Lights, located at the botanical garden. Luckily knowing the weather at all times is one of vices, because I was fully prepared for the rain that came that night. The lights were magical – my favorite was definitely the forest. If you have gone, let me know which section was your number one!

The day Grace and I left Atlanta (she had a flight to Raleigh, North Carolina and I flew back to Savannah, Georgia), we had a relatively lazy Sunday. Yes, we woke up at 6AM to go see our friends, Doug and Phil, but I slept for most of that visit… I had been on the move for a week straight, so it was nice to have a down day. Seeing Grace and her family was an absolute treat – you guys have always been so good to me. xoxo love you guys!

Expect two more posts from my time in Georgia: one highlighting my time on Cumberland Island and the other in Savannah!

A Lesson From Miss Jennifer: Do not place black steel cameras on black steel poles.