PEARL: A Vacation in Your Own City

Three of my best friends from undergrad visited me from Chicago this weekend. I love to have visitors – it’s a great excuse to take a vacation in your own city and do all the fun things you’ve been meaning to do for ages. Since Meg, Rada, and Karyl arrived in Atlanta late on Friday night, we relaxed the first night, running out to the 24-hour Kroger in my neighborhood to pick up some essential snacks – goat cheese, corn muffins, baby carrots, cheap frozen pizza, Champagne, and orange juice. This is where we first met Engelbert – a thank-you gift from my guests:

He is, in fact, even more fabulous than these pictures can express. And – I must admit – a little bit frightening. I’m still jumping a little bit every time I walk into my room and see him on my bed, but I’m sure that will ease up with time.

Saturday morning, we all woke up early and trekked over to the Highland Bakery for breakfast (http://www.highlandbakery.com/). Highland Bakery is a great brunch spot –you can walk in, put your name in for a table, grab a cup of coffee and a paper, and head to their back waiting area to sit and read the paper while you wait for a table. I think the best way to describe their food is that it’s good – the ricotta pancakes are light but delicious and the crabcake benedict is unusual …but delicious. The restaurant space is full with a great energy of happy people eating fantastic food without being cramped or crowded. When you’re in Atlanta, this is definitely a place to check out.

After breakfast, we rolled our stuffed selves out of the restaurant and headed down to Zoo Atlanta (http://www.zooatlanta.org/home.htm) to walk off breakfast and see the baby panda. It’s a nice zoo, with elephants, meerkats, lions, gorillas, and lots of other exotic animals. We went to the petting zoo, bought too-expensive kitsch at the gift store, and got super cool panda tattoos:

After a full day, we headed to Joe’s Coffee Shop (http://atlanta.citysearch.com/profile/35878675).  Joe’s is in East Atlanta, my neighborhood, about five miles south of Emory. East Atlanta is very fun and funky – according to one review, it’s the “epitome of cool,” where anything and everything goes (http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A18645). Joe’s is the neighborhood coffee shop, with excellent coffee, a desk, and very rich cupcakes. I’ve spent many hours studying anatomy in that coffee shop, which certainly leads to some interesting conversations as folks walk by and see me studying pictures of dissected cadavers. Rada, Meg, Karyl, and I grabbed a giant couch and did some dramatic readings from Creole Caress – a romance novel we picked up from the local bookstore (http://www.boundtobereadbooks.com/).

After relaxing in the afternoon shopping in Little 5 Points (another great neighborhood you can read about here – http://www.l5p.com/), we toured the Emory campus and then got dinner at Saba in Emory Village (nice pasta place within walking distance of school – I like the pumpkin ravioli and the spaghetti bolognese – http://www.saba-restaurant.com/). We headed back to my house, where we re-grouped and got ready to go out.

We met up with friends from school and went dancing at MJQ, a club that is literally underground and nearly impossible to find if you don’t know where you’re going – above ground, it is literally a shack. It was a great place to actually dance, though, with two good D.J.’s running two floors and people from all walks of life who just want to dance.

After a long day, we returned home to crash. Unfortunately, my girls had to leave early this morning, but I think they (and you, vicariously), got a pretty good slice of Atlanta life. Now, it’s time to study hard. We’re in the middle of our pulmonary module, which is definitely ramping up on the intensity, but very interesting because the lungs are kind of critical (that whole oxygen dependence problem…) and a site for a lot of infections and pathology. We’ve got two weeks to the exam, which means the entire class will be stepping up the studying to get ready. Until next time… the very best to you and yours!