Atlanta
Sunday, June 15, 2008
This week was a really long and stressful week for me, but also had many highlights. The field trip to Atlanta was phenomenal and I believe that the students enjoyed it as much as I did. We made our way to many of the major attractions including: CNN Center, the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coke, The Varsity, and Morehouse.
While my experience at CNN Center was less than ideal I finally started to get to know one of the kids really well. D’Mon got into some trouble on the way there and was not permitted to go on the tour so we sat in the food court and talked sporadically about a wide variety of subjects over the course of the hour and a half tour. We talked about college, basketball, the trip, New Orleans, Atlanta, and several other topics. While we both missed out on the tour he was very disciplined for someone that I was told likes to cause trouble and I learned a lot about him and the background that a lot of these students come from.
The tour of Morehouse was a little dry and way too advanced for these students. It was most certainly a tour for potential students that are juniors or seniors in high school and the guides did a very poor job of catering to these students. Overall, I was very unimpressed by this stop on the trip and most of the kids and staff also seemed underwhelmed. The good news is that the girls, who went door to Spelman, seemed to have a much better tour and overall experience.
After Morehouse we travelled only a few blocks to the Georgia Aquarium, which is the largest aquarium in the world. It was a great to be able to share the experience of petting a sting ray and baby shark with so many of the laughing and smiling students on the trip. Their smiles truly lit up the aquarium after they touched the back of a shark, saw a penguin waddle over to them, or watched as a beluga whale flip before their eyes. After wandering through most of the aquarium we made our way to the 4D animated film. Personally, I had no idea what to expect from something that was “4D.” Just a few seconds into the show I learned what it is about. A 4D film puts you in the center of the action. When the fish made a splash water came down from overhead. Tentacle-like objects come out from under the chair as the fish brushed up against an octopus. The children were loving it; roaring with laughter and smiling every time a 4D experience, for lack of a better term, occurred. I couldn’t help but to smile and laugh a little myself every time one of the students reached out to try to grab the 3D object that was coming out of the screen toward them.
Following the aquarium we all went to eat at a famous diner named The Varsity. The food is extremely greasy and seemed to be met with mixed emotions from the students. However, it is a very large place with a laid back atmosphere and they were able to goof around and enjoy themselves for a little while before returning to the hotel.
The next morning we woke up and made our way back downtown to the World of Coke which chronicles the history of Coca-Cola and has historical Coke artifacts and information as well as current exhibits showing how the bottle Coke. They also had a 4D theatre that the students loved and this was once again my favorite part of the day. There is something utterly fulfilling about watching children enjoy themselves, smile, and laugh together. A close runner up to the 4D theatre was the fountain drinks from all around the world where you could taste 64 different types of Coke from five continents. One particular flavor, the Beverly from Italy, was talked about very often by the tour guides and mentioned in high regard. I had my suspicions. I immediately was convinced by four or five pleading boys and girls to go try it with them. While it was far from fantastic, I did not find it repulsive as some of the students did. I proceeded to make my way around to all five stations with two of the teachers and many of the students tasting small samples of each flavor. Without fail, if we came to a less than stellar flavor the kids would begin to giggle, but I tried it anyways. Seeing them laugh at some of the faces I made after trying some of the drinks made it well worth the stomachache that followed. Overall, it was a successful trip in my mind.