Roads/Transportation/Exercise

Definitely a car culture in Atlanta. It’s hard to get exercise unless you belong to a gym. I’m not used to this. I grew up in Boston, which has plenty of bikeways and sidewalks and parks.

I lived in DC, which has amazing bike trails, like the Mount Vernon Trail. It’s also a very walkable city with plenty of parks. I also lived in Chicago, which is the king of all walkable cities,

with amazing walkable neighborhoods, like Wrigleyville, Andersonville and Lincoln Park. They also have an amazing amount of park space and the Lakefront Bike Trail, which is awesome.

You’d figure with great weather in Atlanta, there’d be plenty of places to get outdoor exercise, but you’d be wrong. Atlanta has very little park space for a city of its size. Very few sidewalks,

very few walkable neighborhoods, bike trails are almost nonexistent. I haven’t used my bike since I’ve been down here. So I get a lot of indoor exercise at the gym. I’m hoping this will all

change once the Beltline gets constructed, which will be a circular network of bike trails and transportation and housing that will link the city, but it is a long process. It’s a tough thing to

get acclimated to. I’m so used to being outside, and with all the nice weather down here, you want to be outside, but there’s just nowhere to walk, unless you want to breathe exhaust fumes.

Southern food

I’ve lived in several different parts of the county, which each had unique food tastes.  I lived in Chicago, which is an ethnic melting pot, with great ethnic restaurants, serving Polish food, German food etc.  However, I was partial to deep dish pizza, which is what Chicago is known for.  I also lived in DC, which is more of a fine dining capital.  Downtown DC has the best restaurants, while the Virginia and Maryland suburbs were more lacking, but had your basic national chains.  The best thing about living in Atlanta is the food. The food down here is very unique.  If you want pizza or fine dining, you probably won’t enjoy Atlanta that much, but southern food really gives Atlanta its special character.  It is the home of Chick Fil A, for which Atlantans are proud.  I hadn’t really been to Chick Fil A until I moved down here, but it has grown on me.  I also love BBQ and Atlanta has many decent BBQ choices.  For my money, though I’ve really grown fond of biscuits since I’ve moved down here.  You can’t really find decent biscuits up north. Down here, you find decent biscuit joints all over the place, in the city and in the suburbs.  You head out on a Saturday morning to one of these places, and they’re jam packed.  I’m partial to the egg and cheese biscuit, but you can also get sausage biscuits, country ham biscuits. They’re probably not the healthiest thing for you, but they do taste good.

Northerner living in Atlanta

I’ve lived up in northern states for most of my life until 2007, when I moved to Atlanta for work.  I was honestly scared to move to the South.  I didn’t know what to expect.  I had a lot of stereotypes about the South based

on what I’ve read over the years, ie the Bible Belt.  The cultural differences I’ve experienced living here are beyond what I could have imagined.  I will be blogging about experiences I’ve had in the South and how it compares to living up North.  It is like a different world down here.  People talk different, people act differently, everything seems so different.  I’ve been down here 4 1/2 years, and I still havn’t gotten used to it.  Perhaps I never will.  But I think it is a cathartic experience for me to write about this to help me work through the issues I’m having.  I think it’s scary for anyone to move to a foreign area.  I had only been to Atlanta once before I moved here in 2007.  Perhaps others who’ve moved down here from up North can relate to the issues I’m having and I can help them as well.