Don't Let Atlanta Burn

For those of you who either don't know or have forgotten, Robertson domestic summer options are as follows:

• New Orleans, Louisiana
• Whitesburg, Kentucky
• Cleveland, Mississippi
• Atlanta, Georgia

During Lisa's visit, this year's Atlanta Robbies discussed the differences between Atlanta and the other areas. Depending upon one's internship/placement and residence, the first three seem to be decidedly more rural than Atlanta (New Orleans? Rural? Still--very different from Atlanta). Lisa shared with us that there was/is talk of exchanging the Atlanta program for another location.

WHY? Atlanta is unforgivably metropolitan, this is for certain; perhaps it is easier for some to live more closely aligned to their normal lives in a city with all the amenities and outlets you can imagine. However, I happen to be from a tiny place (Town pop.: 728) and wanted something different--Atlanta completely qualifies.

The summer experiences have a variety of purposes, all of which are individually-tailored and multidimensional. But what I understand is this: these experiences are to allow us to further develop intellectual curiosity (there's so much to see here you can't imagine--I plan to use this blog to prove it), courage (just try driving here), ethical principles (definitely comes up--did I mention the economically-divided Atlanta?), service (there are hundreds of volunteer organizations and needs), collaboration (you have over 4,708,297 in the metro area to work with), leadership (that's always in your hands--you have to be a leader to find your niche), and, for the domestic summer, exploring the South (honey, if Atlanta ain't Southern, ain't nowhere Southern. Albeit, it is of the more urban-Southern genre).

Hope that helps. Let me know what you think.

Back to the abbreviated Idiot's Guide to Atlanta