ATL

WOW- what a 6 days… Last Thursday morning we were pulling out of Memphis for our big trip to Atlanta and here I am finally back on Tuesday night- it never fails that times of closeness with a group of people usually appear to last longer than they do- and usually leave me feeling a tad nostalgic of the trip- things that happen seem to leave a deeper impression- hard to put in words really- I made a lot of new friends and solidified many previously casual friends- just to cut to the chase- Brent, my roommate ran for and won National President of ASP (academy of student pharmacists)- this national organization numbers over 28,000, and this is the highest position in the country—the best word I could use to describe that whole process is- surreal. To see my roommate up on a stage in front of thousands of people giving his speech like a seasoned professional, or answering open questions on the spot while all eyes are on him- or just that he was campaigning day and night for 4 days in Atlanta- he was never in bed when I went to sleep, and he was always gone when I woke up, without exception. its really hard to explain what it was like- and the thrill we all felt when he won Monday morning- I didn’t really use my camera until day 3, 4, and 5 and I didn’t get many great pictures- seems like whenever I get swept up in an exciting moment, I just enjoy it and forget to document it!

But I’m so proud of Brent- I hope someone got some good pictures of him winning or of the audience at the convention center there (which might I add- is GIGANTIC)--- hmm… ok I’m out of steam right now- but here are some pictures that I think sum it up for now- I’ll probably fill in more later

From the top:

1) me and blair at the varsity- i probably just made fun of her- hehe
2) our (amazing) hotel- one of the best ones i've had the privilidge of staying at- i guess thats why it was $200/night?
3) the morning session- this was 8am and i'd say maybe 60-70% of the students were at this one- the closing ceremonies were huge- just a very large number of people-
4) me being hard and ali pulling the no-look... way to go, man
5) i told them to "look angry"... i guess one of them kinda got it right... eh well- they're all married anyways so what do i care?
6) toured the coke place downtown- did you know you get to try all their stuff for free at the end- and when i say try- i mean i had the equivalent of about a 6-pack of coke... and then had some GI issues later... but it was worth it... awww yeah...
7) some of my buds and i at the starbucks- they didnt take my gift-card, but they made me a good drink- so i wont stay mad...
8) biggest bracket ever... and they kept filling it out as teams won- it was AWESOME to see tennessee in one of the final 16 spots- for you who only follow UT football- Tennessee hasnt made it into the sweet 16 in YEARS- this is, for lack of a better word, HUGE- watch the game!! (thursday 8:55pm CST)-