Travel: Atlanta and Houston

I've always had a pretty strong touch of wanderlust. That's why I left Rochester for New Orleans for college, and took a trip across the Atlantic to study abroad in Madrid. Since graduating, I started working at Tulane full-time and am about 1/2way through a free (mostly) MBA. It's obviously a great opportunity, but it's meant two things: my travel time is limited, and I didn't leave New Orleans after graduation. I like Nola a lot- I really do, but at my age, I want to move every few years and experience new places, new cultures, and new cities, I guess at the expense of laying down roots.

In the meantime, my appetite for travel has had to come in small trips here and there. Because of non-stop MBA classes, and the difficulty of getting approved vacation, I've been taking advantage within the Gulf/South region to visit cities on 3-day weekends, places I can drive to easily.

In the last 6 months, I've visited Boston, Atlanta, the Florida panhandle, and Houston/Gulf Texas- on the to-do list is Memphis (6 hours), Nashville (8), the Smokies (10), Birmingham (6), Mobile (3, driven through many times), Austin (7), and maybe Dallas/Little Rock. (8-9)

Atlanta and Houston were pretty similar in a lot of ways. They're both clearly "new" cities (compared to the Northeast), and done according to conservative politics, which means less density, more suburbs. Both have massive suburbs stretching out endlessly, which leads to some pretty nightmarish traffic situations. Houston has an enormous amount of freeways circling and crossing the city, and yet, there was still decent traffic on a Sunday afternoon. Atlanta had a pretty similar setup (one giant interstate circling the city, a few branching in) but less highways. But still a lot of traffic.

I didn't spend much time at all within Houston itself- I was visiting my friend down near the Gulf, but I wasn't impressed with either city. I like relatively dense cities, which generally means there's good public transportation and it's a walkable city. In both cities, the downtown area was pretty spread apart, which made walking difficult and while both cities had a "subway" system, neither seemed terribly comprehensive and thus, I didn't use them. In Atlanta in particular, MARTA seems more about taking people from the suburbs into the city, not getting them around the city. (Which could be very useful to alleviate traffic) Neither downtown area seemed particularly compelling to visit. Walking around different districts didn't seem very interesting either.

Driving into Houston was interesting. The sprawl surrounding the city stretched almost to Beaumount, near the Texas-Louisiana border. There's the saying "everything is bigger in Texas" and I don't know I perceived it as such due to a successful PR campaign implanted in my head, or because it was reality, but it did seem true. While Houston is still in the hot/humid Gulf region, driving towards it you get into some open plains, having left the bayou. It seemed wide open, expansive. The city of Houston was the same way- the buildings were a bit spread out, but with the green trees covering the city, Houston was a group of skyscrapers rising out of a forested area.

I was down an hour south of Houston for most of Easter weekend, and we went to the beach. It was very Texan, no rules and regulations. That was pretty neat, because it meant you could drive a truck on the beach and pull up to the shore, but that same attitude also meant the beach was disappointing covered in garbage.

There were certainly some neat things about Atlanta- I was staying at a friends place at Georgia Tech, which is in midtown Atlanta. (I think) It was interesting how you could walk 2-3 blocks from his place and be standing by skyscrapers, but go a different direction and you'd be near some suburban-looking homes. There were some neat bars and restaurants around the area, but none seemed unique to other cities. I did really enjoy hiking up Stone Mountain- it's odd that there's a bald mountain close to the city, seemingly rising up out of nowhere, but it did offer some really neat views. It did seem to suffer from a bit of over-commercialization, what with the chair lift (to avoid a 10 minute hike!) and all the amusement park events below.

A friend of mine from Houston once said "Houston is where no one wants to live, but everyone ends up." There's no doubt Houston and Atalanta are economic powerhouses- both are home to a ton of Fortune 500 companies. They've got business-friendly environments, great infrastructure (lots of highways, both have intercontinental airports) and extensive suburbs for middle/upper managers with families. But neither seemed to be terribly interesting cities to live as a young adult. I'm sure there are redeeming qualities, but probably not enough for me to outweigh the negatives. I'd revisit both, but to see my friends- not out of any desire to see the city again.

Surburbia, Madrid, and my Dislike of Cars

I'm taking Urban Economics this semester, which is one of the most interesting classes I've ever taken at college. On the surface, the questions seem simple- Why do we build the way we do? Why do cities even exist? It's complex and simple, in a strange semi-contradictory way, but there are so many fascinating explanations. The current unit is on suburbs, pros and cons. I uploaded a chapter from a textbook we read, that is a scathing critique of suburbs. I agree with a decent portion of it, not all, but it's a good read (not too long, 10pages) and worth your time.

Currently I've been thinking a decent amount about my future after college; I've thought a good amount about where I'd like to live, (or more specifically where I wouldn't like to live) though perhaps I should be focusing on what job I'm going to do. Secondly, I sent an email to a girl from my old high school who is studying abroad this semester in Madrid, she asked me for suggestions on places to go, and I happily obliged, it brought back some good memories. Thirdly, I've been studying Urban Economics recently, and they all brought about an interesting revelation.

Having returned to the US, I often wondered why I loved Madrid so much. The culture, food, definitely. The people, certainly, everyone there was very friendly and it was quite easy to meet new people and become friends, not like the clique-filled social network of Tulane. I had been thinking about that, and the prior 3 things, and that chapter from the Urban Planning book really nailed it for me. Before, I thought it might have just been city living, but I live here in New Orleans and I'm frequently frustrated at getting around. what the main thing I loved about Madrid was- The lack of a need for a car.

I've never particularly liked driving, or being driven. I don't really like being in a car. I do occasionally get carsick, but generally it has nothing to do with it. I don't know exactly what it is offhand, I haven't really thought about it. But I know I don't like cars, and even moreso I dislike the obligation of needing a car to get to places I want to go. That's what I loved about Madrid- I lived in a neighborhood with an incredible amount of shops and stores, of all sorts of kinds. There was a grocery store, a pharmacy, a drugstore, several bars and restaurants, a pizzeria, etc, etc, etc, all within 3 blocks or so. And everything else was only a metro ride away on one of the world's best subway systems. I loved it- the comprehensiveness of the metro system extended out to the suburbs, yet had plenty of stops in the city center so it was never far away from your destination. That's one thing that bothers me, in the US there's no place with anywhere near as great of a subway system. In Madrid, it was very easy to live without a car, here, with the exception of NYC, even living in a city it's difficult to live without one.

If I wanted to go to the grocery store in Madrid, I walked a few blocks. If I wanted to go play soccer in the south of the city, I hopped on a metro, walked to a friends house, and went to the field. If I wanted to go to the movies, I hopped on the metro and took 6 stops to Callao. If I wanted to go to Barcelona, I could take the metro to the train station (Atocha RENFE) or take the metro straight to the airport. There were few places, if any, within Madrid I could not get to cheaply and quickly- and thanks to the connection to the airport, it was easy to get anywhere within Spain or Europe.

In New Orleans, if I want to go to the grocery store, I have to beg a friend to drive me. If I want to go to the movies, I have to do the same or take a cab. If I want to play soccer, I can usually take the streetcar but it depends on where we are playing. If I want to go to Miami, I have to take a cab to the airport, or take the streetcar downtown, and hop on a bus to the airport. In Fairport, it's worse. The public transportation sucks in New Orleans, but it exists. In Rochester...you can pretty much get downtown after a long walk to the bus stop, and that's it. If I want to go to anywhere within Fairport, I need to bike.

Not needing a car in Madrid and still not being limited was so liberating, in a strange kind of way. And that's what I'd like- To live somewhere where I can get around alright, and not need to own a car. Preferably efficiently...but I doubt I can find that here in the States.

My First Few Days in Madrid

The first day in Madrid was pretty surreal. I went to bed pretty early the night before, around 10pm or so, but jet lag is interesting. I wasn't tired or anything, but for the first week in Spain I kept waking up around 7am feeling totally awake. Those who know me well, know that I am not a morning person and that given the opportunity, I'll sleep at least until noon. Anyways, the first day was odd. It was snowing quite a bit in Madrid, the first significant snowfall in 30-40 years or so. It had snowed 2-3inches or so, the city was more or less shutdown traffic-wise. We had about 4-5 hours of orientation meetings and such, our program director picked us up at all of our houses and showed us the bus system and Metro to get to campus. I typically walk now, now that I know how to get back and forth. Takes about 30minutes to walk to my Facultad, or “department.” The Complutense has about 140,000 students, and each are divided into Facultades. They have a pretty strong degree of autonomy, each has its' own library and cafeteria. (You can order whiskey and beer in the cafeteria) Kinda like the relationship between Eastman and the UofR, though most of the Facultades are on the same campus. (Econ is not, it's out a bit in the boonies)

I live in a very cool area, it's pretty close to the Ciudad Universitaria (University city) so it's very studenty. There's a doorman in my building which is neat, obviously something I'm completely unaccustomed to. He's a very nice old guy named Alfonso. I live in the 3rd (4th in the US) floor on an interesting street (Gaztambide, look it up on Google Streetview) about 3-4 blocks from 3 different Metro entrances, a major transportation hub, etc. The ground floor of every building is a store, from bookstores to kebabs, and plenty of bars.

Most of the stereotypes about Spanish people are not true, of course. But everyone knows that. No one goes to bullfights all the time, not many people really know how to flamenco, etc. Siestas are an interesting stereotype, which is half-true. Students take them, so they can go out last night, but aside from that I don't think adults really do. It is true just about everything is closed from 2pm-5pm though, which is sometimes annoying. Most stores are open 9-2, 5-8ish. The one stereotype that has been completely refuted is that Spanish people are wine-drinkers. Spain obviously produces some fantastic wine, but the general idea I'd heard was Latin countries (France, Spain, Portugal) drank a lot more wine over beer. Not true at all. Beer is consumed all the time here, most people eat lunch or whatever in bars with food on the side. Or people just pop into a bar for a beer. People drink beer here easily as much as in the US, probably more commonly. And in Madrid, (and in the South) there is a wonderful thing called tapas. Every beer you order, you get a little snack for free. Could be french fries, nuts, sausage, even a sandwich. It originated hundreds of years ago, they'd put it on top of the beer to keep the flies out, as well as keep patrons from getting too drunk. Our Spanish teacher once said “Ever wonder how Spanish people drink so much but don't die? Tapas.”



The eating schedule is very different here in Spain, and I like it. A small breakfast around 9-10 (or whenever you wake up), and the big meal is lunch, around 2-3pm, which produces a serious food coma. Most places offer a 2-3 course meal for 7-8euros, at the cafeteria at school it's 4.70euros, and it's pretty good. Then dinner is something a bit smaller, around 9pm or so. Chicken and rice, salad, something like that. My senora cooks very well, it's delicious. Took me a bit for my stomach to adjust to the amount of olive oil they cook everything in, but it's quite good. Obviously a cosmopolitan city like Madrid has just about every kind of food. Spanish traditional food is plenty of meat, like chicken, eggs, plenty of soups, good stuff. Then there's stuff like paella from Valencia, which is a mix of rice, chicken, sauce, seafood (I eat it without generally) and vegetables.

Anyways, the first few weeks in Madrid I had the language-intensive orientation program, which I got 3 credits for. It was 3 hours a day; we were divided into two groups based on skill level, I was in the upper level which actually had huge benefits. We didn't really do any work outside of class, and the class itself was pretty fun, our teacher was very nice. It's nice actually being rewarded with less work for being “better.” Kinda like Spain's university system. In general, public schools (which cost about 800euros a year for tuition) are better than private schools. The idea is if you're smart, you shouldn't have to pay for school. The complete opposite of the United States, more or less.



What's my favorite thing about Madrid thus far? The public transportation system. Both the bus and Metro can stand by themselves, combined, it's just awesome. You can get anywhere you want in the city, quickly and for very cheap. For 42euros a month, you get an unlimited pass. A ticket for one way is 1euro, but you can packs of 10 for cheaper. It's just awesome. There is an anamoly though, Madrilenos are known for going out around midnight, 1am, or later, and coming back around 5-6am or later. This is true, and that's why we take siestas. But the Metro is closed from 130-6, so sometimes after pregaming in an apartment (going out in Madrid is not cheap, but pregaming is VERY cheap) the Metro is already closed. It is awesome though, very clean, very efficient, very extensive.

That's about it for now.