Yesterday at 3:30am, myself and 15 other University of Portland students and staff hauled their back packs and bags into vans and made their way to the airport for a three week trip to the south. With little experience beyond our homes and university, we boarded the plane with limited expectations, but with excitement and curiosity.
Welcome to our story.
Throughout this trip, we will be actively blogging and posting pictures so those at home are able to follow us on our trip through the south and hopefully experience and learn through our own eyes and ears.
Day one of our trip included three major ordeals – flying, eating, and shopping.
We flew out of Portland at 6:00am, and after 4 hours, landed in Houston, Texas for a brief layover (to which we all decided counted as long enough for us to say we’ve “been to Texas”). Then, after a quick flight on a plane that was the width of exactly my wingspan, we survived, and landed in Birmingham, Alabama. Throughout this journey, many of us were really getting to know one another for the first time – between the hours of 3:30am and 6:00am made this especially challenging, however we managed to make the most of it.
Our next order of business upon getting settled into our hotel for the evening was having dinner at Niki’s West – a cafeteria-styled family owned restaurant serving only the best Alabama has to offer. Catfish, roasted chicken, yams, and the infamous sweet tea welcomed our stomachs into an entirely new culture of food, with no complaints or apprehension had by us. The southern hospitality and full stomachs had us feeling right at home on the very first night.
Finally, a small number of us were able to go shopping at the local Piggly Wiggly’s grocery store after dinner in order to prepare for the following day’s meals. We bolted from aisle to aisle in excitement, taking in all of the new candies, sodas, and foods. We compared these things to what we saw in our stores on the west coast or our home towns, and talked about how crazy it was that simply being in another state could change so much about the lives people live. Between grocery shopping and Niki’s West, it was quickly concluded that food was an important aspect of southern culture.
As I write this now, we are about to embark on day 2 of our trip. With coffee and luggage in hand, we are relocating to Resurrection Perish in Montgomery, where we will be staying for the following week. Keep an eye out for more posts and picture to come!