Memories of Hotlanta


I had to fly down to Atlanta this week for work and I was transported back to past times, namely the summer of '96. The last time I was in Atlanta was exactly 11 years ago. I was doing a summer internship during my MIT days with Amoco. My first internship was in Chicago (Naperville to be more specific in 1994) and my second internship was in Atlanta in 1996 during the Summer Olympics. That was a very memorable summer, and as I look back on it I can totally laugh about it, but back then I thought I was in a living hell...

Here are some of the highlights:
  • Being at the Olympic park about an hour before the bomb. Thankfully I had to leave to go pick up my then boyfriend at the airport.
  • Having to leave my "host's" house in the middle of the day with HR by my side and the alarm bell ringing because the guy was a pig and the company should've never set me up to stay at his house in the first place. Needless to say they ended up having to pay rent on an apartment for me, myself and I for the last month of the internship, I think because they were scared of me suing or something.
  • People dying from brain tumors at the Amoco facilty in which I worked. Apparently in one of the buildings there was high exposure to carcinogens. I am sure I will be fine but that is kinda scary.
  • Getting arrested for reckless driving coming back after a weekend in Boston for Valeria's wedding back at MIT - and losing my entire summer savings in lawyer's fees as a result. And then being brave enough to try to convince Amoco that they needed to give me another rental car or else I had no way to get to work every day.
  • Getting offered to be a dancer at a strip club, the Gold Club, after I went there the morning after leaving my beeper there. Remember beepers?
This has made me wonder, what have I done in the last 10 years? Worked non-stop peppered in with some great personal highlights such as marriage, baby, and wonderful friends. But other than that, it seems like '96 was a much more happening year!

In any case, it really was a surprise to me that Amoco offered me a full time job after graduation. And even more surprising is that I didn't feel obligated to say yes after all the hardship I put them through.

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