- Athens seems like a really nice place. Definitely small, but certainly appealing. We walked around downtown a little bit -- it looked pleasantly chaotic, there were other people around, and the beer was good. (And tonight, I have insisted on a trip to the 40 Watt Club.)
- The University of Georgia has a lot of regrettably ugly buildings. I did some work in the science library, and they had all sorts of signs and posters which looked like they would be more at home in a middle school library than in somewhere professionals go to do research.
- I like the mood in the department. For one thing, it has more than the usual share of women -some math departments I have been to have been really, really male. I've gotten into some serious math conversations, but I don't get the insular vibe that I've gotten at some places.
- I've heard echoes of one of my frustrations as a postdoc: You enjoy a wonderful environment, and you're loving life, but you know full well you don't get to stay forever. Goes with the territory I guess.
- I got grilled during my talk. Some people hate that, but I'm always quite pleased when people ask me a ton of questions. Even if one of them is to politely inform me that no, $O_K \otimes Z$ is not an integral domain.
- My host has been extraordinarily polite. I knew him from grad school, but not all that well. He has taken considerable pains to show me around, without being overbearing. I'm moving to South Carolina in the fall, so I will have the opportunity to reciprocate!
- I think every city anywhere in the South has somewhere named Five Points.
1 comment:
I should get royalties for this comment -
When traveling from Athens to Atlanta, instead of the shuttle consider the puddle jumping airline:
http://www.sunshineskies.net/gaskies.html
When last I did this it was 2 dollars cheaper than the shuttle and took the same amount of time. The airplane you will take seats 8 passengers and you can talk to the pilot/see out the FRONT windows while you fly. It makes for a very exciting landing.
Although a fun adventure, I wouldn't recommend it if you have a close connection (the small airline plays last fiddle in Atlanta, if anything gets delayed by air traffic control it is this flight). Luckily they are never booked so you can decide last minute (day of) if you want to try this option. I took the early flight when I realized there was nothing to do in Athens in the morning.
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