Greetings from A Town/Veg Fail

I've been bad. I broke down and have eaten meat 4 times this week already (once a day, sad to say). It's been really hard not to.

Day 1- The trip on Friday

I was hungry. It was a long drive. There were 3 other people in the car with hunger too and the interstate was not offering much. Then we saw Zaxby's. Their non-chicken menu items are: fried cheese, fried mushroom, french fries, and onion rings. I figured I was going to being doing fried no matter what, and as a southerner I had to have another go at fried chicken.

Day 2- Sat

First day of the student part. They had a meet and greet lunch. Free food is hard to pass up. The salad had bacon on it- I passed. The main course had potatoes and veggies and was great...it also came with a chicken breast on it. I mean...it was already dead...and cooked...and I had already broken the day before. It would've just gone to total waste if I didn't eat it...

Day 3- Sunday

We got back to the hotel really late. Our feet were killing us. I had worn heels. We had to work on homework for a class. We ordered pizza....pepperoni pizza...

Day 4- Today

We wanted to go to a local, historic Atlanta place (The Varsity) and get stuff. It was a burger and hot dog joint....I guess that was my last cheeseburger for a while (hopefully).

Not only have my meat meals been meaty, but greasy, fatty, bad for anyone. BUT I haven't done all that bad (believe me, I could've done worse). In the morning I'll eat breakfast at the hotel- a bagel w/ cream cheese, fresh fruit, yogurt, boiled egg, cereal, waffles, stuff like that (I haven't eaten all of those...that was my list of options), and OF COURSE coffee. I never pass up free coffee. For lunch, we've been going to the CNN place which has a huge food court. I went to Dunkin Doughnuts (1 Boston cream doughnut...it was all I needed) because I hadn't in soooo long (12 years?). I went to Taco Bell. I went to this little organic soup, sandwich, salad place (so good!). Tonight we went to McDonald's and I got the fruit and nut salad- it was soooooo good (I was really surprised).

I will say this though. In a way, it's strengthened my desire to go vegetarian even more. I'm not sure if it's the meat, or the greasyness, or maybe just lack of sleep, but I noticed I do not feel as good. I've been more bloated, overly stuffed before I could tell. I've had less energy. I wear out easier. In short, my body was loving the vegetarian diet SO much more. I did some yoga in the hotel room tonight, hoping that would get me back on track.

I feel like this trip has also been letting me do some soul searching too. Not just on the veg front. On life. What do I want from it? How do I want to live it? What do I want to do to make a difference, be a positive influence? I know it's cheesey, but we've been getting a lot of climate change talks. I admit, it's not my normal subject of interest, but it seems like there's been no better time to be involved in expanding our knowledge on the subject. I've been contemplating how I can make a difference. Vegetarian lifestyle is one way. Studying climatology is another. It's something I really hadn't considered before, but am becoming more interested in. But more importantly, I think it's about living by example and demonstrating your beliefs. Going veg, recycling,  bringing your reusable cup to Starbucks and getting your Fairtrade coffee (you know, if that's your kind of thing...) Not even that- living other beliefs too. Standing up for people, showing people you care. I'm a college student, so I'm not donating to the Haitian crisis, but if you can, I've heard that if you donate to the Canadian Red Cross, the Canadian government will match every dollar you donate. Or just sticking by your friends and becoming closer to real people and not living through the web.

lol Ok I'm just starting to ramble now...anyways, I need to go shower.

Bye for now!