An Alumnus Returns to Campus

SEA_tide
Tue, 13 Jan 2015 03:15:54 +0000

Part 1:

The Background:
For those who don’t remember, I attended UA between August 2009 and May 2013. I graduated summa cum laude with a triple major in finance, economics, and mathematics and earned a master’s degree in economics through the University Scholars Program. I lived on campus all four years and was involved in a variety of organizations.

After graduation, I returned home to the Seattle area unsure of when I would have the opportunity to return to Tuscaloosa. I really enjoyed my time as a student and wasn’t sure how I would feel returning as an alumnus. Over the course of my post-college job search, I applied to a few positions in the southeast and had interest from a few. This past November, I received very strong interest from a company near Atlanta and decided to visit the area in early December. Seeing as Tuscaloosa is only 3 hours away from Atlanta, I figured that it would also be a great time to visit my old stomping ground. I decided to take my mother and my 17 year old brother along with me as they both enjoyed visiting Alabama.

The Visit:
From Seattle, there are numerous one connection options to Birmingham. I was reminded of this my multiple agents at the airport as I checked in for my trip with connections in Las Vegas and Atlanta. I needed the extra flight miles to keep my airline elite status, the flight times worked for our busy schedules, and it was significantly cheaper than other redeye flights. By virtue of my elite status, I was upgraded to first class on the SEA-LAS and ATL-BHM segments and everyone in my party had exit row seats with lots of legroom if seated in coach. As early December is a quiet time for travel, the flights had plenty of open seats. Coach on the SEA-LAS and ATL-BHM segments was about 25% full.

Despite a minor flight delay on the first leg which would have allowed us to switch flights and spend the night in Las Vegas, we decided to keep our original flights after my mom and I won $85 on a Dolly Parton slot machine in the Las Vegas airport.

After landing in Birmingham a few minutes early, we picked up our luggage and went to pick up our rental car. I rented with National as I had a corporate account which waived the young (age 21-24) driver fee and our free Emerald Club membership allowed us to choose almost any size vehicle form a Fiat 500 to a Ford Expedition for the price of a midsize car ($14 per day plus taxes and fees). We chose an IL-plated GMC Terrain as it was painted dark red. If this was solely a leisure visit, we would’ve rented a pickup truck with a crew cab. After stopping for a photo op at the heavy equipment dealer near the airport and buying Christmas gifts at the TJ Maxx and Costco in Hoover, we were on our way to Tuscaloosa.