Atlanta: Keeping Perspective

Carlos Ostos González '22
Major: U.S./Europe Double Degree

After two days of being in Atlanta and getting to know each other, the official trip began with a site visit to the Fastenal distribution center. I got up at 7.45 AM so I wouldn’t be late because, as Ami said, “friendly reminder that… we need to meet in the lobby at 9.05 AM SHARP.” I had some breakfast, went upstairs to take a shower, and I was on time at the lobby, following our friendly reminder.

Sometimes life goes so fast that we lose perspective of what we are doing. On our way to the Fastenal visit, I realized that I was in the South of the United States of America, visiting a company with a group of students with similar professional interests to learn more about future career opportunities in the U.S. I wish I could tell this to my grandma, she would have never thought about something like this. Neither would I when I started my journey at Loyola.

The reception at Fastenal was very good; they explained to us all about their values and what they are looking for in anyone that would like to join this large company. I was amazed at how prepared everybody was for this visit, as well as how specific the questions were. It showed that we had all done our job of getting to know a bit about them.

We went back to the hotel and had some time for ourselves. For example, I used that time to complete some assignments I had to submit before midnight. We had to be back in the lobby at 6.10 PM to have dinner at Mary Mac’s Tea Room with Dean Nowak, an awesome place with the best Southern cuisine and service in Atlanta. I was very tired, so even though some of us went to the pool to hang out for a bit when we got back, I went straight to bed to get ready for the next day.