Atlanta has a good amount of colleges and universities in its parameters. These schools include Morris Brown College, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, Georgia Tech, and of course, Georgia State University. Being that these schools are in the city, rather than in closed campuses, the built environment of Atlanta has developed into one that helps students adapt to their new environment. The area of Downtown Atlanta, in particular, has evolved into an environment that accommodates the wants and needs of Georgia State University students, making their way of living more convenient.

The metropolitan area of Atlanta has shown numbers in improvement regarding its transportation system and many college students throughout several campuses in the city has taken full advantage to the system available to them. The extensive transportation system located throughout the Metro Atlanta area shows how far the city has come to accommodate the students in these surrounding areas. Georgia State University’s Panther Express has been proven to be of great use to its students. The Express currently has daily dedicated routes between 7:00 am to midnight with stops at Turner Field, GCB, Student Center, University Commons, Piedmont North, Arts and Humanities Building, and the Rialto Center for the Arts. The Express helps students beat traffic and arrive to their classes on time in a professional manner without the worrying of parking tickets and other situations regarding vehicles in the city. Although the express is a convenient way to travel throughout the metropolitan area, it isn’t available in all parts of Metro Atlanta. Therefore, MARTA is available for use for the students residing in Downtown Atlanta. For most students in the city, MARTA is used quite frequently to travel to different places and events.

MARTA is known as one of the biggest public transportation systems in the entire country. With over 432,900 daily passengers, 30% of its passengers are students currently enrolled in credit based courses. Since 1971, MARTA has been operating out of DeKalb, Fulton, Clayton, Cobb, and Gwinnett County. This has been extremely beneficial to the college students throughout the Metro Atlanta Area to get to the destinations that they’d need a personal vehicle for. College students have been taking advantage of the $2.50 fee provided by MARTA for years. In recent years however, the transportation in Atlanta has been innovated and provided new, cost efficient means of transportation. Since December 30, 2014, the Atlanta Streetcar, or Downtown Loop, has been operating out of Downtown Atlanta. With stops at such as the Peachtree

Centre, Centennial Park, and the King Historic District, the Streetcar has accommodated students for their shopping needs. Not only do college students in the metropolitan area use these streetcars daily, but also the inhabitants of Downtown Atlanta as well. Uber and Lyft have also been of great benefit to college students throughout Metro Atlanta greatly. With transportation at a finger press away, navigating throughout the areas of the city has never been so easier. Students don’t have to worry about stressing over rides to their respective homes anymore. Some students use a traditional way to travel such as walking or bicycle riding. With numerous bike posts and shops located throughout the city, transportation via bicycle has been implemented by students in Metro Atlanta and its surrounding areas.

All throughout the city, there are numerous amounts of delicious restaurants, low-end diners, and convenient fast food joints. The average student will find these delicious, low-costing, affordable eateries to be of convenience. The average student will often have to contemplate sensational food for cheap food, or vice versa in some cases. However, Downtown Atlanta has countless options of delicious eateries that offer great-tasting food at affordable costs. The Taco Cabana is a personal favorite of mines. The Taco Cabana offers both great meals with authentic Mexican recipes without breaking your wallet or budget. Operating at 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the cabana it’s the perfect place to grab a quick bite with friends or hit up after a late-night study session. The Cook-out located off

Moreland Avenue is a fan favorite to Georgia State’s students. Cook-out is practically infamous to college students nationwide as a great food source to any student with a budget. Big helping of foods combined with low prices equals’ high volume of college students. Nancy’s pizza is also known to inhabit hungry college students yearning for success. Known for its signature Chicago-style pizza and friendly staff, Nancy’s Pizza has become a treasured favorite among students throughout the metro area. Their deep dish pizza is more than enough to fill the appetites of hard-working students. Nowadays, the typical meal for a college may not be a pizza. There are more vegan and vegetarian students in today’s times than ever before. Many restaurants have been open to alternative diets that numerous college students may use and accommodate said students for a delicious healthy meal. For example, the Soul Vegetarian is very popular throughout the campuses in Atlanta and its surrounding areas. Nowadays, you won’t be able to step foot on any campus in Atlanta without seeing a Soul Vegetarian dish in someone’s hands. This health-conscious restaurant serves vegetarian and vegan fare that is inspired by flavors from many cultures, and has a real knack for making nutritious food that tastes wonderful, too.

With such great eateries and events in the city, its much easier for a student to lose focus and forget the main reason they’re in college is to graduate. The city life can be overwhelming to any student so there is a dire importance for job fairs throughout Metro Atlanta. Georgia State University especially has career and internship fairs held regularly from the fall to the spring. Students often learn more information about their intended careers more often than expected. As a potential employer, the average Georgia State University Student will have extended opportunities to increase campus presence and meet potential candidates. Numerous students often find their desired jobs at these fairs. Georgia State University also hosts a number of workshops and events designed to help students excel in their perspective job field. For example, Georgia State holds a special event every Friday titled, “LinkedIn Photo Fridays”. “Photo Fridays” helps students design and give their LinkedIn profile’s a professional look. For as many Georgia State hosted job fairs, there’s double the amount of non-Georgia State University hosted events and fairs located throughout the Metro Atlanta area. The Atlanta National College Fair often hosts events and job fairs that accommodates thousands of students in the Atlanta Area to assist landing these students well-paying jobs in their perspective fields. The Atlanta National College Fair also hosts workshops that help students with understanding, recognizing, and troubleshooting common student dilemmas such as encountering FASFA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The ACT, SAT, scholarships, transferring options are also discussed at certain workshops. This information is vital for all students in the metropolitan area who don’t quite know all the answers to their many question regarding college and the surrounding events. With more and more job fairs and events happening every week, one will start to notice the change in Atlanta’s environment to accommodate the thousands of students inhabiting the city.

One of the many perks of being a student living in Metro Atlanta area or its surrounding areas is the discounts that students receive when they spend money with certain businesses. As a student of Georgia State University, one can receive special discounts not offered to anyone else such as discount tickets to such as Atlanta Hawks games, Biltmore, Regal Entertainment Group (Regal Cinemas, United Artists Theatres & Edwards Cinemas), Georgia Aquarium, Medieval Times, Renaissance Festival, Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags White Waters, SkyView Atlanta, Stone Mountain Park, Zoo Atlanta, and Disney World (Online Only). These special discounts offered to Georgia State University Students shows how much the city and businesses accommodate students into their businesses. Not only do the students of Georgia State University receive discounts for attractions but also to the fine eateries located throughout the city such as Dania’s restaurant, Johnny Rockets, Quiznos, and The Southern Candy Company of Atlanta, specifically the underground locations. Dish Network, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon Wireless offer special discounts to the faculty, staff, and students of Georgia State University. Health and Fitness centers such as Ear Q, LA Fitness, Good Measure Meals, and Balancediet and Thinspa all offer special discounts to Georgia State University students. BJ’s Wholesale Club, Greek-o-Mania of the Underground Atlanta, and Davenport Mobile Web and Computer Support all offer discounts to the students of Georgia State University students. Transportation services such as AAA Auto Club South, Go-Part.com, and Rental Car Perks all offer special student discounts to Georgia State University Students. MARTA also offers the faculty $77.00 MARTA Transit Cards so not only does the city recognize and make special accommodations for its students, but for the faculty and staff of these prestige colleges city-wide.

Although the growing city of Atlanta has many areas to improve in such as safety and pollution, one definitely has to acknowledge the improvement of how the city accommodates for its students and make their lives more convenient. Throughout the years, Atlanta’s downtown environment has changed to the point where visitor to the campus couldn’t be able to differentiate the actual city of Downtown Atlanta and Georgia State University.