Bama-Rama



{Welcome to Selma, Alabama!}



I am currently getting ready to wrap up my second solo trip. It’s going well! I am truly starting to enjoy the travel and the actual job I have when I arrive on site at a pharmacy. Everyone has been super nice and I haven’t had any major issues yet (cross your fingers and knock on some wood…I have heard horror stories involving dead robots and irate pharmacists). So, yeah! Getting in the groove. This trip sent me to Selma, Alabama. I had never been to Alabama, or really anywhere in the south, and this trip was an eye-opener. So, I have put together a little collaborative list of tidbits I have gained so far from my ventures in Bama.

Southern draaaaawls? They’re real. I love them. I especially love Mr. Alfred, who is like 70 years old and has worked in the pharmacy for 40-something years. And he talks like a true southurn gentleman, all long, drawn-out syllables and soft vowel sounds. The colloquialisms down here are lovely: “How you be this mornin?”; “Now, I’ll see ya’ll real soon”; “I’m fixin to head on ova to the store here in a bit.” It just sounds friendly. And they call everyone “mister” and “miss,” and say “yes sir” and “no m’am.” I LOVE IT.

Alabama has the best drink selection at fast food restaurants I have ever seen. I’m talking purple Fanta in the fountain at McDonalds (“MacDonalds,” really). And one restaurant has the COOLEST drink fountain I have ever seen. It’s touch-screen and there are over 100 drink choices. I had lime ginger ale tonight. Have you ever had lime ginger ale? Didn’t think so.

 

{Umm, yeah. That's a touch screen drink fountain. And yes, I took a pic of it.}

Umm, hello Zaxby’s! You should head on up north and open up a few franchises. (Hmmm…retirement plan…) Zaxby’s is amazing! It’s kind of like a Chik-Fil-A in that there are a lot of chicken choices, but it has way more fried sides to choose from (spicy fried mushrooms? Spicy white cheddar bites? Onion skins? Yes please!) and the afore-mentioned ah-mazing drink fountain. I may or may not have eaten dinner there three nights in a row. But that is also because this little town has nothing but fast food restaurants to choose from. Fast food and churches. There are a LOT of churches. And loan stores…? Like, every other building is a loan place. Speedy Cash, Payday Loans, Speedy Loans, Car Title and Loan, I mean….it goes on and on.



{My poor picture quality does not do this place justice.}

Small town pharmacies have the best candy selection. (Not just in Selma; Kinsley was pretty kick-ass as well.) Who knew there are such thing as cinnamon Mentos? Also, I have discovered I eat a lot of candy when it is readily available. Today, I ate two sleeves of Mentos (rainbow, also delish), a bag of sour gummy bears and a bag of peach rings. And…some Reece’s Pieces. My teeth are currently tingling.

Selma is very historic. I didn’t really realize it when I arrived, but I found out that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  led several now-historic walks through Selma on the way to Montgomery. I crossed the bridge they marched across several times. (Pic is above.) Many of the buildings in the downtown area are over 100 years old. In fact, the pharmacy I am training at has been around since 1870. The reverence and history are palpable here. In fact, today, my new-favorite pharm staff took me exploring through the floors above the pharmacy, and those pics deserve their own post, because it was SO. DARN. COOL. Check back soon for a full post devoted to the fab pharmacy that is Pilcher-McBryde Drug Company.