Open Thread: What’s the best advice for so many college students moving to Atlanta right now?

Atlanta has long prided itself on being a big-city college town, in a sense—a factory for ambitious students who might go on to design skyline-altering buildings, invent life-saving surgical procedures, or star in Hollywood films about snakes on airplanes.

On any given year, more than a quarter million metro Atlanta residents are college students. And many of them come from somewhere else—a process that’s happening right now.

It’s time for longer-tenured Atlantans to step up, oblige your civic duty, and tell these kids what’s really going on around here.

The first day of class has come and gone at Georgia Tech (August 19) and Morehouse College (August 21), for example.

Classes start Monday at Georgia State University, the powerhouse institution that’s now the state’s largest by collective enrollment (and a major player, of course, in the redevelopment of downtown and Summerhill.)

The slackers at Emory University, meanwhile, don’t report to class until Wednesday.

Pretend you just got here, hugged the parents goodbye, and decorated the dorm room.

What should you know? What’s the trick to getting around quickly (and safely)? What should you see that’ll make you appreciate this city? What should you eat? What’s the best way to cheaply have a great time? What should you never do?

Withdrawal periods for so many new Atlanta collegians, in some cases, begin next week. The withdrawal period from Atlanta is open-ended. Let’s tell these newcomers, in the comments below, why it shouldn’t come to that.