I am new to city life. Although I have lived right outside of Birmingham all of my life, I have never actually spent quality time here. So this entry, and future entires to come, will serve as a journal of my feelings and experiences while being in the city.

There is a certain warmth to the glow of the street lamps. Its orange-ish haze is not particularly illuminating, however it is comforting. The effect is like that of a small campfire: it is not overwhelmingly effective, however what it provides contrasts so drastically with the night that it is noticeably sufficient. Plus the dimness is easy on the eyes, which I appreciate.

The city itself is not the brightest or most boisterous city, especially when compared to major cities around the world such as Paris or Tokyo or even New York. It has a industrial vibe to it, and although it is modernizing, at its heart it is the Steel City. Vulcan watches over it on the Red Mountain and train tracks split it into North Birmingham and Southside, running right through the middle of the city, which really gives it a nostalgiac-turn-of-the-century-a-hundred-years-ago feeling. Birmingham has a Dickens-esque vibe to it, which is funny because his first reading of A Christmas Carol was in Birmingham, England.

But, the modernization of Birmingham isn't bad for the city's look. UAB and the many medical facilities have brought about a revitalization of the city in many ways, one of them being aesthetically. The lights on the Children's of Alabama Hospital building are beautiful. If you are fortunate enough to have a view of them from your room while living in or visiting Birmingham, you'd understand how incredible those lights look at night. Also, UAB installed help boxes all around its one hundred block campus. From the top of the Vulcan, I saw how many little blue lights are speckled about the city. Birmingham is being modernized in everyway.

But, the modernization is blending with the aesthetic of industrialism. With our own Valley of Ashes in the middle of the city and dingey street lights/signs, Birmingham brings an almost human quality to the technology modernizing it, imperfect technology used by imperfect people. Perhaps this is what happens you mix a comparatively small city with an international college. Birmingham is a melting pot of old and new when it comes to looks, like a pixelated ember.