“Sweet Home Alabama…
Where the skies are so blue.”
Written by Wooseob Lee.
“Sweet home Alabama,” the most beloved song among all the people of Alabama, does always please my ears. I recently worked at POSCO-AAPC (POSCO America Alabama Processing Center) for nine months as an intern. Not only did I learn job skills, but I also met amazing people during the internship. This might be the only article that you will read about Alabama – it’s not New York nor Los Angeles!
What POSCO-AAPC does is basically slit huge steel coils into small pieces and ship them to local manufacturers such as Hyundai Heavy Industry, ABB, SPX, and Daimler. I had two main jobs while I was there. One was inspecting all the coils in the factory and putting them in the correct shipping orders. The other was dealing with customers regarding the quality of the products.
More than 90 percent of workers at the workplace were local Americans. I met them for the first time at a weekly safety meeting. To be honest, I was afraid of the fact that so many different-looking people were expecting me to introduce myself to them. But soon, I was able to break down the cultural barrier due to their kindness and sincere consideration.
While there, I also used to train in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) after work at Gracie Barra Pelham. I was so happy that I could find such an amazing place. All the people at the BJJ club treated me just like family. My eternal BJJ rival was Austin. The two of us trained extremely hard and made it to the final fight in many competitions. I recommend joining any type of club that you are interested in. It will enrich your life abroad with many friends and achievements for sure.
One fact about my experience in McCalla, Alabama, that may surprise you is that there was no public transportation, not even pedestrian roads! You ought to have a car just to go get groceries at Walmart. Indeed, you will need someone who can drive you home from a pub as well. I got a white 2009 Honda Civic at a secondhand car dealer and it worked great. Thus, consider buying a car as soon as you move to Alabama.
You can easily find some of the American South’s best tourist cities close to Alabama. Atlanta, Nashville, and New Orleans – all well known as Southern American tourist cities – are 3–5 hours away by car in different directions. I got the chance to visit all three of these amazing cities. If you love music, I recommend you go to Nashville. Once you go to Broadway, you will see countless pubs filled with live music! You do not even have to pay for the live music over there. You can sit or dance on the dancefloor with or without a drink.
Y’all wanna meet some cool American folks from the South? Then Alabama is the best place for you to be!
Photographs by Lee Woo-seob.
The Author
Wooseob Lee is a mechanical engineer who worked at POSCO-AAPC in Alabama, USA, on an internship.