Farewell to the City

For my selfies, I took a selfie in front of the Presbyter and at Emeril’s with Eryn. I couldn’t pick between the two so I have to write about both! I choose the Presbyter because it is history that I have been alive for and I learned so much about hurricane Katrina and Marti Gras. Before coming on the trip, I thought Marti Gras was something that college aged students went to so that they could party hard in the streets. Although that is true, that is not what the original Mardi Gras was intended for. I also really liked watching the news footage that they kept because on our swamp tour, we had seen some of the areas that the hurricane damaged but we didn’t get to see the water levels so that was cool. Something I would like would be to talk to survivors of the hurricane and to hear what happened to them when the hurricane hit and where they are now. I love hearing stories like that from people and to me, it is very inspirational. There was a teddy bear that was in one of the cases and it was covered in dirt and mud and that made me feel so bad for the children and everything that they went through. On the wall, there was a diary from a man and each day he would write how he felt and some of his emotions. The experience that day was a reality check for me and it made me grateful for what I have and it also made me feel blessed. After the Presbyter, we were able to enjoy dinner at a five-star restaurant! I have watched Emeril on tv many times and my mom has his cookbooks. My grandma loves his cooking sets and he has always been one of our favorite people to watch on food network. I am so glad that we were told that his restaurant was here because it was an amazing experience. We had three servers for our table of three and we also had constant refills on our water. They also brought us free bread and it was a corn bread muffin, a garlic roll and a wheat roll. The corn bread was the best corn bread that I have ever tasted. For my entrée,  I ordered a pork chop and it came with roasted sweet potatoes. This pork chop was the most tender and delicious pork chop I have ever tasted. I am not sure what the sauce is made up of but I loved it. I then ordered a purple sweet potato cheesecake and that was amazing also. I didn’t even know that sweet potatoes could be purple nor that this dessert even existed so branching out was scary but it was completely worth it. I would go back to New Orleans just to eat there because it was wonderful. If you want a good restaurant to eat at while you are in the city, make sure that you go and visit!

I have now boarded the train and am sitting on the observation car writing my final blog! This trip has been amazing and I am very thankful for this experience. My favorite part of the class was the blogging and our group dinner at Pierre Masperos. The blogging was nice because it is something that I have never been into but reflecting on my day every evening has been nice and I know that my family has enjoyed reading my blog so I would do that again on future trips. The dinner at Pierre Masperos was nice because we all came together as a class and we all went to a new place with food that most of us had never tried before. I thought that it was a good way to start off the trip and that it was a good bonding experience for everyone. My favorite part of the trip would be the culinary tour! I wanted to branch out on trying new foods because I eat the same foods all the time and my favorite way to experience a new culture is through their food. I also loved learning about why they make the foods that they do and they have such different dishes that it was nice to sample something new before I spent my own money on it at a restaurant. I learned so many things about the people of New Orleans. They are a one of a kind and they love being different from everyone else. They are also proud of their city. I was talking to a man this morning who was playing his trombone on the street corner and he said “welcome to my city”. They love their music, history, art, and their cuisine. I wish back at home we were more proud of where we lived because we do not show nearly as much passion as they do. On this trip, I learned that art and music need to be incorporated more into my daily life. I felt happier when I was looking at paintings and hearing the jazz music start to play always made me smile. Music and art are very good for mental health so I think it is important to buy and create more art and to listen to more music. I also learned how I feel about spicy food. I thought that I loved spicy food but what I was considering spicy and what the people here in New Orleans were considering spicy were two totally different things. Every time I would tell a worker that’s how I felt they would laugh. I was also told that people from Illinois eat bland food and after being in New Orleans, I learned that they are right. I also liked how they are keeping the tradition with the chicory in their coffee. This started during the war when they were trying to preserve their coffee and I didn’t think that I was going to like it but after trying it, it was very tasty. Overall, I learned so much on this trip and I thought this class was amazing. I will be recommending this travel course to future students!

3 Hour Tour, Hurricane Katrina and Mardi Gras!

Honestly, I do not think that I could pick my favorite exhibit out of what we visited today. I fell in love with the Hurricane Katrina museum but each tour we did today was extremely beneficial and I am glad that I was here for all of the experiences. We started out with the “three-hour tour.” Our tour guides name was Meltin and he was fabulous.  He talked to us about the music of the city, history, architecture, and we went on a cemetery tour. My favorite was the cemetery tour! Before this trip, I had no idea that the people here had to be buried above ground due to the water rising. When the water rises, the bodies will float up to the surface. The vaults were huge! Some of the vaults were very clean and well -kept and other vaults and graves were falling apart and severely damaged. Meltin told us that the family can purchase a care package for their graves and that it is very expensive. The queen of voo-doo Marie Laveau was buried there and she had a couple other spots in the grave yard that were hers too. The one that I took a picture of and is posted on the bottom of the blog is the grave site that apparently she is in. Also, Homer Plessy is buried in this grave yard and I found that to be fascinating as well! That is something that I need to remember to show my high school history teacher next time I run into him! I also enjoyed when he talked to us about the music of the city because he told us that Richard Sherman was from Louisiana and he sang “wanna be like you” from the jungle book. He took a survey and asked if we knew who he was and only one person did. After he told us that he sang that song, all of us raised our hangs. I have learned from this experience that New Orleans is the city of firsts. I am thankful that they are the city to invent jazz and opera because they have brought us some beautiful music! For the architecture, my favorite part is when he pointed out the building that had spikes. He said that this family must have had daughters and they had the spikes up to keep the boys away and he said that he didn’t blame them! I don’t blame them either especially when you look at some of the choices like the pirates that would come along back then. For the Katrina tour, we were able to tour the museum and learn about the history of the museum and the history of the hurricane. When hurricane Katrina hit, I was young so I didn’t know the impact that this hurricane really made. Now, I have a better understanding of what went on and I felt so bad for the people. The top floor of the museum was dedicated to Mardi Gras and they had some of their outfits and history and that was a neat part as well.

        All of my emotions today went to the hurricane Katrina section of the museum. When I was looking at the photos of all the flooding water, all I could think is that I can’t imagine what those people had to endure. There was a story that was told of a young man who was a teenager and he encountered a woman who was having a baby. He said that he prayed for help and his delivery was successful. He saved that women’s life and was a big help to her and her new bundle of joy. I can’t imagine going into labor while this hurricane was taking place and having to give birth outside. There were just so many factors that went into this hurricane. The people had no where to go, there was no food or water and many people were dying. I personally feel like they could have used way more help than they were given. The people here became very angry and were struggling with everything that was thrown at them. For me, its hard to understand why this had to happen. I am sure that others feel the same way as well and I wish there was a way to prevent these natural disasters from ruining people’s lives. I think that being in the superdome would be the worst. The dome became very nasty and it would be difficult to withstand the smell and the overall environment of the dome. Even though the people had many emotions thrown at them at once, I feel that there was some real hero’s during this tragedy. Some people didn’t take their opportunity to leave when they could because they knew that others needed it more than they did. Other people in the community provided homemade meals to their neighbors and they could have saved the food for themselves but they are choosing to share it. This makes me proud to be going into the field of nursing because when these disasters happen, we have a responsibility to fulfill. As a nurse, I could be asked to come down and if I was a nurse back then, I would have come down there in a heartbeat so that I could help in whatever way I was needed. Many nurses and doctors did travel down there and they said on a video that they had over two million volunteers that came down to help. I remember at school we had a fund raiser for the hurricane and I remember coming home and asking my parents for money to put in the container the next day because I knew it must have been urgent. I am glad that the city has taken extra precautions to protect themselves against another hurricane that could take place. Even though they are not fully protected, they are still at a lower risk than what they were back then. Overall, this museum was amazing and it would be a place that I would want to visit again later on in life.