Preparations and
Expectations for the Trip
Before I can
pack anything, the first thing that I need to do is figure out which suitcase
would be the best one to take and I need to find out where it is. At my house,
our suitcases are kept on two giant shelves that are in the garage so I will
have to climb up on a ladder to get my suitcase out. I plan on packing light. I used to be a super
heavy packer until I realized that I wasn't using half of the items that I was
bringing and I don't want to have to carry a super heavy suitcase everywhere or
be in charge of guarding a giant bag so I plan to pack as light as possible. As
far as clothing items go, I have not decided what items to choose. I was told
that if you don't want to look like a tourist then you shouldn't wear blue
jeans. Blue jeans and leggings are what I mainly wear so I will probably end up
looking like a tourist. I do plan on maybe packing a dress but I know that we
will be doing a lot of walking so I will be wearing tennis shoes most of the
time. I need to make myself a detailed packing list because I will be bringing
items from my apartment like toothpaste and hair products and other items form
my house. This is because when I am home from school, my sister and I share
everything so I do not want to leave her empty handed when I leave for my trip.
I am nervous that I am going forget something but hopefully I do not. I have
had a couple of dreams that I forgot my laptop for the trip and that would be
really bad if that happened. For my arrangements, the only part I need help
with is making sure my fish are fed while I am gone. I have a ten gallon
aquarium that has a veil tail betta named gizmo, two wag tail orange platys and
a baby platy that was a surprise and also in the tank, I have a rubber lip
Plecostomus. He is my most difficult fish because he is a bottom feeder that
requires algae tablets and vegetables. I will have to blanch him a cucumber
before I leave and remind them that he needs his cucumber slices two times per
week. Along with my fish tank, I have a double tail betta named glacier and a
half moon betta named blizzard. They are both in bowls and they will need their
bowls cleaned while I am gone but my mom has lots of experience with that so it
will go just fine. For the train ride, I want to make sure that I have my
Minnie Mouse tie blanket and my big pillow so that I can try to sleep while we
are traveling through the night. I also plan on going to the grocery store and
buying some snacks that are high protein and some bottled water so that I can
have something to eat when I get hungry.
On the night that we have to go to the train station, we plan on
stopping at a restaurant in Champagne to eat dinner.
When thinking
about what the trip will be like, I think of having a lot of fun while learning
a lot of history on a city that I do not know hardly anything about. I really
like that we have an itinerary because I think that if I was going to New
Orleans with just some friends or family, we would likely not know about some
of the cool sites that we are going to see. I also like it because I am a
schedule orientated person so it is nice to know exactly what we will be doing
for the days to come and that I know exactly what time to be somewhere. I feel
that this course is going to help improve my writing skills and is teaching
them in a new way because a lot of the work that we are doing in this class
involves a lot of writing. I also feel that it will help me to understand
another culture very well because I will be spending time there and not just
learning about it. As a future nurse, I feel that it is very important to
understand many cultures beyond our own so that we can understand our patients
better and so that we can give them holistic care. I choose to take this travel
course because I needed to fill an upper level general education course and I
thought that if I could travel and earn a class on my nursing degree, it would
be a fun college experience that I would never forget. Everyone always says
that one of the best times to travel in your life is while you are in college
so I am taking the opportunity while I can. I am looking most forward to the ghost tour
because I think it will be exciting and scary at the same time. I do know that
New Orleans is very into voo-doo dolls and the spiritual world so I am excited
to learn more about that. I have asked many of my friends and family if they
want one of the dolls as a present from when I get back and they all have told
me to keep the dolls away from them. On the itinerary though, everything looks
so interesting and exciting that I want to do everything that is planned
because each day will be something new. I am excited to experience a new
culture because I think that it is a growing experience to be outside your own
comfort zone. I also really like that we have one day of free time so if we
want to revisit anything or find something really interesting along the way, we
will have the opportunity to go and visit. The closer the trip is appearing,
the more excited I am becoming.
