Homesick

It did not hit me until Sunday afternoon. The feeling of despair and sadness that comes with homesickness. I miss my home, my family, my pets, and my friends. Yet, there is nothing I can do about it because I am 850 miles away from home and our 18 hour journey home doesn't begin until Monday afternoon. What bothered me the most was how close it was to my favorite holiday of the year, Christmas, but it did not feel like Christmas to me down in the French Quarter. I missed the glow of our Christmas tree while watching Christmas movies such as Elf with my friends and family. The social strain was exhausting me, as well. According to the Myer's Brigg personality test, I am an introvert. Therefore, social situations and being with big groups of people exhaust me. So, by day 5 of being with two roommates and 19 other students, I was so ready to just be alone.

Luckily, that night one roommate went down to Jackson Square for caroling, which I had intended on going to until I began feeling down in the dumps, and my other roommate went down to the hot tub. This gave me some free time to be alone. So, I of course called my mom and dad. I talked to them for nearly 30 minutes and when I hung up, I felt much better! Then, my roommate Bree texted me and told me to come down to the hot tub because it felt so great. So, I did and that also made me feel much better.

So, my advice to future students who go on this trip and are feeling homesick is to call home and talk to whoever can make you feel better. Whether it is your mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, significant other, whoever! I guarantee talking to them for about 20 minutes about anything will make you feel better.

My mom :)

The River Walk and Canal Street Mall

From our hotel room we could see a very large sign in the near distance. It read "River Walk Mall" and advertised on the side of the building were what shops were inside. Stores such as Forever 21, Coach, and Lucky Brand, to name a few. Back home, shops like these are not close by. So, my roommate and I were very excited to go shopping here! Once we finally got there, we realized that the Canal Street mall was not very far away. This mall had shops such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany & Co, and Louis Vuitton. I had never been to those stores before, so we made sure to stop at that mall too!

So, our fist stop was the River Walk. This mall had a large food court including Chinese food, seafood, fried chicken, and desserts. Along with the stores mentioned above, there were also several large tourists shops that had tons of souvenirs. The prices at these shops seemed to be a bit cheaper than those in the French Quarter. However, I would say the French Market still had the lowest prices. At the opposite end of the mall a Hilton hotel was connected to it which included a Starbucks! A little hard to find, but it was the closest one around and my roommate was very happy to find it. I enjoyed this mall a lot because there were so many different shops and I could spend all day there! Another store that I like was IT'SUGAR. This is a large candy shop with all sorts of candy sold in large quantities. Something strange that they had were flavored crickets! When I saw that I couldn't believe it and I thought that they were fake. But, they definitely weren't. Overall, I would definitely recommend going to the River Walk Mall. This is a good place to go to buy souvenirs that are a little nicer than at the French Market.

 A selfie at the food court                                                                   My roommate and I shopping

 

 Flavored crickets

After the River Walk Mall, my roommate and I took a short walk to the Canal Street mall. When we arrived, our attention was immediately drawn to the HUMONGOUS Christmas tree in the middle of the mall. I had never seen a tree so big before, inside of a building anyway. It was so pretty and decorated with traditional gold lights and decorations. I can't stand it when a tree is decorated with bright colors like pink; I like the traditional golds, silvers, and reds. Anyway. after we took pictures next to the tree, which was too big to fit into the picture, we made our way to a store that my roommate had been dying to go to, Tiffany & Co. 

Now that we were inside Tiffany & Co, Bree wanted to try on a big, sparkly engagement ring. We were looking at all of the rings and she picked an engagement ring in a light blue box and I picked a wedding set. When we were helped, the man informed us that the ring Bree decided to try on cost $143,000!!! I will always remember what he told me. He said, "$143,000, not a very nice car, but a decent ring." I could not believe what he just said!! I wondered what kind of car he was driving! Anyway, after Bree tried on the beautifully expensive ring I tried on the wedding set. The set I picked was a much more affordable $80,000. HA! What can I say, we have good taste. 

Bree's $143,000 ring

My $80,000 set

 

After we finally left Tiffany & Co, feeling excited yet sad because we couldn't afford the rings, we visited the other stores inside the mall. This mall did not have as many stores as the River Walk. The stores it did have were all name brand, designer stores and were extremely expensive! Honestly, I don't think I could afford anything there. So, overall, I would definitely go to this mall to see the sights, but that is about it. Unless you are rich.

The French Market

Upon arrival in New Orleans, I had heard a few people mentioning a place called the French Market. Since I had never been here before, I had no idea what they were talking. I also had so many things running through my mind that I did not even give it a second thought. However, at the end of our ghost tour, our tour guide brought us to the French Market. At this time it was almost 10 o'clock at night. Therefore, all of the shops were empty and locked up for the night. My first impression was that it was a lot of different food stands, sort of like an outdoor food court. However, the food offered here was traditional to New Orleans and included muffelatas, raw oysters, and, of course, alcoholic beverages. There were also a couple of stands that offered vegan food which one of our classmates was extremely thankful for.

It was about four days later until I made my way back to the French Market and really caught a glimpse of what it offers. The French Market is not only food, it is jam-packed with vendors selling all kinds of things! There were several booths set up selling souvenirs such as T-shirts, masquerade masks, key chains, mugs, and magnets.  Other vendors were selling things like sunglasses, jewelry, paintings, purses, trinkets, and so many other items! After visiting many other tourist shops, I noticed that the prices at the French Market were cheaper. So, I would definitely recommend going to the French Market to buy souvenirs for your loved ones back home. There are so many different options that you should be able to find a gift for everyone!

Farewell New Orleans

When I think through all of the different places we visited this past week, I would have to say that Jackson Square was my favorite spot. I really enjoyed sitting on the stairs in front of the St. Louis Cathedreal. On one particular day, the sun was warm and when I was sitting on the steps it shined down on me and kept me warm. I love the feeling of warm sunshine on a breezy day.

I also really enjoyed watching all of the talented performers at the square. There was this one older man with a long white beard that was tinted yellow from cigarette smoke. He looked rough but when he talked and sang I was pleasantly surprised. His voice was so smooth like butter and I really enjoyed listening to him perform. Not only did he have an amazing singing voice, he had very impressive guitar playing skills. 

In regards to the class, my favorite thing was our first night there. We all went to dinner at one of my favorite places yet, The Original Pierre Maspero's, and then we went on a very interesting, informative, and historical gohst tour. As I have mentioned in one of my other blogs, I tried a lot of new yummy foods. Such as the fried green tomatoes, jumbalya, and bread pudding. After that, we took a tour of the French Quarter and learned about the history and hauntings. My favorite spot our tour guide, Denise, took us to was the LaLaurie house. She explained to us the horrifying things that took place there and how it is one of the most haunted buildings there. I found this story most interesting because it was told in one of my favorite shows, American Horror Story.

Madame LaLaurie's mansion

The Original Pierre Mospero's

On our first night in New Orleans, we all went to this restaurant called The Original Pierre Mospero's. Although I only ordered a burger there, I was able to try some very yummy new things. First, I tried fried green tomatoes. I really like tomatoes but I had never tried them fries before, so I was a little nervous. However, once I took a bite I realized just how tasty they are! Now, today is the day we depart. I wanted to go back there to get some more fried green tomatoes but the chance never arose. Something else I tried was jumbalya with blackened chicken. This was basically pieces of grilled chicked atop of some seasoned rice. This was also very tasty! I told my boyfriend, Dylan, about it and he immediately became envious. Lastly, I tried bread pudding. It was so delicious and even reminded me of apple pie. I then became envious that I had ordered the chocolate mousse cake.

The Presbytere

Today I visited a museum that contained information, artifacts, and stories from the devastating Hurricane Katrina. Before coming to New Orleans for this class, I knew that the hurricane had produce massive damage and loss. However, I never realized just how big of an impact it created. Visiting the museum today helped me understand what great losses, suffrage, and damage New Orleans endured. 

Something that I learned today that I found most interesting was how all of their Emergency Plans failed. Think about it. New Orleanians know that this area is prone to flooding and water damage. So, they have taken the steps to prepare for it such as levees, drains, and raised housing. Therefore, I feel that the residents were not expecting anything they hadn't dealt with before; considering the previous hurricanes such as Betsy. However, the great amount of force Hurricane Katrina brought was obviously much more than everyone bargained for. 

My favorite spot in the museum was the room that acted as a simulation. The room was dark with flashing white and blue lights symbolizing lightening. There were fans pointing down on us and speakers turned up loud playing sounds representing high winds. And in this room, actual video from the storm was being played. It showed footage of water pouring in through people's front doors, debris flying through the air, and hours completely submerged in water. I felt that this room did an excellent job at presenting this; I had goosebumps the whole time.

Excursion

When we first arrived at the Hansen's museum for the first time, I couldn't help but to admire how pretty the grounds were. All of the landscaping was beautiful with all of the live oaks, ponds, and bushes. Once we entered the museum, I was a little confused with all of the memorabilia. I was seeing armadillos, vintage scooters, and a Chinese New Year costume. All I kept thinking was "what do any of these things have to do with Leprosy?" Thankfully, our tour guide was very informative and explained it all to us. It turns out that approximately 80% of armadillos have leprosy and can transmit it to immunocompromised humans. The scooter and Chinese New Year costume were displayed to show what the patients, who were not allowed to leave facilities, did for fun. Back then, they believed that leprosy was very contagious. So, when patients were taken care of at this place, they spent the remainder of their lives there. I will say that I was a bit surprised at just how nice everything was for the patients. I assumed that our tour guide was going to explain to us the abuse the patients endured or something. But, it turns out they were taken good care of!

I enjoyed looking at all of the old artifacts within this museum. They displayed old wheel chairs, assistive devices, and policies and procedures from 1946. The policies and procedure book from 1946 was my favorite thing to look at. Seeing how they were required to do certain things back then just blows my mind!

After visiting the Hansen's Museum, we traveled to the Whitney Plantation for a guided tour. I was expecting to visit a huge extravagant plantation house; I kept comparing it to the house that was in Django Unchained. However, when we finally made it to the house, it was not exactly what I was expecting. However, this is because the house has been preserved to look exactly how it did in the 19th century. Nevertheless, the house was still extremely interesting and I enjoyed touring it. 

Besides the house, we also toured several monuments, a church, and the slave quarters. One of the slave quarters was original and we were able to tour it which was very neat. When I was walking through it, I noticed the walls and floors being paper thin. In fact, the slats of wood making up the walls had spaces in between them. There were two beds in one hut, even though around 10 slaves shared a hut. I keep calling it a hut because I feel that they do not meet the qualifications to be called houses.

Overall, the tour at the Whitney Plantation was very informative. I learned a lot about  what a slave was expected to do, how they lived, and why things were the way they were on the plantation. I would definitely recommend my family and other to visit museums such as these, for they offer much information!