Music (Inner Journey)

I enjoyed visited the Jazz museum and learning about how Jazz music evolved in the city of New Orleans. Louis Armstrong was one famous musician that we learned about, and we were even able to visit a park near Congo Square where a statute of him was placed. Another musician that stuck out to me while we were visiting the Jazz museum was Professor Longhair. Professor Longhair was famous for his magical piano playing, and played pieces entitled, "Rumba Mambo, Calypso Blues, and Barrelhouse Boggie". Outside of the Jazz museum, I loved hearing all the amazing musicians playing on the streets. The pure talent the people playing their instruments on the streets had amazes me. I wonder how much time it took them to get that good at playing. Also, it was interesting to learn that music skills are passed down from generation to generation.

Going Home (Inner Journey)

Overall, I have enjoyed this trip and would go back to New Orleans again someday. My favorite part of the trip was when Sommer and I went to airboat adventures. A bus picked up from our hotel took us to Jean Lafitte. The tour guide was so nice and made sure to explain where exactly we were and included more facts about alligators. We were about 28 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. I thought that this was interesting to learn, because I did not realize just how close we were to the gulf. I mostly wanted to go on the airboat because I wanted to see an alligator, so I was very excited to learn that our tour guide had caught a tiny one two weeks before and brought it for us to hold. My favorite part of the class has been doing this travel guide because its nice to look back and reflect on the day. I have to be honest somedays were so busy, I struggles to keep with blogging. Everyone that I met in New Orleans was very nice, and some even were willing to share what happened to them during Katrina with Sommer and I. I thought it was nice for them to be so willing to open up to us about what happened, and how they were affected. Something that I learned about myself is that I can be adventurous and try new things. On the food tour, I ended up trying shrimp and turtle, which made me get out of my comfort zone food wise. This trip was amazing and I am glad I decided to come so that I could experience a city that is very different from back home.

Last Day!! (Outer Journey)

My favorite place in the French Quarter is Jackson Square. The gorgeous St. Louis Cathedral helped me fall in love with Jackson Square and New Orleans in general. The cathedral is the biggest building around the square and it pulls your eyes towards it. I like Jackson Square because I like the places around it like the cathedral and Café de Monde. I enjoyed walking to the square in the morning because we came during a week with good weather. Each day seemed to be around 60 degrees, sunny, and we had clear blue skies over our heads almost the whole time. I will miss seeing all the people wearing some fun sparky outfit's with beads hanging from their necks. You never know what your going to see because people could be dressed as pirates, unicorns, or dinosaurs on any corner. Overall, my time in New Orleans has been an absolute blast, and I could come and visit again, and tell others to come along too. I would tell someone that New Orleans is unlike another other place I have traveled too. From the food and music to the culture and history of the city, you can't help but fall in love with New Orleans and just how different it is. I loved that the weather was so much nicer than back home and how friendly a fair amount of the people where especially the locals. I would encourage everyone to talk to at least a couple of the locals. Sommer and I found some of our favorite places and restaurant because we talked to people from the city.

New Orleans Religion and History (Outer Journey)

Once you entered through the gate at the convent, you enter into a big and shrub covered courtyard. Directly inside the Old Ursuline Convent was a Staircase. The staircase actually was from 1734 and its the only freestanding staircase. Its railing are hand-forged iron, and they beautifully accent the winding staircase. When the Convent was build it was relocated from its previous location. Next to the staircase, their was a clock that the Ursulines brought when they moved to New Orleans in 1727. They actually took the clock to Texas where it was damaged by a Hurricane sometime in the 1900s. None at the Ursulines or students at the time survived, and it was eventually brought back to New Orleans. Both the guides at both the Old Ursuline Convent and St. Louis Cathedral mentioned Venerable Henriette Delille. They hope someday that she will make sainthood. The St. Louis Cathedral is filled with flags, artwork, and stain glass windows. Personally, I thought the statues inside near the front of the cathedral representing faith, hope, and charity most interesting. Everyone in the city at the time had to be baptized catholic, even the slaves had to be baptized catholic in order to be able to come to the city. Catholicism in the Quarter and in New Orleans was a big deal, and despite fires and catastrophes, important building and artifacts has been restored and preserved for future generations. Many residents of New Orleans remain catholic today, however it is no longer a requirement to be allowed to live there.

History!! (Inner Journey)

Today, we visited the St. Louis cathedral, the Old Ursuline Convent, and the pharmacy museum. I found that the pharmacy tour very interesting, and a little bazar. I was surprised to learn that leeches are used on wounds to improve circulation to the affected area and speed up the healing process, I have never heard of that before. Something else I found interesting during the tour was about how some drugs were used during the time. They seemed to just use anything despite not knowing wither it would actually help or not. Many times what people took was either the wrong thing, highly additive, or deadly. At the time it sounded normal for people to use the "treatments" they did, but now they should insane. Something else I thought was interesting about the pharmacy and "medications" they gave out at the time was about how they bottle the substances. Poison was put in blue bottles, with rough sides so people would know that it was poison. New Orleans was the first place to do this. Also, they had love potions that had names but they did not call them by their actual names, they called them by numbers so they would not have to say them. Overall, I found the pharmacy museum interesting because the guide also was hilarious and presented the information in a way that made it very exciting and entertaining to listen too. He did a great job explaining what he thought would be most interesting, what has changed the most compared to modern day medicine, and then mentioned how truly strange their medical system was at the time.

Exploring the City on our Own (Inner Journey)

Exploring the city own my own with Sommer was not as hard as I thought that it was going to be. From the previous few days, we had gotten better knowing where we were at, and found that it became easier to figure out where we needed to go. Since we had not been able to ride the streetcars any of the previous days, Sommer and I decided we should ride on one for one. We had no idea when one would come or where it would even go, but turns out the one we choose was only going a few blocks down. We were only on the streetcar for about 3o minutes but it was still interesting to learn how it worked and what it was like once you get on it. After the streetcar, we spent the rest of our afternoon walking around, shopping, and then went to the Jon of Arc parade back closer to Jackson Square. What I found most interesting about today is how many different activities there are in New Orleans to choose for. I'm glad Sommer and I decided to go on the airboat tour, but there was just so many things that we could have done. I honestly would not mind coming back to New Orleans to visit things like the WWII museum and places like the lower ninth ward. I loved having a free day because it was the perfect opportunity to be able to leave the city and experience more of Louisiana and some of the wildlife they have.

Alligator Time!!! (Outer Journey)

As Sommer and I boarded the airboat, I already could feel like chill breezy rush past me and the sun warmed my skin. I can remember the smell of the swamp and the smell of gas from the boat. As we took off, I remember thinking that every log floating in the water looked like it could possibly be an alligator. The sky had no clouds in sight, we couldn't have asked for a better day. The willow trees flowed in the chill breeze while we saw turtles basking in the sun. We saw a few smaller alligators laying along the shore as our airboat floated by. It had taken awhile to see those so I started to wonder if those where the only alligators Sommer and I would see. Imagine my surprise when I found out that our tour guide had brought a tiny alligator that we could pass around. The rough skin of the alligator in my hand made me nervous that he could possibly bite off my finger. His eyes had little slits in them, and I felt like he was trying to decide which of my fingers could have for a snack. As we passed the tiny gator named Dollar around the tour guide explained that the largest alligator in Louisiana was around 19 feet long. As we took of on the airboat again, I could feel the airboat slowly get faster and we finally made it back to shore. The tour ended, and as Sommer and I stepped onto the white bus to go back to the hotel, we reflected on our amazing experience, the wonderful day, and holding Dollar.

City Speaks Through Hurricane Katrina Survivors (Inner Journey)

Sommer and I decided to take an Uber from the hotel back to the French Market this afternoon. Honestly, we got tired of walking and did not get much sleep so Uber was a nice way to travel. Somehow the GPS took us the long way to the French Market and we ended up getting on the interstate for a few minutes. Along the way we started to talk to our driver Vanessa about Hurricane Katrina. She was among those who lost everything in the hurricane, including friends and she had to move to Texas for a few years while everything was being cleaned up and rebuilt. She actually never was able to move back to New Orleans because of how expensive it is to live here now, although she really wishes that she was able to move back because she loved where her house was and everyone here. I have enjoyed meeting some of the locals and hearing their stories from Hurricane Katrina. Their stories have helped me realize and understand how much was lost, and how strong the city and people of New Orleans actually is. The people that were able to come after Katrina had to deal with losing everything, rebuilding, and adapting to everything that the city went through that changed it into what the city is like today. I am so glad that Vanessa wanted to share her story with Sommer and I, and that we got to see more of the city since the GPS took was out of the normal route.

Hurricane Katrina... (Outer Journey)

The Presbytere has to be my most favorite place that we have visited since arriving in New Orleans. As I walked into the gorgeous building, I wondered and questioned if I would find any of the information inside interesting. My arms became covered with goosebumps as I read the walls filled with the timeline from Hurricane Katrina. I remember watching a video about the first responders after Katrina. One told a story about a mother throwing her child to her from a rooftop. As my eyes watered, another first responder told another story of an Alzheimer's patient at a hospital asking everyone if they were her family. As a CNA, I could only imagine if a resident asked me that. As I fought back the tears, I began reading a journal that was written during Katrina on the walls of a house. The Cabildo was filled with amazing artifacts from different times in the history of New Orleans. My personal favorite part in the Cabildo was about the Battle of New Orleans. Seeing and reading everything about how the city changed as different countries controlled it truly amazes me. After lunch, we went to the Jazz Museum, and learned about music throughout the city. Amazing Jazz music seemed to echo from room to room. Instruments of famous musicians from New Orleans decorated the rooms. Overall, all of the exhibits today helped tell the story of how the city came to be what it is today. We had a beautiful day to visit all the exhibits and experience a little of what New Orleans has to offer.

City Lights, Fun Nights (Inner Journey)

What I have found to be most interesting and enlightening about New Orleans so far is how differently people act here compared to how they are back home. For example, people can dress up in how wild people dress here, it normal from people to be dressed like that. I saw someone dressed as Pirate and it was so interesting to see how people reacted to them. At home I would seriously question why I saw someone walking down the street dressed as a pirate, but here it seemed to be completely normal. I wish we had more time to just sit and watch people on the streets, because they are so different and entertaining. I do not think I would want to live here all of the time just because some people are a little bit crazy and its nice to visit but the city is busy all the time and its a overwhelming. However, everyone that I have meet and known that lives here seems to be super nice and is very willing to tell you anything that you want to know about the French Quarter and New Orleans. Today, I also enjoyed learning about the cities history. There have been a couple stories, especially about different ghosts that have been told a few times now on different tours. Each time the story is told there seems to be a different twist to it, and I find it interesting to learn who believes what. According to my watch, we walked over 24,000 miles today, and I am very glad we ended up coming back to the hotel early to rest and go to bed at a decent hour.

Fun Foods!! (Outer Journey)

The food tour that we went on today was amazing. One of my favorite foods that I tried was brisket. Normally, I do not tend to eat meat too much when I am home, and it was nice to taste something with a different flavor. The bread crunched as I bit into it and the brisket covered with a tomato seemed to melt in my mouth. One of the only other food items that I liked on the food tour was the red beans and rice and the Mardi Gras dip. The Mardi Gras dip tasted like sour cream, but with a kick to it. It made my mouth feel as though it was on fire, especially since I also do not get many foods with spices often. Also on the food tour I tasted turtle and shrimp for the first time. Surprisingly, the shrimp was a bright orange color that I was expecting. The coolness of the shrimp entered my mouth and then the horseradish sauce that covered the shrimp started to burn my mouth. After the food tour, Sommer and I decided to skip dinner and walk to Café Du Monde to get beignets. Beignets are basically like a donut covered in a fair amount of powered sugar, and they are delicious. I also had a nice up of warm hot coco because about this time the temperature outside started to get a little bit chilly and it was nice to warm myself up. Overall, the food was my favorite experience today because of how different someone of it was from what I normally eat back home.

So the Adventure Begins!! (Inner Journey)

On the first night in New Orleans I learned about "Touchdown Jesus". I am honesty surprised that I have really enjoyed learning about the history behind statues. Normally, I tend to forget shorty after visiting them by "Touchdown Jesus" just is not something you can forget. I mentioned in a previous blog that I was worried about rooming with people that I haven't know for a long time, but it's been really fun getting to know them. We even all matched wearing maroon when we changed at our hotel after finally being able to get off the train. Tonight my favorite thing that we did was were we at. Original Pierre Maspero's was better than I expected. I did not get to adventurous with what I tried considering that I just got veggie pasta. However, it was delicious and a lot better than Olive Garden at home. I really hope I do end up getting outside of my comfort zone at least a little bit foodwise. I have to be honest New Orleans at first is overwhelming, just because it is different from back home, and learning to navigate from place to place was also confusing at first (thanks goodness for GPS). Being out in the dark is also quiet interesting just because some people look and behave differently to say the least, so I hope to get back to the hotel before it gets too late the rest of the trip. Overall, I think that over the course of the next few days we will learn, and experience many new and exciting things.

Arrival!!!! (Outer Journey)

When the train first arrived in New Orleans the sky was gray and rain pourred down. Thankfully, the rain it not last all night and we did not have to walk in the cold rain for long. On our first full day of the trip, we went out to dinner together as a group. We went to a historic restaurant called Orginial Pierre Maspero's. Walking into the building, I felt like I was taken back in time. The building is one of the oldest in the French Quarter. The smell of seafood lingered in the air while we waited for our food. I ended up ordering the veggie fettuccine, and it came out looking amazing. The sauce looked so creamy on my plate, and I was already very hungry so it did not take long for the food to disappear. Something else that we did on our first night in New Orleans is that we went on a haunted tour. My arms filled with goosebumps as our tour guide told all the different ghost stories. Along the way I noticed a good amount of homeless people, and the city is much dirtier than I was expecting. The trees here look different from the ones back home in Illinois, and there are more people that look and act differently too. The sky was bright blue today, and every once in a while a cloud would provide us with some shade. It also was very windy, which made the air feel colder than it actually was. My feet ache because of how much we walked today, but it was an overall amazing day.

Departure (Inner Journey)

Goodbye Peoria, Hello New Orleans!!

After much anticipation, the day that get to New Orleans has finally arrived. In just a few short hours, we will arrive, and I am really looking forward to the rest of the week. In the beginning, I has a little nervous about rooming with people I just met. However, after meeting them, I think it is going to be a great week. Talking with Sommer and getting to know her on the way to New Orleans has been super fun! They all also like to take picture and that's a really good thing because I tend to take a fair amount of pictures. Also, sleeping on the train was nothing like how I thought it was going to be. Somehow I managed to fall asleep early (around 11:30pm) and I woke up wayyyy earlier than normal (about 6am). I do not think that its set in how far from home we actually are yet, but I definitely think it will be easy to tell the difference between Illinois and Louisiana. I have also enjoyed looking out the window, and taking in all the sights as the train passes by. As we get closer, the gray stormy sky appears to be lifting. Fingers crossed we have good weather the rest of the week! Overall, I am really grateful that I have meet the people that I have, they have helped calm most of my nerves about the trip. We have been trying to plan our free day, so hopefully the weather stays nice so we can go on as many adventures as possible.

Departure (Outer Journey)

It took about two hours to drive to Champaign to board the train. As we drove, we talked and got to know each other better. Reminiscing brought make some amazing memories. At the train station, we gathered as a group and waited for what seemed like forever to board the train. At this point, the long day started to catch up to me, I could feel my energy level dropping. The sound of the loudspeaker filled the room, and announced it was time to go. Quickly, everyone grabbed their belongings and formed a line to board the train. I was surprised to learn that the train had an upstairs, and that the chairs reclined. I have only ever been on other train and the train was not like this before. Once we departed from Champaign, the train was overall quiet, and I asleep fairly well. The subtle sound of the train rolling down the tracks, and snores filled the train car. Every now in then, I would awake to the sound to the train stopping along the way. For awhile I could not find a comfortable position to fall asleep. The chair reclined and I eventually fell asleep while curled up in my fluffy blanket. We awoke to a rainy and foggy morning, and I somehow managed to put some makeup on during our stop in Memphis, Tennessee. The smell of coffee lingered in the air, while county music echoed in my ears. Now, as we pass through Mississippi, I'm watching out the window while the anticipation and realization that soon I'll be in New Orleans for the first time grows.

Trip Expectations (Inner Journey)

I think that this course and the trip are going to be fun. I am a little nervous about how different New Orleans will be from here. I expect to do a good amount of walking and but I think that walking is a great way to see the city. When I signed up for the trip I forgot to thing about any homework and assignments that we might have while we are there. However, I like the idea of the travel brochure and blog because they have helped me get an idea of what to expect in New Orleans. I am most looking forward to trying new foods. I really want to try a Mac n Cheezy at the Big Cheezy, its basically mac n cheese inside a grilled cheese and I need to try it. Other than food, I am looking forward to getting to know the other people that are going on the trip. I do know anyone that is going on the trip too well, but I am looking forward to getting to know them. I took this trip to experience new things, and get outside of my comfort zone. I like to keep to myself and stick with doing and eating what I know I like, and I think that it will be good to try new things. My expectations for the trip are mixed because I am not too sure what to expect, but I also think that not knowing is making me more excited to leave.

Trip Preparations (Outer Journey)

I finally began packing for New Orleans. I bought a medium sized suitcase, a couple pairs of soft and comfy leggings, a neck pillow for the train and a new pair of comfy tennis shoes for the trip. Nervousness and excitement have been overwhelming the past couple of days. Thinking of leaving my home and where I'm comfortable for about a week has me a bit worried. The loud noises and vibrations of the train are probably going to keep me awake. However, I am just as anxious to arrive in New Orleans and experience everything it has to offer. I really want to try new foods that I ordinarily would not eat while I am there. It doesn't seem like the trip is so soon, and I feel like now I am frantically doing piles of laundry, and getting everything organized for the trip. I have been a ton of research trying to find neat and exciting activities to do on our free day. To my surprise, the weather forecast looks like it is going to be sunny most of the time we are there. Its been hard to keep my excitement under control. Every other sentence out of my mouth has New Orleans in it. Right now, I have a ton more packing, cleaning, and other preparations to do in order to be ready to leave. I think that I should have started trip preparations a couple of days earlier. Overall, I am excited to leave in a few days after I finish up all the last minute preparations.