Farewell New Orleans, Hello Again Illinois

Outer Journey

New Orleans, Louisiana has been such a wonderful learning experience in many different ways. You got to meet new friends and new people. You got to see a new city. You got to learn so much history. You even got to experience a whole different culture. I’m beyond thankful for the opportunity Methodist College and my parents gave me by going on this trip. I have traveled many different places in the United States, and personally I believe that New Orleans is different than other places.

New Orleans does not have very grass areas throughout the city. The most grass that I saw was alongside the river  and in Jackson Square. There are not any McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, or fast food restaurants anywhere within the French Quarter which was surprising because many other big cities have them scattered throughout. Mostly everywhere that you walk, you will run into the smell of marijuana, cigarette smoke, or cigars. Additionally, as weird as it may seem, yes, it is “O.K” to take your alcoholic beverage out on the streets and keep roaming around! That is completely legal in New Orleans. On another note, when you go into a restaurant or café, the workers are on their time, they don’t rush, and the service can be slow at times so make sure you allow time for that. But, one very important thing to know is that mostly everyone that we had an encounter with was very nice. They were polite and helpful when we would ask questions or for recommendations about things. 

Overall, one of my favorite spots that I went to this trip was on our Free Day when Kandace and I went adventuring to the Lower Ninth Ward to see the Mercedes Benz Superdome and Charity Hospital. Personally, the Lower Ninth Ward and French Quarter are such a culture shock. The Lower Ninth Ward is more on the dangerous side, it is rundown and there was a lot of damage to this area from Hurricane Katrina. I continue to question as to why Charity Hospital in the Lower Ninth Ward has been vacant since Katrina and what they plan on doing with the building. The Mercedes Benz Superdome was cool to see because I am a huge sports fan so I enjoy getting to see stadiums and games and experience the atmosphere around there. 

As we leave today and say our goodbye to the French Quarter, I thought about what my favorite spot within the Quarter. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see the architecture of the buildings and experiencing the history within the area. I took a picture in front of the Presbytere because it was one of my favorite buildings to go in because they had the history of Hurricane Katrina and talked more about Mardi Gras. Additionally, I took a picture outside one of the Pontabla buildings because they were one of the first sets of apartment buildings in the United States and it dates back to centuries ago. Another thing that is very unique that I loved about the French Quarter was that the fencing around Jackson Square is so unique that it can’t be duplicated anywhere else. 

Inner Journey

New Orleans has been a wonderful experience. The weather was fabulous besides the first night and first full day we were in the city. I loved soaking up all the sun and 65 degrees. This trip as been a life changing experience because of all the things you learn about the city and even yourself. 

My favorite part about the class was being able to blog and talk about our experiences as we went through the trip so we could share it with our loved ones back home. I thought that our instructors were helpful in educating us on the history of New Orleans and the culture that they have experienced within the city before. 

My favorite part about the trip was getting to see Charity Hospital, the Presbytere, Ursuline Convent, and the Saint Louis Cathedral. I thought that there was a lot of amazing history within the convent and cathedral which was interesting to learn even though I haven’t been to church in a while. It’s impressive to see the things that were done in the past in this area and to see how far we have come! The Presbytere was outstanding and the history inside this building about Hurricane Katrina and Mardi Gras is great. When Hurricane Katrina happened, I was so young that I don’t really recall it so being able to see pictures, recordings, and things from people’s homes is truly jaw dropping. Charity Hospital has been rundown completely since Hurricane Katrina and is guarded 24/7 by police. When you walk around the building there are windows missing, windows that are boarded up, and some windows with writing on it. You can tell that the damage done to this hospital was intense and the history inside from when the hurricane hit could still be there. 

I learned that the people of New Orleans are extremely kind and love giving their local opinion of places to try and places to go to ensure that the people visiting love their city as much as they do. The tour guides are all very educated about the history of the city and love telling us about what they know and how it might have been for them growing up in this area. Overall, I thought the people were great and I didn’t have a bad experience with anyone.

Personally, I learned not judge a book by it’s cover. Even though you may think you know a lot about a person or thing, you don’t know it all so you need to give them the benefit of the doubt sometimes. In fact, sometimes it’s better to just sit back and listen to everything and everyone around you. 

What is Outside the French Quarter?

Outer Journey

It’s a free day! We can do whatever we want therefore, I started it off by sleeping in until 8:15am. It was great to not have to set an alarm or worry about rushing to get ready. I went to breakfast and had a waffle with strawberries and whip cream. It tasted so delicious. 

After breakfast, I got ready to go explore the streets of New Orleans. First, Kandace and I went to the mall that is down the street from us to see what we could find. There were lots of food choices within the mall, including a Café du Monde. We stopped in a few shops like Forever 21, Crocs, NOLA shop, Lids, Coach, etc. The mall looked new and was very clean. Overall, we went there just to see what it was like and to get some exercise. 

Once we were done at the mall, we came back to the hotel to meet up with the other classmates because we wanted to rent a bike and ride around the city. Well, you had to pay $5 to sign-up and then 0.10 cents for every 10 minutes that you had the bike. Well, we all decided that we rather not do that so Kandace and I parted ways with the rest of the group and started walking to the Mercedes Benz Superdome. 

The Mercedes Benz Superdome has an area near the arena that is called Champion Square where you could tailgate before the game. It is a very large space with lots of places to get beer or liquor from and there is a stage as well. You could have a lot of fun prior to the game in this area. As we continued walking around, there were a set of stairs that took you up to the Superdome so you could walk around the entire building. As we walked one way, you could see the Smoothie King Center where the New Orleans basketball games play and as you walked the other direction, you could see Charity Hospital. 

The Smoothie King Center was getting prepared for an event at the arena. Then we walked over to Charity Hospital because I wondered what it looked like in person. I keep questioning, why would this hospital still be closed after Hurricane Katrina and why would they not do anything with the building since it is so large? Well, we stopped in a PJ’s coffee shop and I asked the worker if she knew why and she said that she wasn’t sure but she heard that the money the city got from FEMA has still not been used and there is a lot of corruption going on. 

Charity Hospital looks very run down. There are window blown out, boards in some windows, and writing in some windows. The building looks very dirty. They have it guarded 24/7 by an off-duty police officer which has to cost millions of dollars every year. Another thing that I noticed was there were stray cats around the building which made me very sad because animals deserve a home and one of them was missing a tail. 

After exploring other parts of New Orleans, we made our way back to the French Quarter and did some souvenir shopping. We decided to come back to the hotel and relax because our feet and hips are really sore from all the walking. Overall, I truly enjoyed getting to experience other parts of the city because there is so much history here other than the French Quarter. 

Inner Journey

Well, I almost feel like I have been run over by a truck because of how sore my body is. My feet, hips, and back hurt a lot and I would love to get a massage after this trip is over. We have walked so much since we have been here, approximately 10 miles every day. All I can say is I am looking forward to going home and relaxing for a couple days, but I’m not ready for this train ride. Even though, I’m ready to go home and relax, I enjoyed our day off to get to do whatever we wanted. 

I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do today because I didn’t know if anyone would want to go with me toward the Superdome. Well, turns out Kandace wanted to go adventuring with me towards the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans instead of staying in/near the French Quarter. I enjoy watching football and I have seen things be held at the Superdome so I wanted to visit it in person. Also, there were thousands of people who took shelter there during Hurricane Katrina and I wanted to see one of the areas that got hit hardest by the hurricane. 

As we entered into the Lower Ninth Ward, we saw a few buildings that had been abandoned and some buildings that appeared to be in good shape. I’m very confused as to why Charity Hospital is still abandoned and what they are going to end up doing to the building. The information I learned about the city not using the FEMA money is very surprising and I want to know if that is actually true or not because I don’t understand why it wouldn’t be yet. 

Overall, I loved experiencing other parts of the city and seeing different things because I haven’t seen much other than the areas around our hotel and the French Quarter. 

History, History, History.

Outer Journey

WE GOT TO SLEEP IN THIS MORNING! Wow, did I need that! I have been so exhausted this trip from all the walking and not getting much sleep but, I wouldn’t change it because I love getting to take in all of the history of this city. Our morning started out at the Presbytere, then the Cabildo, Haunted Tour, and seeing the Joan of Arc Parade. 

The Presbytere talked about Hurricane Katrina and the history of Mardi Gras. I truly enjoyed getting to learn about Hurricane Katrina because I was young when it happened and don’t really remember anything about it other than it being really bad. I remember that there were individuals and families that fled to Illinois and specifically, DeKalb. Somehow my parents found out about a family who fled and had a baby and they didn’t have any clothes for him so we found some baby clothes and other things that we could donate to the family in their time of need. While we were in the museum, there were a pair of pants on the wall that had a man’s name, his wife’s name and the number to the hotel he was staying at, his blood type, and social security number just in case something happened to him when he was trying to flee when the storm had hit. The media reported that hospitals were evacuated on a Tuesday and they weren’t. They had backup generators that ran out of fuel. The temperatures in the buildings got to be upwards of 100 degrees. There were 2,500 patients and 11,000 staff and family members hunkered down in 25 different hospitals. They reported that a 147 patients died. 

Mans pants with writing

collection of things from Mardi Gras in the past

Mardi Gras actually started today. It has to do with the Epiphany and it starts 12 days after Christmas. Therefore, we got to see the Joan of Arc parade marking the beginning of Mardi Gras. Well, in this museum, they had lots of history. They showed invitations to prior Mardi Gras parties, costumes, and crowns and other knickknacks. There was a display case that showed lots of beads and other things that are thrown for Mardi Gras. 

Micaela Almonester, Baroness of Pontalba

The Cabildo was quite interesting because that was their government building. They talked about Andrew Jackson and the war over New Orleans. But what I found most interesting was where they talked about Micaela Almonester, the Baroness of Pontalba. She inherited a lot of money from her father but he died when she was two and a half years old. She had an arranged marriage with her second cousin. This museum talked about a lot of different things that happened in her life that we had never heard about prior to coming to here. 

Overall, everything we learned about today has been quite interesting. The favorite part of today was seeing the Katrina museum. I can’t wait to go on our own tomorrow and see different sites.  

Inner Journey

The amount of history within New Orleans is outstanding and how meaningful it all is to the city is something out of this world. It really means something to all the people from New Orleans and that is why they call this home and it’s so difficult to say goodbye in times like a hurricane. The most impactful part of today was seeing the part of Hurricane Katrina in the Presbytere museum. This affected me emotionally because I can relate to it somewhat from the standpoint of my boyfriend being in Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas. I truly believe that it isn’t easy to hear that you need to evacuate your home because a massive hurricane is going to make landfall. When you leave, you don’t know if you’re going to be coming back to a home or not, if there will be no damage, some damage, or if the house is just completely gone. The place that you made memories, the place that has all of your belongings; clothes, furniture, pictures, etc. is in this home that could potentially be completely ruined. Personally, I could not imagine how hard this was for the people of New Orleans. Although, I know how scary this could be because my boyfriend lives in Houston, Texas and was living there when Hurricane Harvey hit the city in 2017. There was so much devastation and when he went to work to help serve the community, he did not know if he was going to come home to his home that would be perfectly fine or completely flooded ruining all of his things. The amount of devastation that hits the city and some individuals is heartbreaking and you just can’t help but wonder how can I help?

View in the Cabildo

When we were in the Cabildo, I enjoyed reading about Micaela Almonester, the Baroness de Pontalba. She lived a very different life by having an arranged marriage to her second cousin. Her father passing away when she was just two-and a half years old. She inherited her father’s money after she was old enough and the mother passed away as well. Additionally, her father-in-law tried to kill her by shooting her four times. She did not die, and we learned that he later took his life because he couldn’t deal with himself trying to kill her and failing. I believe that this was so strange because it is something different in our era. But I love how resilient Micaela was and how she did what she thought was best. When she moved back to New Orleans and finished the buildings that her father made, I thought that her architecture and ideas for the building were beautiful. 

Micaela's Father

Overall, I truly enjoyed the amount of things that we learned today.  

Holy Day

Outer Journey

Church at the convent

Today, it appears to be a Holy Day. We traveled to the Ursuline Convent first which is the oldest building in the middle of the United States. The Ursuline Convent was built in 1752/1753. At this time, New Orleans was owned by the French so the building took on a colonial type architecture. The beams that are inside the convent are from Cypress trees and are original to the building. They say that the Cypress trees were at least 250 years old at the time when they were placed in the convent back in the 1750’s. The church in the convent was stunning, there was a lot of marble that was in there and gold. It was beautiful to see all the artifacts that they had in the front of the church. 

At the convent

After visiting the convent, we made our way over to the Saint Louis Cathedral. Our tour guide Ann, talked to us about the history of the church and how there are only three artifacts that left from when the church was first built by in the 1700’s. Those artifacts were a baptismal font, silver vase pieces, and Jesus hanging on the statue. There were some other interesting things that we learned which was that the shell was to help project the priests voice before microphones were invented. Additionally, when they laid the floor, there were fossils that were in some of the tile pieces. Lastly, one thing that I found very interesting and scary was there was a bomb that went off in the church. Luckily, it was at night after the church was locked up and nobody got hurt. Although, since it was locked, the bomb caused all the windows to shatter which ruined the stain glass windows. 

Shell to project voice

Lastly, we got to go on a cuisine tour! They took us to 5 different restaurants in the city which had historical significance. At Tujagues, we tried a Beef Brisket Po Boy with Creole Horseradish sauce. It tasted pretty good, although it was spicy. Next, we went to Creole Delicacies, where we had red beans and rice. The beans had a different taste but it was good. After that, we went to Antoine’s where we tried seafood gumbo. Although, I took a pass on this try because I am not a fan of shrimp. We made a stop at Leah’s Pralines to have a praline which is like peanut brittle. I was not a big fan of it, it had a sweet but salty taste. Lastly, we went to Arnaud’s, where we had shrimp remoulade and turtle soup. I did not try the shrimp but the coated on the shrimp had a spicy kick to it which I was not a fan of. I did not care for the turtle soup either, it had a strange taste even though a classmate compares it to chicken, I strongly disagree. I thought that it was a great experience trying these foods because I would’ve never done it on my own! 

St Louis Cathedral 

Overall, today was great. We learned so much about the catholic religion within the French Quarter of New Orleans and what their food is like! Now, it’s time to celebrate my birthday! See you tomorrow.

Inner Journey

St Louis Cathedral

January 5^th, the day I call Holy day because we went to Ursuline Convent and Saint Louis Cathedral. I grew up catholic, although I have not been to church in a very long time. While being on these tours, I realized there is so much about the catholic religion that I have not learned and know absolutely nothing about. In fact, while we were on these tours, I thought about calling my sister and her boyfriend to listen to the history that we were because they know so much more about the catholic religion than I do and I know that they both would’ve really appreciated it. What I loved most about seeing the convent and the cathedral was the artwork. It was absolutely stunning. 

The cuisine tour was really nice because we got to try different foods. I thought that I was not going to try much of this because I am such a picky eater but I went out of my comfort zone and tried it. I did not care for the Po Boy because the horseradish was not very good in my opinion. I did not like the turtle soup because it just had a very strange taste. 

Overall, I wasn’t impressed with everything but I thought it was a great experience and I liked that I stepped out of my comfort zone for the day! I can’t wait to see what else I step out of my comfort zone for. Additionally, I loved the tours at the convent and cathedral because of how much history there is within the two buildings. 

Let the Site Seeing Begin

Outer Journey

We finally got to see New Orleans during the day! It was quite beautiful. We left the hotel at around 7:15-7:30 in the morning and headed to Jackson Square. It was a little chilly outside, 50 degrees and very windy. As we got closer to the river, it got winder. We arrived to the square a little early so we walked to the river to see the sites and it was stunning. The sun was still rising, the water was splashing on the steps in front of us, there was a bridge, and some boats. 

Once we began our tour with Milton, a local gentleman who was born and raised in New Orleans, also known as a Creole. Creole means that the parents moved here from another country and had the child here in Louisiana. He took us around Jackson Square and explained some of the architecture and the knowledge behind it. How the buildings were built by a gentleman named Andres Almonester, then later finished by his daughter Micaela Almonester who was the Baroness of Pontalba. They had a strong influence in the French Quarter, especially in Jackson Square. The father had a lot of money and when he passed away, it all went to the daughter, Micaela. When she finished the buildings, the fencing that was around it had a unique design and if you looked closely enough you would be able to see the initials “AP”. Furthermore, the individuals who made the fencing on these apartment buildings and the gate around Jackson Square are completely unique to this area and can’t be replicated today. 

We traveled to Congo Square where the slaves would meet on Sunday’s and sell their goods or trades to gain the money to become a free person of color. There was a lot of dancing and music played there as well. 

We made a stop at the Saint Louis Cemetery One, which is a Catholic cemetery that has a small area in the back for individuals who were Presbyterian. There are rumors that Marie Laveau buried there, although the catch is, they say she has three different burial sites within this cemetery, and two more throughout the city. They believe that she is at this one in particular because her daughters are buried there. Nicholas Cage, the actor has a pyramid here for his burial one day as well. This area is guarded and you have to sign in with the tour guides prior to walking through. 

Later in the day, we went on the pharmacy tour. The building was built in 1823. Louisiana was the first state to implement a medical license before you could legally practice medicine here. The first female to be a pharmacist and practice medicine was a Nun by the name of Sister France Xavier. The pharmacy has this items in the front glass window that are called “show globes”. The show globes were to alert the public of things that are going on. Therefore, when the show globes are light up “red” it means that there is a dangerous disease. At one point in time, the building upstairs was converted to a dentist office, child birthing area, and minor surgeries. An interesting bit of information is that in the 1840’s in New York City was the first city that had a pharmacy open to a person of color. Meanwhile, it was not until the 1930’s that a person of color was able to open a pharmacy in Louisiana. 

To end our day, we looked at art in a few different art galleries on Royal Street and listening to music on Frenchman Street. There was one art gallery that tried to get us to buy a piece that was 15 hundred dollars. The piece was of a naked woman standing holding a rope. Well, we laughed at him and told him absolutely not because we are broke college students. While we were on Frenchman Street there were so many bars that had different bands singing and it was all different. There was a band that played at 39 which sounded pretty good, they played some different cover songs and gave it their own twist. They seemed to be more like an alternative type band, but I am not very good at knowing some genres of music so that’s just my best guess. 

Overall, the trip has been a great learning experience filled with lots of amazing history, music, and art. 

Inner Journey

Well, the weather would have been great if it wasn’t for the wind! Isn’t that such a Midwestern thing to say? But in this case, it was so true. I am absolutely exhausted and freezing cold even though I went back to the hotel to get more layers. As I sit here and write this, I am trying to unthaw. After the sun went down, it got down into the 40’s and the wind would just go straight through you. 

All the tours that we went on were very educational and you got to see some beautiful architecture. Our first tour guide, Milton was extremely smart, kind, and funny. He took us so many places around the city and showed us many different things, but one thing that I loved most about him was that he talked to us about his personal experiences with things. Milton told us things about his life and what he experienced as a person of color and as a Creole. Another thing that I thought was very noble of him was that if we asked a question that he really did not know the answer to, he wouldn’t try to answer it or make something up. 

The houses that we saw like the shotgun house and the Creole house were extremely gorgeous. The amount of architecture on the houses was breath taking and to know that it was all done by hand is out of this world. I truly have no words. Milton informed us that each house would be different in architecture unless it was two houses that belonged to the same family. 

The pharmacy tour was interesting because we learned about things that we never knew anything about. Additionally, they would show us things that they found buried in the courtyard of the building after the pharmacy had closed down. They had found these syringes that they used back in the day and being able to compare those to what we use know and how things are sterilized completely different is outstanding. One of the things that the gentleman said that took me by surprise was that the first syringe ever made did not have a needle, you would have to make an incision and then inject the medication. It was not until the 1860’s that they got a needle but, they could never properly clean it because they could not take the needle/syringe a part. Well, just thinking about that makes me cringe because I could not imagine the germs that they are giving to everyone. Honestly, I have become somewhat of a germ freak, and things like this make my skin crawl. Although, one thing that I did not like about this tour was how crowded the place got. Everyone was way too close and I couldn't see half of what he showed. 

I truly never knew that I would get to learn so many interesting facts in these tours or that I would even be able to remember them all, but I couldn’t be more excited about it. I have loved every moment of these tours, minus being cold! I can’t wait to see what more I learn tomorrow. 

Our First Adventure In New Orleans

Outer Journey

Finally, we have begun our journey in New Orleans. We had to wait a few minutes until we received our bags, but when we did, we requested an Uber and began journeying outside of the train station. Once we were outside, we walked towards the taxis. Our Uber driver was driving a silver Dodge Caravan, whose name was Keith. He was older in his late 60’s/early 70’s, short white hair, glasses, with jeans and a button up shirt. Keith had a strong Louisiana accent. While we were talking to him, he said that he was born and raised here in New Orleans. Our hotel was about a 5-minute drive, less than a mile away from the train station. When we got to the hotel, he pulled in towards the parking garage and helped us get our things out of the van. 

Around 4pm, Kate, Brynna, Lindsey, and I got to our hotel room. Although, it was quite the adventure to walk to the room because it was the farthest room from the elevator and my suitcase would not properly roll on the carpet once we exited the elevator. My bags fell over a couple of times which was pretty funny because I almost fell over the bags too. While we were in the room, we each jumped in the shower one after another to rinse off before heading out to the lobby to meet the class.

Street Car

When we were in the lobby, we headed out to the street cars so we could go to Jackson Square and walk to Pierre Maspero for dinner. We walked towards Farrah’s and waited for 10 minutes until the streetcar arrived. Although, the streetcar we got onto was very full so Kate, Brynna, Lindsey, and I sat facing towards the front in the very front row next to a lady who asked where we were heading. She began to tell us a story that her and her husband were in Jackson Square this morning and he was taking a picture of her when this lady accused him of taking a picture of her. Well, they began to argue and the lady threw water onto his wife’s face and then stabbed the husband. She was telling us because she wanted us to be careful if we were going there but, she said that she did not want to walk through that area alone because she had to go that way to get to her hotel and she was terrified. We asked her if her husband was ok, and she informed us that he was and he had to have surgery but he would be fine. Well she got off at Jackson Square and the four of us were unsure of what stop we were going to so we watched her get off the front of the streetcar, meanwhile our entire class got off the back of the streetcar at Jackson Square. By the time we realized it, we were at the next stop. We jumped off and talked to Colleen to find out where we should head. We used our GPS and walked towards Jackson Square and we came out by Café Du Monde. Well, we were only half way down the street from the class. 

We walked through Jackson Square and passed the pharmacy that we are going to tour later this week. It began raining when we started walking toward the Andrew Jackson statue. While we were in the restaurant, it began pouring so we rescheduled our ghost tour for another day. But we decided to venture to Bourbon Street in the rain to see a Jazz Band. Although, the band was didn’t plan for another hour and a half, so we ventured to Café Du Monde with the other part of our class. I had a beignet which tastes similar to a funnel cake. They are square and have three on a plate with lots of powder sugar. They tasted pretty good too!

Chicken and waffles

Beignet

After we left Café Du Monde, we walked to the street car and came back to the hotel. It was raining so hard at this point that I couldn’t see anything because my glasses were so wet. I thought to myself, it would be nice to have some windshield wipers on my glasses. I was so cold and wet by the time we got back to the hotel that I took a shower to warm up. 

Overall, it has been a great first day in New Orleans and I can’t wait to go out venturing and learning more about the culture and history here. 

Inner Journey

I was beyond excited to get off the train and walk around on a ground that isn’t moving while I am trying to move. The best thing about getting off the train was I could sleep in a normal bed and truly stretch out. Additionally, I was happy that I knew we would start learning more about the culture and history here in New Orleans for our own eyes. 

Walking to the street cars

Another fantastic feeling was getting into the hotel and being able to rinse off after being on the train for so long. Although, we had to rush to get ready and head to dinner and meet the class. I ended up forgetting my umbrella which was terrible because I got so wet from it raining so hard. It was also extremely cold after that. 

At the streetcar, we met a woman who said her husband had been stabbed earlier in the day at Jackson Square. When I heard this, it made me very nervous because I know we are going there tomorrow. Honestly, it makes me want to be even more aware of my surroundings while we are there and not take my phone out of my pocket to take pictures because that is what the woman said the dispute started over. Although, we have not found an article about this proving that it happened so we are all wondering if that lady told us the truth. 

When we were at Pierre Maspero, Lindsey and I split chicken and waffles which was very good. The chicken had a lot of flavor. This was enough food for me and left enough room for me to get a beignet from Café Du Monde afterwards. I learned that the beignet was very similar to funnel cakes. 

Eating at Pierre Maspero

Overall, I felt like I have learned a lot about how watch my surroundings already being here and watch for my group at all times. 

Lindsey and I waiting for the streetcar.

New Orleans Bound!

Outer Journey

Honestly, thus far I have learned that I’m really a 95-year old woman living in an almost 23-year old body. The aches and pains I feel in my back are quite terrible. I have had lower back pain from work, but sitting in these chairs trying to sleep made it worse because I kept sliding downward in the chair meaning that I had no back support in my lower back. Throughout most the night, I couldn’t get comfortable unless I was like on my side which eventually hurt my hip, and I had to rest my head on my roommate, Lindsey. Then, after laying on my side for so long, I would get this pain in my knees from being bent and hanging off the foot rest. Even though, it seems like a pretty big space, I still felt too big for it and too old. 

All of our stuff in the seat.

Our chair in a sitting position. 

                             

Our chair laid out ready to sleep.

Furthermore, it was unbearable hot to the point where I considered pulling up my pant legs and taking my socks off. Personally, it is strange that I get that hot because I’m typically very cold and I don’t like any weather that is less than 75 degrees and sunny. After a while, they finally turned the heat down and turned up the air so it cooled off and felt good on the train. I was able to lay on my side won top of my pillow laying my head on Lindsey’s arm with my blanket over top of me. 

Surprisingly, the train ride over night was quiet, there wasn’t anyone talking and if they were you couldn’t hear it. The train was not very loud when it would blow the horn either, but maybe that is because we are in the very last car that you couldn’t really hear it. Regardless, the environment was calm and everyone was very respectful of the people around them. 

I decided to get some breakfast on the train this morning, although there was a big variety of options. There was a blueberry muffin and cinnamon roll ($2.25), and a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich ($4.75). They had coffee and hot tea or hot chocolate ($2.25), pop, water, and some other drinks (about $2.25 and up). I choose to get the cinnamon roll which was premade by Sara Lee and it was alright, it was a little dry and hard though. Then, I got hot tea which happens to be my favorite. Overall, I spent $5.50 for my breakfast and I was not all that impressed by it but it was good enough to fill me up and tie me over. 

Breakfast on the train.

When you try to walk on the train, it is very difficult. Because the train is swaying back and forth, it makes it hard to walk straight. Another way to describe this is as if you are extremely drunk and have no control over your legs while someone is pushing you over. I was walking to the observation car and on my way there, I was walking between cars and one of the doors came sliding back out at me hitting me and causing me to hit something else with my ribs which hurt so bad. It felt like I got punched full force in the ribs. It is quite the experience and I get afraid for the elderly people on the train who are trying to walk around. In fact, it makes me nervous like I need to carry them to their seat. Overall, I believe that the people on the train all seem very nice and when walking by them, we say hi to one another or smile. Everyone seems to mind their own business and that they are happy to be on here looking out the windows and talking to the person next to them. 

Next stop, New Orleans!

Getting ready to work on my blog in the Observation car.

Inner Journey

Like I said before, I truly learned that I feel like a 95-year old woman because of how sore my back is from trying to sleep in these chairs. But I have enjoyed getting to experience the train again. I took the train to New York City when I was going into 7^thgrade which was a two-day long trip and wasn’t as bad because I was younger and didn’t have the aches and pains that I do now. I could also sleep a lot better back then but, now any small noise tends to wake me up because I am such a paranoid person that I can’t get myself to fully fall asleep. 

All my luggage!

I learned that it is very difficult to go to the bathroom while the train is moving because you are trying not to fall over and get pee on yourself, but I don’t want my butt on the seat either. Therefore, I try to go to the bathroom while the train is stopped. 

By talking to this gentleman on the train, he gave us tips on what to do in New Orleans and what not to do. He said “don’t give your phone to anyone” and “don’t sit your drinks down”, “keep your money situated on you because they can steal your bags”. But, the most important thing he said to us was “stay together, don’t go anywhere by yourself and be in groups of at least 3”. Then he talked about this Cajun food that we should try. He told us different bars to try or to avoid. 

The man with all the advice

Overall, I’m excited for the experience we will have and the food we will try while we are there. 

Kate, Brynna, myself, and Lindsey