Outer Journey
Arriving in New Orleans has been eventful so far and I have had so much to look and take in. For me I feel that I started to get excited when I noticed the scenery around me on the train as we approached NOLA. We were surrounded by water and swamp land that was flooded. This is a sight I have never seen before. The trees were covered in moss and the plants and vegetation were much different than we have back home. I started to see some palm tree looking plants and a lot of beautiful trees. Once we arrived at the train station, I immediately noticed the colorful paintings the walls. There was excitement in people waiting to claim their bags and get to their destinations. Once we walked out of the train station I was greeted by some beautiful palm trees and some more rain. Me and my friends took an Uber to our hotel. The driver was a woman who has lived in New Orleans for her who life. She was so nice and offered us help to load and unload the car as well as give us travel tips. Once we arrived at the hotel and checked in, we were ready to shower and change so we could get to dinner and out ghost tour on time. We had gotten pretty soaked as well as our bags from standing in the rain so it was nice to get into dry cloths. At 5 pm we met up with the rest of our class and began our walk to the French Quarter. The sights were beautiful, and I was excited to see all of the shops and architecture that was around me. I was expecting it to be louder than it was however, it was raining so I do not think as many people were out. We did get to experience one parade that came through while we were on our ghost tour, but we did not see to many street performers yet. I did however see a lot of homeless people and their pets which breaks my heart. We also had several people try and come up to our group asking for money or selling stuff.
Taking the first views of New Orleans in was exciting and overwhelming a bit. I have been very excited to see the French Quarter and it was just how I pictured it. Really it was even more beautiful in person. We got a chance to see so much including Jackson square, the St. Louis cathedral, the Cabildo, many shops and restaurants. There were many people in the square and I saw many tours taking place throughout the night. We ended our night eating a wonderful dinner at Original Pierre Maspero’s and I had Blackened red fish with pasta which was very good. It was a smaller restaurant and had a very cozy feeling to it. The food was extremely good, and I figured it would be as you could smell it down the block. Lastly, we ended our night with a really fun walking ghost tour and history tour. Our tour guide was so fun and lively, and she explained to us how haunted New Orleans really is and why. I think this was a really interesting way to not only take in some fascinating history but also to view the city differently than I normally would have if I came alone.
This is the first sight that greeted me when I got out of the train station loved the street car in the background as well
Blackened redfish that I had for dinner.
Inner
I have had such great opportunities so far and taken in so much. I have learned a lot about New Orleans by just looking around today and also through the ghost tour we went on. I had so many nerves coming into this trip and I feel like I was able to finally relax once we made it to the train station and got to check into our hotel. It was so nice to freshen up and take a shower before heading to get dinner and orient ourselves with the city. I think by the time dinner rolled around everyone was getting hangry and just needed to eat some good food. I learned that I should have brought more food to eat on the train as I did not really eat anything for the entire 16-hour train ride beside some granola bars. Something I have found unique to this city so far is how nice everyone has been. I really have enjoyed all of the helpful advice and tips I have received from kind people along the way. As well as tips from our teachers like not to engage when people when they come to you asking for money. I think that I took away a lot of good restaurant ideas just from talking with the few locals I have met. Our uber driver told us several places to try and why the locals choose them. As our night came to an end and the ghost tour was over me and four other students decided to go to cafe du monde before returning back to the hotel and it was amazing. The beignets were as good as I had hoped for and I was so excited to check it off the list of things I really wanted to do while here. Overall, I think that I had a very successful first day in NOLA.
St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square
Hot Bennetts from cafe du monde, Yumm!
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