New Orleans

We're only two and a half hours from New Orleans.  So on Saturday morning 8 of us took off for a weekend trip.  We stayed in a hostel--The India House-- off of Canal Street.  It was a little further away from the French Quarters and Bourbon street, but it was only $17/person a night-- which is awesome!  Me and three other girl interns split a 4 person room which was pretty nice.  It had two bunk beds and it's own private bathroom/shower.  The hostel was decorated so awesomely.  If you're friends with me on Facebook check out the pictures.  It was my first time in a hostel and I was thoroughly impressed.  I highly recommend the India House-- just remember your student ID!

So after we tried to check into the hostel (we were too early and turned away awkwardly ha) we decided to head to the French Quarters for lunch.  After driving around forever to find parking we settled for Cafe Amele.  It was so beautiful there.  We then met up with the other interns who left in the earlier car at Cafe Dumont (best frozen cafe au lait-- you have to get it)!  We then decided to head out to this house destroyed by Katrina which was turned into a giant chalk board for people to express their "before I die..." wishes.  We of course got distracted by everything on the streets-- stores, flea markets, etc... so we put off visiting the house until tomorrow.  The flea market was amazing.  Masks, voo doo dolls, authentic New Orleans all for CHEAP!  We had to be in that flea market for at least an hour... I felt bad for our only guy Kenny haha.  I bought a voo doo doll so don't piss me off! ;)  We walked around some more, listened to some street bands, and got harassed by 'live statues' until we decided that we should probably officially go check into the hostel and get ready to hit up Bourbon Street.

Where we were staying we could see some Katrina damage.  It was really depressing.  The damage made the houses look rundown and uninhabitable, but it was still really different from the homes/public housing facilities that I've been visiting in Mobile.  In New Orleans you could tell that the homes were damaged by a natural disaster, boarded up, and vacant.  But in Mobile the homes aren't damaged from a  natural disaster... they're cheaply made, worn out, over-crowded, and poorly kept.  And the people living in them can't afford anything better so they stay-- even if they're uninhabitable (there are no other options).  It's not an easy feeling to know that I'm able to categorize different types of 'poor' and different types of low incoming housing facilities.  But, I like that I'm becoming more understanding.

We got dinner and then decided it was time to do Bourbon Street.  Little kids were throwing beads off the balconies-- which made accepting them a lot less trashy haha.  Then we got the signature grenade drinks, which had mixed reviews-- I thought they were good.  It's a little unsettling that they don't/won't tell you what's in them (or how much alcohol for that matter... especially for public health students who mildly tore the bartenders apart haha).  We then all stumbled upon these street break dancers.  One of the interns, Kenny, is a break dancer who actually is pretty professionally known at Villanova for it.  We kind of egged him, but it didn't take much, to showcase his moves.  The break dancers were so nice and let him do it, he was amazing!  It was so awesome because later on in the night (hours later) he got stopped on the street and congratulated on how good he was-- he had fans, so cool!  We bar hopped and band hopped and had so much fun dancing to 80's rock and ending our night on a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street.  After, we took the street car back to our hostel and called it a night.

In the morning we decided to head to that house I mentioned earlier-- the one destroyed by Katrina and turned into a chalkboard.  The cars went separately, so me and three other interns visited the house and it was unbelievable.  All of the 'Before I die..' chalk writing we're overwhelming and made you want to read them.  Some of them were silly, while others were really touching.  We all took turns adding to the chalk board.  Before I die... I want to make a difference for those who need it.