Arrival day

Inner Journey:

Today has been a very eventful day! We arrived in New Orleans and Immediately I was enamored by all the beauty that this city held. When I first saw the older buildings I thought to myself how could something so old stay in such good shape. Throughout the rest of the day this question loomed in my mind. I know people have redone almost every part of the city, but I am still taken back by how people can preserve as much history as this town offers. I have never been to another place where such old buildings are still used daily, and with that all the buildings still look incredible. This made me think about the heritage of this place and the lasting impact it has had for generations. The history of New Orleans is one of great diversity and struggle as to who laid claim to the right of the land. With so many different cultures, I feel New Orleans was destined to be a great city. Although many great cities have existed throughout history, and many of them do are not preserved today like New Orleans is. Immediately some questions that come to my mind included. How can a place hold onto such rich heritage for so long? How can this passion be ignited generation after generation? I found the answer within the first day of being here. This city has beautiful buildings, beautiful scenery, and very rich diverse heritage, but the thing that is most unique is the people. When I talk to the people here they are not only friendly, but they always seem genuinely interested in talking to me. When they ask me a question it doesn’t feel like it is just to start a conversation, rather it feels like they truly want to know what and how I am doing. Another big thing I saw with the people was the creativity. This town is full of very uniquely creative people, it’s quite beautiful really. The musician all seem to have a passion for the music. Which is unique because many times you see a few people with a passion, and the rest learn to play to impress other people. Everyone plays with such zeal and drive that the entire day all I could think about was playing music or sitting next to them and playing. I really wish I would have brought my guitar.  Never the less, the music is incredible, but there is so many other art forms. For instance, I saw a man with a massive hula hoop and he was twirling around inside of it. This was incredible, and the talent it took to keep from following over must have been immense. The art forms I saw from street performers to painters took my breath away. I did not have words for all the beauty I saw around me. Which lead me to answer my own questions. This city is preserved so greatly, because the culture is one of creativity, new ideas, and fresh ways of looking at things. A culture like this is one that one body could ever recreate. It is something that happened by chance, but now is such a beautiful melting pot of creativity and art. Overall, today has changed my view toward the reasons toward what makes a city beautiful. It is the people.

Outer Journey:

We got off the train, and immediately started to find our luggage. The people at the station were extremely helpful with directing us in an orderly manner how to get our bags. After we got our bags we called an Uber to come pick us up. Our uber driver took the longest out of everyone’s Uber driver in our group to pick us up. When we finally got back to the hotel we settled in and got cleaned up. Our hotel room is very nice. It has two beds, a couch, microwave, a refrigerator, and a very nice flat screen tv (which we probably won’t get to use).  After we got ready we headed down to the lobby and waited for the rest of the group to come down. Once everyone was there we walked to the city transportation system, which happened to also be a train. Once on the train we rode to Jackson square. We got off here and started walking through the city. Our instructor was very knowledgeable about the city. It was actually quite remarkable the amount of information she knew as we walked around. We learned about how the two big buildings on either side of Andrew Jackson square were built by a countess that was said to have been having an affair with Andrew Jackson. These buildings are beautiful, and massive. Even today these buildings would be considered big, but to be built so long ago it still amazes me how big they are. We then got to the restaurant and the food was amazing. I ordered the crab cakes and they were to die for. I also ordered a local brewed beer that really had a unique taste. It was bitter and hoppy, but also slightly sweet. When we left the restaurant we walked to a coffee shop. I was not in the mood for coffee, so I walked up to some local shops with some other people. After we got back to the group we started a ghost tour that was interesting. The lady told us stories about how different people had died in the city, and how their ghosts now haunt the places that we were.  We walked for about two hours before the tour was over. Once the tour was over the class started making their way back to the hotel. Myself and three other people decided to check out a carousel bar. This bar literally moved around like a carousel. It was really exciting to experience. We saw a live band play and they sounded really well put together. Finally, we headed back to the hotel. We called an Uber driver, and interestingly enough he picked us up in a new ford truck. After talking with him he told us how he was retired and just loved doing this job of taking people around. Overall, this day was pack with new experience and I met a lot of new and exciting people.