NOLA 2011: The Spring Break of a Lifetime – Day 7

For those of you who don’t know, I just spent my spring break in New Orleans, LA enjoying Bourbon Street and doing local service projects. I went with a group of 39 people from the WSU Center for Civic Engagement, most of whom I did not know entering the trip. We spent 5 days and 5 nights in the French Quarter and witnessed everything from the still-damaged Lower 9th Ward, to a St. Patrick’s Day Parade, to a beach in Mississippi, to the crazy nightlife on Bourbon Street.

If only this blog entry could do the trip justice…It was undoubtedly the best trip of my life, and I am already missing the people, parties, weather, food and general culture that we encountered down there. Honestly, if anyone has not gotten the chance to experience New Orleans yet, I highly recommend spending a few days down there. (Upcoming: New Orleans Jazz Fest – look it up!) Here is my recap of the trip:

Saturday, March 19, 2011:

And now we head back to Pullman. :( Personally, I’m tired and ragged and dirty at this point, and I spent the shuttle ride and our time at the gate sleeping off my week. Everyone is a little bit antsy to get home, but at the same time I don’t think anyone was necessarily ready to leave this amazing place we had experienced all week. Almost the entire flight to Seattle was spent dozing in and out of sleep, but when we were awake, the recaps began.

So many stories popped out of the woodwork that we had no knowledge of previously. Charlie’s Captain Morgan story, for one, was classic. (Yep, that’s all the information you get!) Remember when Bryan got arrested? When Katiejo danced on the bar? When Maggie tried to track down the girl who tried to start a fight? When we saw the Lower 9th? When Stephanie’s crawfish splooged on her? When we met the group of Cougar alums? The difference we made in a few people’s lives on our service projects?

After a bit of reminiscing and some much-needed rest, we were all finally somewhat awake at the Seattle airport. We spent a couple hours on our layover eating Ivar’s clam chowder and chatting about everything from the trip, to anthropology, to how WSU has changed since Charlie was an undergrad, to what we are all trying to do in the future.

When we boarded the short flight from Seattle to Spokane, I got in another quick nap and then an hour long sleep in the car on the way back to Pullman (sorry Charlie and Sarah…I was just so sociable…). And just like that, the trip was over! I slept for 14 hours on Saturday night and spent Sunday sullenly wishing I was still down South. But as I’ve said, going to New Orleans was one of the best experiences of my life. And rather than make a list of all my memories, I will just try to put together some of my personal favorite pictures from the trip and leave it at that (only a couple from the service projects - because we were actually working, whereas on Bourbon Street cameras were constantly going off!). NOLA for life. I can’t wait to go back.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the pics! I will never forget the fun times, the service projects, the food, culture and art we took in on this trip. And most importantly to me, the strong relationships I built with my fellow Cougs...Almost as exciting as the actual trip is all the new friends I've made through the experience, so thanks to everyone for making it such an amazing trip!

NOLA 2011: The Spring Break of a Lifetime – Day 6

For those of you who don’t know, I just spent my spring break in New Orleans, LA enjoying Bourbon Street and doing local service projects. I went with a group of 39 people from the WSU Center for Civic Engagement, most of whom I did not know entering the trip. We spent 5 days and 5 nights in the French Quarter and witnessed everything from the still-damaged Lower 9th Ward, to a St. Patrick’s Day Parade, to a beach in Mississippi, to the crazy nightlife on Bourbon Street.

If only this blog entry could do the trip justice…It was undoubtedly the best trip of my life, and I am already missing the people, parties, weather, food and general culture that we encountered down there. Honestly, if anyone has not gotten the chance to experience New Orleans yet, I highly recommend spending a few days down there. (Upcoming: New Orleans Jazz Fest – look it up!) Here is my recap of the trip:

Friday, March 18, 2011:

On Friday, we were supposed to have a “coast clean-up” project in Mississippi. Well, we still went to the coast, just didn’t do much cleaning. We drove about an hour to a beach in Waveland, Mississippi (just outside of Port St. Louis) and soaked in some rays and chilled in the water for a few hours. It was very relaxing after a long week of working and partying. We spent a long time in a big group chatting in the warm, ankle-deep water and took naps under the Southern sun. After a couple hours, we decided to go to lunch downtown.

Beach in Mississippi!

Marina, our trip leader and van driver, was craving some real Southern BBQ, so we headed in that direction. We found a little drive thru diner called BB’s BBQ. We got the rib plates that came with two sides. Mine had baked beans and cole slaw and of course, a biscuit! The meal was unbelievable. I’m almost willing to book a flight to NOLA right now and get some more…and the coolest part of the whole meal was the real down-home Southern hospitality we received.

We spent a good 30 minutes just talking to one of the cooks (Brett, I believe?) who was really digging Maggie! ;) Anyway, like I said, the food was amazingly delicious and we had really nice service from everyone there. The servers were great, and Brett spent a good chunk of time explaining how Hurricane Katrina affected him. He told us a story about how water was so high on his house that it busted through his second story window and carried his surfboard out to sea.

After a little more time at the beach, we drove back into New Orleans and did a driving tour of the Lower 9th Ward. For the time we had, it was a very emotional, effective tour. We saw tons of houses that looked like they were about to fall over or implode. A bunch of them were boarded up and “X’d out.” I wish we could have gotten out of the car and talked to the people around the neighborhoods but it was too dangerous. But, if I do get the chance, I’d love to go back and interview people and do some service projects in the Lower 9th. It was strange because the Garden District is literally across the street and it is full of mansions and fancy yards. Still, the short trek into the Lower 9th really gave us a good idea of what Hurricane Katrina did to the area, even 6 years later. It was pretty emotional, just seeing the damage that was done and the potential for destruction that can come out of nowhere and just ruin a person’s life.

Lower 9th Ward house.

After the Lower 9th tour, we just all started getting packed up because the Spokane group had to meet in the lobby at 6:30 in the morning. Most people hit the sack afterwards to make sure they would wake up on time. Bryan, Tim and I had different ideas. Our mindset was: This is our last night in New Orleans for who knows how long…let’s go crazy. So, we took on Bourbon Street again.

First of all, we realized this was our first real weekend night on Bourbon Street. And it was insane! We could hardly move down the street, and there were multitudes of attractive Southern women everywhere! We thought the night was going to be a bust at first because everyone else had gone to bed. But, we stayed out all night (yes, past the 3 a.m. curfew – sorry, Charlie!) hitting the bars and the balconies. One balcony in particular we spent a good two hours at and met a girl who was doing a bachelorette party. I got one of those cool plastic microphones from someone, that when you talk into it, the sound echoes out. So we were yelling at people down on the street with it and throwing beads and sipping fishbowls at will.

We also saw a fight in which, to be blunt, one drunk guy knocked another drunk guy to the ground (you could hear the nose crack from the balcony) and his face was covered in blood. When the knocked-out drunk stood back up, the knock-out drunk took his belt off and began swinging it like a club. When he got pulled apart from the guy he was fighting, he waved his penis in victory at him and stormed away. It was…interesting.

Then when we were leaving the bar around 4:30, we ran into a couple new friends: Sarah and Olivia. They were 41 and 38 years old, respectively, but to be honest they looked to be 30 at the most. Their husbands were at the bar, and they didn’t seem to care that their wives were being very friendly and flirty with three young men. Bryan, Tim and I each had one bead left for the entire trip. When Sarah suggested that we “see Olivia’s chest” to put it nicely, because she had “the best boobs ever,” we were surprised when she obliged. Thrice…one for each bead. (Really, I tried to censor this, but it was really impossible) Let’s just say it was a fitting way to end our trip.

Tim trying to chow down on the huge double cheeseburgers at Daisy Duke's

After that, we hit up Daisy Duke’s for the last time on our trip. We ordered double cheeseburgers, which were basically two steaks surrounded by cheese and buns. Somehow we managed to scarf them down still (it sucked for the rest of the day, trust me). Plus, we got to spend some quality time with our favorite server, Gabriel. After our meal, we went back to the hotel, hung out for about a half hour, and then limped down to the lobby at 6:30. We were all still in our clothes from the night, smelled like Bourbon Street, still a bit drunk and very tired and full of burger. To give a slight example of how bad the situation was, I put my arm around Amy and whispered, “I should’ve showered.” She was not digging that too much, but at least she smartly held her breath.

Wednesday through Friday night, our room alone. Go Cougs!

I’ve never been so uncomfortable, especially on such a busy day, but it was well worth it. We had a fantastic last day and night of our break, and can’t say we ever cut any corners or went easy on Bourbon Street. We represented the Cougs in every way possible. For tomorrow, the last entry, check in for the most ridiculous, uncomfortable, sleep-filled travel day of my life. And of course, general reflections on the trip!

NOLA 2011: The Spring Break of a Lifetime – Day 5

For those of you who don’t know, I just spent my spring break in New Orleans, LA enjoying Bourbon Street and doing local service projects. I went with a group of 39 people from the WSU Center for Civic Engagement, most of whom I did not know entering the trip. We spent 5 days and 5 nights in the French Quarter and witnessed everything from the still-damaged Lower 9th Ward, to a St. Patrick’s Day Parade, to a beach in Mississippi, to the crazy nightlife on Bourbon Street.

If only this blog entry could do the trip justice…It was undoubtedly the best trip of my life, and I am already missing the people, parties, weather, food and general culture that we encountered down there. Honestly, if anyone has not gotten the chance to experience New Orleans yet, I highly recommend spending a few days down there. (Upcoming: New Orleans Jazz Fest – look it up!) Here is my recap of the trip:

Thursday, March 17, 2011:

Well, we narrowly missed Mardi Gras in New Orleans this year. Not that we could complain about the festivities we got to partake in for St. Patty’s Day! Thursday was completely free of service projects, meetings, and general responsibilities. So, naturally my roommates and I spent the first four hours after waking up, watching the NCAA Tournament games…lame, I know. A bunch of people from the group got up and went to either one of two block parties, and some other people went to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas! So yes, I was lazy. But it turned out in my favor, as I had tons of energy that proved to be very necessary that night.

Before the trip, most of the group had signed up to go to a fancy dinner at Brennan’s, in the “haunted” red room. It sounded really delicious and fun, but we also signed on for a minimum of about $50 each on the dinner bill. And at this point in the trip, a good chunk of us were not able to afford that any longer. Luckily, an hour before dinner was to start, Charlie texted a few people to let us know we were “off the hook” for dinner. So Bryan, Rafa, Maggie, Amy and I decided to check out the Acme Oyster House for dinner. We got seated faster than we expected and had some pretty good food, and fantastic service. Amy took an oyster shooter (I don’t know how, the thing looked gnarly), and Rafa and Maggie split a huge basket of crab, oysters, shrimp and fries, among other things.

ACME Oyster House!

Anyway, we had a good dinner at the restaurant and then took to Canal Street for the parade! When we got there, a line of little cars (I believe Bryan said they could hit 80 MPH?) was there starting off the parade. We got some more pictures with people holding the Cougar flag, and collected as many beads from the floats as possible! Amy and Maggie got tons of stickers and beads and…underwear? Seriously, they were giving out the strangest things, and each time they had to kiss the old man on the cheek who gave it to them. One of the things I thought was hilarious was that many of the floats had people drinking on them, and so of course they had port-o-potties built on to them!

After the parade, we went to the hotel room and did a little pre-funking before heading down to Bourbon Street when everyone got back from dinner. This was one of my favorite nights of the trip for many reasons. But one of those reasons is because we somehow ended up merging with almost the entire group of WSU students on the trip – something I felt had been missing the entire week. We had a huge group (at least 20 or 25) from WSU parading the streets together, hitting the bars and waving the flag. The fun reached an all-time high.

One of the floats on the Canal St. parade!

Of the crazy things we did that night, here is what I remember the most vividly:

- Amy, Rachel and Katiejo dancing on the bar with the flag. The bar had a sign saying “dance on the bar at your own risk.” To our group, that sounded like an invitation, but apparently the bartender wasn’t happening because he cut them off after about one minute of their dance!

- Kayley taking the flag up on stage with a cover band and dancing through a few songs with the lead singer. Some of the best pictures of the entire trip were taken here. When we got there, they were playing Ozzy, and we stuck around for some other classics, including Green Day.

- Something I failed to mention in yesterday’s blog: we discovered fishbowls! A huge fishbowl with a straw that hung on a lanyard around your neck. They filled it with ice and Hurricane for $10. Refills were only $5 so we hung on to our fishbowls for St. Patty’s Day. Just a couple of those bad boys and your night was rockin!

Fish bowls!

- More Cougar fight songs and Fuck the Huskies chants. We took pictures with the flag with a cop on a horse, firemen who threw up the shocker (if you don’t know…google at your own risk), and tons of random people on balconies!

- Katiejo’s first taste of a grenade! Okay, so it was Bryan’s and she nearly finished it…Katiejo ruled the night on St. Patty’s Day. She busted out the crazy jingly skirt and was not shy to use it. And let’s just say there is a certain girl on Bourbon Street who is very lucky that Bryan and I happened to be standing there when she got angry at Katiejo. Otherwise that chick might be in the hospital still…

- Tons of quality time ourselves on balconies throwing beads and dancing. Spontaneous karaoke occurred far too often as our large group ruled the streets.

- Stephanie bringing a local man to tears because she had a long talk with him in front of the hotel and from what I gathered, was encouraging him and basically making him feel better about whatever was bothering him. It was really amazing and touching, honestly to see her work that magic and have such a strong emotional effect on another human being. That’s why we love Steph. :)

- Another late night dinner at Daisy Duke’s, this time with a bigger and more diverse group of us than usual (can’t wait for the reunion!).

- I’m sure I’m leaving some things out. Some on purpose, some from pure lack of memory, but either way I hope you realize how epic St. Patty’s Day was for everyone in New Orleans! Oh, did I mention tonight was THE best night for pictures? Check it out:

Taylor, Caroline and Chelsea with some random visitors on Bourbon Street

Shayna, myself and Tim being goofy at a bar

Lena, Rafael and Maggie with the flag on Bourbon Street

Representing Wazzu on a balcony

Tim, Stephanie, Marina, Amy, Cailee, Katiejo, Antoinette and some randos with the Cougar flag

Kayley, Cailee, Shayna, Stephanie and Katiejo creating one of my favorite pictures from the week!

Kayley on stage with the cover band singer and Coug flag

It’s sad to think that this was just one week ago. I would absolutely love to go back right now and go through it all again. Forget the lack of sleep and loss of money and getting out of shape and whatever other small complaints I can take out of it; this was already the most legendary trip of my life. And it was sad to think that Thursday was our second-to-last night in NOLA. Tomorrow’s blog: a beach in Mississippi, the best BBQ lunch ever made, the Lower 9th Ward, and a hectic all-nighter!