Preparation and Expectations

Describe your preparations for the trip.
    Travel terrifies me. Being away from home is unnerving, leaving my home, material items, my animals, and everything that is familiar around me. Before I even began packing, I made a list that was checked at least 25 times. What do I absolutely need? What do I want to bring? What will be detrimental if I forget it? I keep questioning myself, reviewing the list that I will use the day of to ensure I have all of my things. Prior to this trip, I did not even have luggage, so this was the first step. I went out and purchased the most obnoxious looking luggage I could find, so that it would be easily identifiable. Once I got it home, I brought it into my room and began packing, almost a week early. There are vital items I cannot pack until the day of such as toiletries and medications, so these items remain on the list of things that I have yet to pack. Anything and everything that can be packed at this time, is packed. I purchased 4 bags, considering we can have 4 bags, which I intend to take advantage of. All of my clothing is packed, with an ample amount of outfits for any occasion that may arise. I packed double the amount of clothing I would need, but as a person that likes to express herself through style and appearance, I will not know what fits in until I arrive in New Orleans.
    Aside from my clothing, I have packed all of my school materials including my laptop, writing utensils, notebooks, and various other small items. I have everything I will need to take notes, continue enhancing my blog, and be successful for this trip. Regarding personal items, I have not packed anything such as books, movies, or items to use on the train. As someone with motion sickness, I cannot distract myself by looking down at a book or watching a movie, therefore I have not packed these items because it would lead to temptation on the train. As the old lady that I am however, I have packed my crocheting materials, considering I do not need to look down to crochet. The entire train ride will be spent sleeping or crocheting, so I do not need much more in my carry on bags.
    I am a planner, a type A personality. I want to know every detail of every aspect of everything. It is draining, yet this trip is no exception. However, I have decided to keep my research to a minimum and enjoy the trip, with its surprises along the way. The only thing I researched to prepare my packing was weather, to which I was surprised by how nice the weather is suppose to be. I have been preparing my blog, continuing to work on my E-Travel guide, as well as review my packing list consistently, but I have also had to make arrangements for my home. I live alone and have two cats that need to be taken care of while I am gone. My closest family members live an hour away, so it was difficult to find someone I trust, that would be willing to stay at my apartment and care for my animals. Luckily I live close to my job and was able to find someone I trust to look over my home and kitties while I am away.

    Overall, I am very well prepared for the class. I continue to research my topic for the E-Travel guide, given that I am very interested in the topic. My partner and I have worked together to find enough research to provide to the class, but also plan to expand while we are in New Orleans. Much of our preparation has been spent together, including preparation for the train. We made lists with each other, check it twice, and bought items together that we both can use such as books, school materials, drinks, snacks, and travel items.




What are your expectations for the trip and the course?
    As I previously stated before, I am not very comfortable traveling. I do not like leaving home, where I have everything I need and am close to the people I love. However, this trip is an amazing opportunity to explore parts of the world I may never get to see again. My family is very important to me, and they know how I am with traveling, which is why they encouraged me to go and enjoy New Orleans. I can honestly say I am looking forward to this trip, with no anxiety or nervousness about leaving. I am well prepared and have done my research.
    I am a very expressive, extroverted person. I stand out in the crowd given my tattoos, bold clothing, and bold personality. This is one of the reasons I am excited to go on this trip. New Orleans has always been displayed as bright, vibrant, a city full of life and diversity, so I hope that I will finally feel that I fit in, by standing out. I feel that this will be a personal journey, teaching me not only a lot about the city, its culture, and its practices, but a lot about myself. I love going to new places, learning their culture, and experiencing what it has to offer. Traveling teachings me a lot about myself, showing me new things I love or dislike. Growing up in a small town, I was not exposed to much other than corn and cattle. Therefore, traveling gives me the opportunity to explore the world little by little, finding new enjoyment in the diversity others have to offer. I look forward to blogging everyday, because I always complain that I never took enough pictures or did not keep track of what I did for the next time I go back to a city. Travel blogging will allow me to keep a detailed description of my endeavors, including what I liked, disliked, as well as what I learned from the experience.
    Why did I take this course if I am uncomfortable traveling away from home alone? I ask myself the same question, but how will you get anywhere in life if you remain stagnant and do not break out of your comfort zone. I decided to take this course to explore, and learn about a city that has always interested me. I have family in New Orleans and never understood why they would remain in a city that consistently has devastation. I hope this course will teach me what New Orleans has to offer, and give me an insight on its culture, religion, music, architecture, and much more. I look forward to the cultural aspect most. I have always been fascinated with religion and other cultures, which is why I chose the topic of religion for my travel guide. I grew up in a Christian household, which was very structured. I somehow developed an interested in investigating other religions and practices, and have always been fascinated with the practice of Voodoo. To this day, I am not certain if I believe its effectiveness or practice, but I am still very intrigued and cannot wait to learn more. The ghost tour is honestly what I am looking forward to most, because I feel that it fits into my travel guide interests. The unknown scares me, yet I am enamored by it as well. Can we believe what we cannot see? Can we truly understand what is unknown? This is why I am so fascinated with ancient practices such as voodoo, ghosts, as well as various other religions. Some things we may never have answers to, but I hope this trip will allow me to explore my interests and continue learning more about myself along the way.

Urban Expectations

Outer Journey: Describe Urban Settings
        Growing up in a small cornfield of about 3,000 people, I have not experienced much outside of the small box of Illinois. It was a small farm town that lacked culture or individulatiy. Therefore, many of my assumptions and ideology of an urban community are based upon stories, other's experiences, and visual media. I have traveled to several places within the United States, however I would not compare them to my assumptions of New Orleans. I have been to Chicago, which I see as upscale, clean, and lacking in culture. I have also been to Washington DC, which I also feel does not constitute as a community flourishing with diversity and excitement, given that it reminds me of upscale Chicago. Therefore, how else would I create an image of an urban community, without assumptions?
     I picture the urban community to be flourishing with different cultural experiences. My visual assumption is that urban settings are bright, exciting, and full of life, similar to what we have seen on television during Mardi Gras, for example. To me, urban means the specific characteristic of a town, therefore all cities considered "urban" cannot be the same. Urban is a generalized term used to categorize a city or town, even though each town has individualized experiences, cultures, and backgrounds. Technically, my hometown could be considered urban, given that it is a town with specific characteristics. So how do I describe all urban settings as one? I think it is difficult to group together and describe all urban settings, therefor my assumptions revolving around New Orleans are all external, not internal.
      In my opinion, I believe that New Orleans will be an exciting town, full of life, culture, and diversity. I imagine that the streets will be bustling, with street performers, bright colors, and beautiful scenery. New Orleans is known for its culture, Mardi Gras, and my favorite, its varying religious practices (ghost tours, voodoo, etc). I expect New Orleans to be like a melting pot, with people from all over the world congregated together. For some reason, I imagine New Orleans to be similar to South American communities, full of color, street vendors, dancing, music, and people everywhere. New Orleans is a very historical town, therefore I also expect to see many monuments, old architecture, and various other tours. When thinking of Louisiana, I always think of the country, however New Orleans has been the exception. The media portrayed it a lot during Katrina, and spoke of its diversity and importance to the community. Therefore, I look forward to actually experiencing this myself. I've never experienced New Orleans, therefore my assumptions are all assumptions, with no experience to back them up.
     
     


Inner Journey: Why do you have those assumptions?
       As I stated previously, my assumptions are all assumptions made with a lack of experience. I have never been to New Orleans, therefore I feel that I am simply judging the city based on what I have heard and seen. As for myself, I feel that I am a very culturally diverse woman. I am very accepting of other cultures, and thoroughly enjoy learning about the differing practices. I love to learn about people, questioning why they do what they do, in a nonjudgmental way. This is what I look forward to most, experiencing the city and its people. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to explore the world as much as I would like, which is why I look forward to this trip. Growing up, I was not exposed to many cultures, or people that were different than my family and I. We lived in a small town, where it seemed that everyone fit this perfect mold. We were all the same; same religion, same school, same lifestyle. This made my life seem stagnant. I think this is the main reason I moved away so young in life. I wanted to experience the world, experience new people, and learn what it was like to be different. Once I moved out of Knoxville, I finally discovered myself and my true passions in life. I was able to be an individual, not fitting the mold that my small town created. I feel that New Orleans will be the perfect town to express myself, because for some reason I  have just always pictured it as an accepting town, full of life and excitement.
       Though I lack personal experience, I do feel that my nursing career has opened my eyes to culture. It has given me the opportunity to work with people of other nationalities, making me well rounded and appreciative of the individuality of others. In retrospect, I feel like this is one of the reasons I am so excited to go to New Orleans. I can finally further my experiences with other cultures, lifestyles, and practices, and bring what I have learned into my nursing practice.
      I mentioned that given my lack of experience, I base all of my assumptions on other's experiences, as well as televisions shows, movies, and even books. I have family that lives in New Orleans, therefore I have spoken with them about the city. The way they described it is different than how I pictured it, but surprisingly similar. They live in the French Quarters, which is a more upscale portion of the city. Yet, they loved the city and what it offers, so much, that they stayed, saying its full of opportunities, life, and culture. I have watched several videos and shows about Mardi Gras in the past, prior to knowing I would be going to the city. The parades are insane, full of color, chaos, and excitement. Because of these videos, I somehow picture the city to be like this frequently. I imagine the city to be bustling, with music and liveliness everywhere. Given my instructors love for the city and the discussions we have had, I also have high hopes for this city. She speaks of the excitement, the culture, the experiences we will have, and therefore I assume that the city will be incredible. I hope these assumptions of the city are accurate, because it would make for an interesting trip. However, I look forward to traveling to New Orleans regardless.