"I'm in Cog-Negro." - Milton: January 8th

Today was by far my favorite day in New Orleans, not to say that I have had a bad day here at all. It was “freezing” according to NOLA natives, bundled up in their thick coats, wool socks, hats, mittens, and snow boots, whereas us students are barely walking around in a hoodie. It was in the 30s, which to them was freezing, but that was nothing compared to Illinois weather. We started our morning off with the history and cemetery tour with Milton. Not only was the tour amazing, but Milton was my favorite person that I have met on this entire trip. He was so humbling and ridiculously smart. He provided us with so much extra information on various aspects of the tour. He took us around New Orleans and educated us on when and how the city was established. We had gathered a lot of this information prior to the tour, but he went into so much depth and made it enjoyable with his jokes and humor. He then educated us on women’s rights in NOLA, which we had not had much education on yet, so I found this interesting. He elaborated on Code Noir, which regarded various rules for African Americans that we actually mentioned in our E-Travel Guide. He elaborated and provided more information that we will be able to use in our travel guide.

Aside from this, he also provided us information on the various types of architecture and went into great detail on the fire prevention measure created in order to protect the city, given the 2 large fires that occurred. I could tell he was a huge music buff, because he went into great detail on jazz music and the various artists that rooted from New Orleans. He took us to various music buildings and told many stories of how jazz music came to New Orleans, was taken away, and returned. Then began what I thought would be my favorite part, the cemetery tour. Milton took us to St. Louis Cemetery One, which was another part of m E-Travel Guide. He took us to various tombs and educated us on the history of the tombs, how they were constructed, why they were above ground, as well as how families were buried together. He then took us to Marie Laveua’s tomb. This was also very education for my travel guide. Following the cemetery tour, we had some free time, that of course was spent eating gelato. After this, we went to the Presbytere, which I honestly had no interest in. I thought it was just a museum on Mardi Gras, but I was quickly mistaken. This museum was very educational regarding Katrina and the damage it did. There was real footage and debris from the hurricane, as well as various other stories and artifacts. After this museum, we were on our own. We all went back to the hotel to relax, pack, and spend our last full night together in NOLA. 

Prior to visiting New Orleans, I was very ignorant to the evolution of African American’s in today’s society. I try to shelter myself from negativity, and this results in ignoring the racism and sexism in today’s society. I do not watch the news, or pay attention to politics, simply because it is upsetting and only adds to my anxiety. Being in New Orleans was so humbling, because I was able to learn so much about African American culture and what they have been through, yet I was also able to hear about it first hand from many people. Milton, our tour guide was very humbling. He was so kind, and had such a fun spirit, even though he was telling us stories of how he was segregated in his youth, and excluded given his color. It wasn’t just a story at this point, but it felt real. He wasn’t telling the story in sadness, but simply with experience, and that was the humbling aspect of it. He went through so much struggle, yet is a successful, incredibly intelligent man, still living in the 9^th ward of New Orleans. Not only did he go through the pain and struggle of segregation in the 50s and 60s, but he went through Hurricane Katrina, in the area that was the most damaged. Almost the entire 9^th ward was wiped out, which is where Milton lived, and currently lives. I was 10 when hurricane Katrina happened. I knew something sad and devastating happened, but I had no idea until now how severe it really was. History was never my subject in school, so I will be the first to tell you how ignorant I am when it comes to historical events. However, this trip taught me so much, that I actually enjoyed learning about. I had no idea that 80% of New Orleans was under water. Going through the Presbytere and seeing actual footage of the hurricane, as well as seeing parts of homes, buildings, and items from homes was devastating. It really brought to light the severity of Katrina. I had enjoyed my entire trip in New Orleans given the positivity and atmosphere. Everyone on the streets is so kind, happy, and bright. The atmosphere is a positive one, something I do not commonly feel back in Illinois. It makes me ponder how? How can a city be so positive when 80% of their city was underwater and destroyed from a level 7 hurricane? This entire trip was humbling, not just the people, but the city itself. The whole point of this trip was learning “how the city speaks.” Not only did I learn how the city speaks through music and art, but I also learned how the city stayed together, regardless of the devastation that occurred. I always wondered why people stayed in New Orleans, knowing that there was always the potential of another hurricane. Now I understand. This city is so beautiful, full of history and life that I wouldn’t want to leave either.

"There's a potato in my beer." January 7th

FINALLY, Our day of freedom; the day we are allowed to roam New Orleans by ourselves, using our acquired traveling and haggling skills. It's sad, but as a college student, the most exciting part of the day was sleeping in past 8 am. This is a rarity, so it was a nice treat. After we all slept in, we all got up slowly, took our time getting ready, and gathered around noon for lunch at the Gumbo Pot. Though some of the group was not thrilled about cajun and creole cuisine, we tried out a new place. It was quite delicious and full of flavor. After lunch, we went into the small mall and traveled the shops. Each of us bought a few things, including myself. I bought a few shot glasses and sugar skulls for my collection, along with a couple of t-shirts. Treat yourself, right? After the mall, we traveled around the French Quarter to do some more shopping, mostly window shopping. We encountered an interesting man on the streets, who was part of the Meals on Wheels program, selling hats to raise money for the program. He was absolutely hilarious, so we visited with him for a solid ten minutes. We ended up buying the matching hats, and went on with our shopping. As we were walking around the French Quarter, we saw that a dance group was setting up for a performance. They weren't dancing yet, but were telling jokes and trying to draw people into the show, so we took a seat to see what it was all about. Best decision I have made on this trip so far. The show was full of laughs, amazing dance moves, and hilarious crowd members. It was almost as if the dancers were heckling people walking the streets, and it was perfect. We had intended to go travel to listen to street music, but encountered this dance group, The Dragon Master Showcase instead, and we were quite glad we did. After the show, we all traveled back to the hotel to relax for a while, before our fancy dinner.... that we didn't know was so fancy (THANKS STEVE). We were all dressed quite casually as we walked into world renowned chef Emeril's restaurant. Though we all felt under dressed, we were still excited for the experience. We enjoyed an amazing dinner with friends, an experience that none of us have ever had before. This was my first time in a 5 star dining establishment, and it was very elaborate. The food was delicious and the service was wonderful, so I am glad we went. You could tell we definitely didn't fit in, especially Steven and Andrew who some how managed to land a potato in Andrew's beer. Rather than fish it out, they pretended nothing happened as Andrew drank the potato beer. We decided after dinner to come enjoy a nice dip in the hot tub, however to our dismay it was broken. Therefore, we produced the hillbilly idea to turn our bath tub into a hot tub. Talk about classy, 5 star people. So we proceeded to take a nice dip in the "hot tub."

 

Coming to the city of New Orleans, I had many preconceived ideas regarding various cultures and groups of people. It's difficult to not have these ideas, when we live in a society such as we currently do. Racism is alive. Prejudice is alive. In my opinion, we are born into a world that teaches hate. My parents taught love and respect, but the world around them teaches hate. It has been so refreshing to experience the different walks of life, and squash these preconceived notions. I think the reason I enjoyed The Dragon Master Showcase so much was that they used clean humor, that not only poked fun at themselves, but squashed many beliefs and jokes regarding the African American race. Like one of the videos below, they were joking with children referring to themselves as the "Black Ninja Turtles" which had the entire audience almost in tears. They would crack jokes at members of the audience, but never attacking their race, gender, or sexuality. It was so funny to see them interact with the audience, as well as the patrons walking the streets. As if their talent wasn't enough, they spoke about their true passion for dance and music. They stated that this is a way that they can bring people of all nations together, in a peaceful manner. Their work is an art, and they believed that music and art bring us together. It was also refreshing to see that they wanted to have children involved, white, black, asian; it didn't matter. They had clean humor so that children could come enjoy their show, and wanted to be a positive influence for the children. I come from a biracial family, with many children. I want to protect their innocence as long as possible, and this was a show that I would love to bring them too. Not only did their sheer talent attract the audience, but their clean humor and positive affects also played a part.

 


Completely shifting gears, we went to a five star restaurant for dinner. Now I know what Steve Perry was talking about, just being a small town girl. Illinois is so simple to me, where you work to provide for yourself, and appreciate the little things. I am not exposed to such fancy establishments or experiences, similar to what I have encountered on this trip. Boy, was I out of my element at Emerils. There were 3 servers to the 6 of us at the table. As a server, I often handle 6 tables, which can equal up to 40 + guests at a time, yet here they had 1 server per 2 guests. I never waited for a thing. My napkin was placed on my lap for me, my chair was pulled out for me, and my jacket was taken for me. I enjoyed the experience and it was absolutely delicious, but I was out of my element. Even though it was expensive and a real treat, I do not think I would be any more in my element if I did have that kind of money. I was raised in a household where money didn't buy happiness, and the money that you did have was earned through hard work. I could never see myself being waited on hand and foot like that constantly, considering my roots. Regardless, it was a great experience.

It's a bird? It's a plane? NO. It's a beignet. - January 6th

For a nerd like me, today was an exciting day. We explored various museums and took a look back into the history of NOLA. First, we ran to the Cabildo in the pouring rain. I did not have high hopes for this museum when I walked in, but as I began to explore I was fascinated. This museum elaborated on slavery, segregation, the emancipation, as well as how freed slaves functioned in society. We stayed here for about an hour, exploring the various artifacts and collecting information for our E-Travel Guide, then moved on to the next museum at the Pharmacy Museum.

The Pharmacy museum was by far my favorite museum we attended. Considering I want to be a CRNA, I have a large interest in medication and the history of medication. This museum delved into the evolution of pharmaceutical practices, including the evolution of syringes, and the various materials that practitioners used in their needles and medication including lead, arsenic, and heroin. Our tour guide was wonderful, and very insightful. He had a great sense of humor and was very informative. After the 30 minute tour, we were able to explore the museum more. There was a large section on voodoo medicine and poison, which was great to collect information on for my travel guide. My partners and I explored this section, and then discovered a very interesting artifact. In the upstairs portion of the museum, there was an old postmortem dissection kit. It included various viles, devices, and medications used for embalming and autopsies. It was so old fashioned looking, almost barbaric. Seeing the evolution of these various pieces of equipment is fascinating, and in my opinion the museum was very well put together.

After the museums, it was on. The moment we have all been waiting for, the one thing that everyone tells you you cant leave NOLA without experiencing. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO. It's a beignet. Autumn, Steven, Kristen, Katie and I traveled in the freezing cold rain to Cafe Du Monde. There was not an open table in site, so we had to wait for a little while to take a seat. When we finally were seating, we all ordered various coffees and beignets. As the lushes we are, none of us share. We all ordered and ate our own. Bucket list item, checked off. Cafe Au Laits and beignets at New Orleans own Cafe Du Monde.

After our food coma subsided, we traveled back to our hotel after a little bit of shopping in the French Quarter. We went to some cute clothing boutiques that were way out of our budget, considering we are broke college students. Even the sales rack was $50.00 and up. However, Kristen, Katie, and I splurged and each treated ourselves to a cute item. We had the rest of the day free, so Kristen and I decided to rest up before our big night on the town. That's right, it's time for the famous walk down Bourbon St. Of all the places to explore, us corn fed folks ended up in a country establishment, riding a mechanical bull. There's no place like home.

Other than the pharmacy museum, which I will elaborate more on shortly, the best part of my day was the Uber driver that took us to Bourbon St. His name was Major, and come to find out he had been a Master SGT in the Marine Corps for 29 years. He currently drives Uber for fun, because he enjoys meeting new people. For some reason, it felt so humbling to be in his presence. He was one of the kindest people I have ever met, encouraging us students to continue on in our career. He was very genuine, and wanted to converse with us, knowing what we were doing here and in our education. His sweet demenour was very refreshing, and he had an abundance of advice for us as we traveled down to Bourbon St. As I have said before, the people in NOLA amaze me. It will never get old meeting new people here. It's teaching me how to be a better, nicer, more well rounded person.

My favorite part of the day was the pharmacy museum, because I am a pathopharm nerd. Ever since I was a child, I always wanted to know how to do things, but also why I was doing them. Pharmacology allows me to explore my interests in medication, relating it all to the human body. It gives me an outlet to learn how things work, and why certain medications react how they do. I wish I could understand where this interest came from, but for as long as I can remember, I have been this way. The pharmacy museum has so much information on the old practices of doctors and pharmacists, many of which were very ignorant such as using lead needles that were used for multiple patients or using arsenic in medications. I was intrigued by the evolution of our medical field, mostly with pharmacy. We have evolved immensely, from thick lead reusable needles to small 22g disposable and safe needles. As previously stated, I want to be a CRNA. My love for medication, chemistry, and its interactions with the human body have led me down this path. Therefore, I was very attentive in this museum. I am always eager to learn new things, but mostly I enjoy learning how to heal ailments homopathically. Complementary alternative methods are a favorite of mine, including guided imagery and essential oils. Even with all of the modern day medicine, I still choose to treat many ailments with essential oils. Therefore, it was very interesting to see the various CAMS that were used back in the 1800s. They used various herbs and natural products to make their medication, so its refreshing to see some similar practices still in use.

Medicine has evolved so incredibly. In the 1800s, they were so ignorant to diseases and unhealthy practices, so this museum was great at exploring the evolution of different medications or products. One practice called blood letting, was common when someone was very sick. They would make incisions and drain the patient's blood, hoping to rid them of disease. Did they have NO idea that this would kill a patient, and the dangers of blood loss? It makes me wonder what research they completed prior to utilizing these practices. Back then, Heroin was also used as a drug, encouraged to be taken daily, whereas today it is a Schedule I drug, that is illegal and highly addictive. This makes me wonder, do these drugs (if manufactured properly in a medical setting) have healing properties that would be useful in today's society? With all of the research going on regarding medical marijuana and its healing properties, it makes me ponder the idea of other Schedule I and II drugs having medical benefits.