Leaving NOLA

Outer blog: 

The food, so much food, such amazing food, beautifully plated, flavored to perfection, smelling like heaven and tasting just as good. This was my favorite part of this trip, along with meeting some of the locals. The combination of amazing food and amazing company of a local is the reason that Belle’s became my favorite spot in New Orleans. Belle’s diner does not look like much from the outside, a few white tables containing basic condiments, a sign containing their name and a pin up model hanging over the single white doors on either side, both propped open to create a cooling cross breeze through the space. Upon entering the diner the eyes are immediately drawn to the beautiful brick walls partially covered with stucco painted as an American flag. The stucco appearing to have broken off give the room a feeling of being older than it is. The white and black floors, the long dining counter on one side and mint green booths on the other help to elaborate this 1950’s diner feel. The atmosphere is to die for.

It is strangely quiet except for the men behind the counter laughing and joking. One of those men was Mr. Charlie, an older gentleman appearing to be in his late 50’s, slightly graying through is black hair, and wrinkled around the eyes, his voice was as soft and sweet and his laugh was full, genuine and highly contagious. He seems like the kind of man who loves life and knows how to enjoy it. The initial introduction to the restaurant was so good, that we had extremely high hopes for the chicken and waffles and patty melt about to arrive at our table; oh how they did not disappoint. The waffles were fluffy and light, filled with bacon and topped with powdered sugar. The texture of the chicken was perfect, they were crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside and amazingly seasoned. The combination of the waffles and the chicken dipped into a sweet sugarcane syrup was to die for.

When lunch was complete the stooped Mr. Charlie insisted he accompany his “beautiful angels” across the street to our next destination. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. I will miss New Orleans more than I will miss most cities I have traveled to, and I will be back, hopefully sooner than later. This is a city that everyone should experience at least once. The amount of culture and history here is astounding and the diversity of the individuals makes this town amazingly unique. The cultural influences can be seen around every corner, the African Americans, the Spanish, the French, the Americans, the Native Americans, it can be experienced through meeting the people, tasted in the food, heard in the music and seen in the art.

Inner Blog: Sitting on this bumpy train,

in the observation deck covered in windows, and surrounded by friends I get the chance to look back on this class trip as a whole. I think my favorite part of the class itself was all the tours. I know this is a very vague statement, but each tour gave so much information about different parts of history in the city, they were all amazing. Out of the tours I think my favorite was the one of the Cathedral. I am not Catholic therefore not very familiar with specifics of their religion. Touring a Cathedral is not something knew to me, but I have never a guided tour of one. It was nice this time having someone to explain everything I was seeing and the significance behind it. Picking my favorite part of the whole trip is very difficult but if I am forced to, I would say its was the food. We had

a variety of food from Creole cooking, to Mexican, to old school diner food.The beigent from Cafe Du Monde were so fluffy and light and sweet, similar to a funnel cake but five times better. The types of food available are
not the types of foods we eat at home. I think that is really why I enjoyed it so much. Not only was every dish flavorful and amazing, but it was so different from what I am used to eating. Through meeting the people I learned that they are lively, fun and friendly. They enjoy celebrating and living life and meeting new people. Sometimes when I have traveled it felt like the locals I had met were annoyed by the tourist. In this culture they were so welcoming and interested in us, and telling us their history of the city. Almost everyone we met told us different places to explore and a new detail of the city. I also learned through the tours what amazing and resilient people they are. Something I learned about myself on this trip is maybe to be a little less controlling, that I can be overbearing in that way. I also learned to think more compassionately and try to understand others points of views better. In the pharmacy tour it was easy to judge the chemicals and mixtures they used, but that was all the they knew at the time and it seemed to be working. I think maybe I can use that thought to better myself when it comes understanding other people and their actions.