Tulane University Admission Blog- Frances

The End

2010-05-25T09:16:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but with finals and graduation and moving, it's been just a little hectic in my life, but here I am posting what will be my last blog post about life as a Tulane undergraduate.

Graduation was so much fun. I can't even tell you how great I thought it was. Tulane can really throw a party, that's for sure. There were a bunch of award ceremonies on Friday as well as Wave Goodbye (a goodbye quad party for graduates and their families) and then on Saturday was the main event. My family as well as Bryan flew in to be there for the big day. Below are some pictures from the day.

The scene is set before the graduates walk in. The unified school ceremony and the undergraduate ceremony were both held in the Superdome.
My cousin took this picture of all the graduates and the stage on the floor of the Superdome (I think this was right after they dropped Tulane beach balls on us!)

Scott Cowen (Tulane's president) with our commencement speaker Anderson Cooper. Anderson doesn't know this yet, but he and I are getting married.

Celebrating!

Showing off our diplomas

It was all very bittersweet. Fun and exciting and happy, yet really sad at the same time. These were some of the best years of my life and these are some of the best people I know, and it was hard having to close that chapter of my life. I know I will definitely keep being friends with the people I've met (I already have plans to visit New Orleans as well as various other places around the US to see friends) but still, nothing will compare to my time at Tulane.

What's next for me? Well, I'm planning to move to DC next week for hopefully a year (still waiting to hear back from an Americorps program) and then, unless something drastically changes, graduate school the year after.

Thank you everyone who's kept up with this blog for the past year and a half. It's been fun writing it. For all of you who are coming to Tulane in the fall, good luck and enjoy. They will be some of the greatest four years!

Cheers!

Tchoup Challenge

2010-05-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

At the very top of my list of things to do before I graduate, there stood one challenge that I had yet to do. It's name: Tchoupitoulas.

What is the Tchoupitoulas challenge you ask? At Creole Creamery, a local ice cream parlor with some unique, in-store made treats, they have a massive eating challenge that consists of...

... 8 scoops of ice cream
....8 toppings
.... whipped cream
.... rainbow sprinkles
.... and 8 cherries

If you are able to finish, your name is immortalized on a plaque on their wall and on their website. So, of course, last Saturday while taking a study break from finals, Amanda and Arielle accompanied me as I took up the call to action.

I ended up picking 8 scoops of Cookie Monster (a combination of cookies'n'cream ice cream and chocolate chip cookie dough) with 2 helpings of chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, bananas, 2 helpings of oreos, and 2 helpings of chip ahoy cookies. My thinking was that I would have enough crunchiness to sustain the liquid of the ice cream and that I wanted to eat something I would enjoy. Thus, the challenge began. Don't I look so confident and happy?

Little did I know what I was in for...

Fifteen minutes in, I was feeling confident.... I was almost half way done, and things were looking good.

15 minutes in.

And I kept eating...

And then things went downhill from there. At about 30 minutes I began to lose steam. The ice cream all melted, and the problem was not that I was full, it was that it became too sweet and I was getting sick.45 minutes in.

So, alas, after a valiant effort, I gave up after 61 minutes (Amanda was timing me) with about 1/3 of the ice cream left. You win this time, Tchoupitoulas Challenge. You win.

Why I do Community Servce (and why you should too)

2010-04-25T08:21:00.001-07:00

I love the community service work I do (which is why I write about it so much on this blog). Last weekend was CACTUS Annual Field Day Event and the first Community Service Semi-Formal, and both reminded me of why I do community service and how much I will miss the service community here at Tulane. So here is my list of top three reasons I do community service and why you should too.

Because you're helping out your community. What more of a reason could you want than that, right? The people in your community are the people that you interact with on a regular basis. Even if you don't realize it, their lives affect yours.

For me, I just want to make sure that the people around me are having the best quality of life that they could have. And Field Day was a great example of that. We had about 200 elementary school kids running around Bruff quad with various activities set up for them to do, and they seemed to having the time of their lives. One kid even told one of our volunteers that he "was definitely going to come to Tulane because we had so much fun here." (No one had the heart to tell him we didn't jump around on bounce houses most days)

Face painting was a big hit at Field Day.

Hula-hooping was also quite popular.

Because you meet the best people. Some of my closest friends I have met through my community service work. One of my good friends, Seth, always tells the story of how he actually started doing community service because he wanted to meet girls as a freshman. I don't really know how well that panned out for him, but I think he would agree with me in saying that community service is a great way to meet great people

Adam and Lea are two people I probably wouldn't have met if not for service work. This is us all dressed up for the semi-formal.

Because it's fun and rewarding at the same time. So if you're not sold on helping the community and meeting great people, then let me assure you that community service is great because it's fun as well as personally rewarding. It's fun because you can always find a form of service that meets your likes and interests. If you like animals, consider volunteering at an animal shelter. If you like kids like I do, maybe something like Field Day is your thing. It's also rewarding because you always leave at the end of the day knowing that you have done something to help someone else. And even Scrooge would attest to how good lending a hand to someone else is good for the soul.

Mike L. having fun playing football with the kids at Field Day

Cooper making a new friend while making fruit loop necklaces

Mike E. offering an origami flower to his new friend

Anyways, that's my pitch. Hopefully, I was able to convince you some. Bottom line: if you aren't already doing service, you should get out there and try it out. If you already are, keep on volunteering.

Crawfesting

2010-04-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love Crawfest?

Crawfest is a purely Tulane tradition that happens every year in April, and it's probably one of my favorite days of the spring semester. It's great! There are two stages set up on either side of the LBC quad with bands playing from 11am to 9pm including Trombone Shorty and The Revivalists (who were my favorite of the day).

The crowd of Crawfest revelers in front of the McAlister Stage

We brought out our blankets and towels, spread them out on the quad, and ate a bunch of free crawfish for the entire afternoon.

Everyone ate crawfish except Amanda who is actually afraid of them. Hah.

Holly showing off her muscles and Crawfest tattoo.

It was a lot of fun, and aside from being a little sunburnt, I had a great day! Hopefully I'll be in New Orleans this next year so that this won't be my last Crawfest...

It also happened that last week was also National Volunteering Week, and Tulane had a bunch of events for that, so I'll put up a post and pictures of that soon. Until then!

Spring Break

2010-04-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

So I've been back at school for a week now (and what a crazy hectic week it's been), and I've been meaning to post about Spring Break, but it's taken this long for Bryan to put up the pictures from it that I wasn't able to. (Yeah, Bryan, totally blaming this one on you)

Anyways, he finally put the pictures up last night, so here's a blog in pictorial form detailing out trip. Enjoy!

What can I say that it was really fun. Especially to take a break from all the school work. But now I'm back at school with a lot to do once again (the end of the semester can get kind of hectic). But! I have so much to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Well, first of all the weather is absolutely beautiful. Like beautiful. Then this weekend, there's CACTUS's Field Day on Friday as well as the Community Service Council's Semi Formal (don't worry, there will be pictures galore from this) and then Crawfest on Saturday (also lots of pictures from this as well).

Anyways, glad to be back. Graduation in a little over a month. Eep!

Sam's birthday

2010-03-24T21:51:00.001-07:00

This past Sunday was my friend Sam's birthday. So, of course, I took a short break from all the work I had to do and went out to celebrate. And what were a bunch of college students going to go do when their good friend turns 22? Why, go play laser tag of course. (Yes. We're that cool.)

Sam, Seth, Amanda, and I all headed over to Elmwood where there have a laser tag arena and ran around trying to shoot down some nine-year-olds and each other. Don't we look super awesome?

On top of that, the laser tag place also had arcade games, bumper cars, and a mini-golf course. We didn't get to play mini-golf, but we did go a couple of rounds on the bumper cars and played lots of arcade games (we wanted 6000 tickets to get the giants stuffed animal tiger, but that was a no go)

Seth, Skee-Ball champion (that's actually not true... Amanda kicked his butt)

Sam and Amanda in their bumper cars

Basically, it was a blast. And Sam had an awesome birthday, I think. I mean, we combined all the tickets we won (a grand total of 44) and traded them in for a spiffy string bracelet and a toy soldier. What more could you want?

Those people I call my friends

Anyways, I finally finished all my pre-Spring Break work that I needed to get done. And now I can't wait for Spring Break! Don't know if I've mentioned my plans, but I'm headed up north to Pittsburgh and then Chicago for the week (I know, most kids flock to the beach but whatever)

Super excited.

Spring things

2010-03-19T10:37:00.001-07:00

In my time at Tulane, I've always thought that there is no more beautiful time or place than springtime in New Orleans. Although the workload is getting a little rough, the weather is beautiful and campus is bustling with activity.

Anyways, last weekend, Amanda, Holly, Maeve and I had a sleepover! The idea was formulated one evening because Holly got a care package from her mom containing "No pudge" brownie mix and of course, we had to have the girliest sleepover to eat it, right? Well, we all got together, and stayed in, ate lots of food, watched Love Actually, and had a lot of fun.

Drinking milkshakes out of coffee mugs

What was left of the food. All in all, we had stuffed jalapenos, potato skins, a spinach and mushroom pizza, mozzarella sticks, and Holly's brownies with ice cream. Yum.
We laid out our mattresses side to side in our living room. This is Holly and Maeve spread out, enjoying the bedding.

Then this week was really stressful with papers and such, but then we took a break for St. Patrick's day. I've never been too big on St. Patrick's day, but we still went out with some friends.

All dressed up in green.

And spring break is coming up in exactly a week! I'll be going to Pittsburgh and then Chicago. I'm so excited about spring time!

A lovely New Orleans weekend

2010-03-08T20:03:00.000-08:00

What can I say beside the fact that this weekend was absolutely lovely. For the first time this year, it actually felt like springtime in New Orleans instead of the miserable cold we've been having.

And! It just so happened that the nicest weather we've had coincided with Bryan coming to visit me. So Friday night, we went to Restaurant Iris in the Bienville House hotel. It was delicious, and I recommend it for when you feel like splurging on a fancy meal. Then, my friend Regen was having a (belated) birthday party, so we went out with her to celebrate.

Looking pretty before dancing the night away

(It was supposed to be a girls' night, but she was kind of enough to let Bryan tag along since he was visiting.)

Saturday was spent being lazy. And then Sunday before he left, Bryan and I went to the zoo! I have never been to the Audobon Zoo before. So after brunch at Oak Street Cafe (also highly recommended), we took a stroll in the beautiful weather through the park and went to the zoo. And let me just say that the zoo is pretty awesome.

Waiting in line to buy tickets

Obviously there were lots of animals, and we saw some from every part of the globe. I had trouble deciding which one I wanted to take home most (I tried chasing a bird around in the aviary to put in my purse, but it ran away) and decided on a bobcat. So, if anyone wants to get me a graduation present and doesn't know what to get, the answer, my friend, is a bobcat. Good times. Also, did I mention there were lots of animals? Below were some of my other favorites...

Bryan left early Sunday evening.

And then, tragically, it was cold and raining again today. Go figure.

In-Exchange Ethical Fashion Show

2010-03-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Sorry it's been a while, but it's been really hectic around here with midterms.

But last weekend, I got to take a break and went to the In-Exchange Ethical Fashion Show. In-Exchange is the fair trade store that we have right here on campus at the LBC. It's a pretty cool place, and there are lots of great fair trade items to buy like clothes, jewelry, and other accessories.

Anyways, they had a fashion show to show off some of their cool and ethical fashions. It was at the Republic, a night club downtown, and there were a couple of live bands and plenty of dancing. But of course, the stars were the models walking down the walkway! Here are some pictures from the night of...

Holly, me, Maeve, and Amanda before heading out

A view of the band from the upstairs balcony

A few of the models take the runway

All in all, a good night. But now back to do more work. Hopefully it gets warmer here, by the way. It's been consistently around 50 or so, and if could get like twenty degrees warmer, I would be quite content. All I want is to wear a springtime dress!

Mardi Gras Madness

2010-02-20T09:01:00.000-08:00

My favorite time of year is Mardi Gras. Simple as that.

For me, it has always been a five-day weekend of just fun. We go to various parades, catch some pretty awesome throws (beads, stuffed animals, light up toys, dubloons), and just dance in the street (if you're lucky enough to find a spot near Superior Grill, of course)

So what does a typical Mardi Gras look like?

Well, St. Charles Ave. looks something like this...

Parade floats look something like this...

Reveling Tulane students (and a couple of my friends from California who came to visit) look something like this...
And visiting Cafe du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait looks like this...

Another great Mardi Gras. Can't wait till next year!!

Who Dat??

2010-02-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

Okay. So I know I said I'd post about Krewe du Vieux, but this post takes precedent. I swear I'll post all about Mardi Gras after this weekend! But this post is all about the madness that's been the Saints winning the Superbowl!

Important Disclaimer #1: I love football. I watch it every Sunday and have been known by roommates to shout loudly at the TV screen in our living room. I blame my father's influence.

Important Disclaimer #2: I have been, am, and always will be a devoted Green Bay Packers fan. However, after being eliminated by the Cardinals, I put away the Rodgers jersey till next season and put on some black and gold to root for the home team. Great life decision.

So on Sunday for the game, a few of my friends and I headed out to a local bar and grill, Friar Tuck's, because of their promise of free food (yes, there was free food, and it was delicious). Not only was the game a nail-biter (I had my doubts in the first quarter) but in the end, the Saints pulled through in dramatic fashion (and come on, that Porter interception was really exciting).

The place erupted. Like literally erupted. I have never high fived/hugged so many people in my life, and we danced along to "Black and Gold" for the rest of the night. It was so much fun.

And then, on top of that, the university shut down on Tuesday afternoon (thanks Pres. Cowen!) so that we could hit the parade on what the city was calling "Lombardi Gras". And boy was that exciting. All the players were on floats (the little boy standing in front of my was so excited he caught beads from Drew Brees... I was so jealous.) And I even saw the Lombardi Trophy. It was definitely worth enduring the cold.

Ah, how great it is to be in New Orleans!

Anyways, this weekend is Mardi Gras weekend. We have Monday and Tuesday off of school. One of my best friends from home is flying in from California this afternoon, and another is flying in on Saturday. Can it get any better than this?

MLK Day of Service

2010-02-01T18:53:00.000-08:00

So I have a lot to cover in this post because I've been slacking on blogging. Let's see. First order of business - WHO DAT?! Ever since my beloved Green Bay Packers lost in the playoffs, I've been rooting for the hometeam, and they're headed to the Superbowl on Sunday! Like the rest of this city, I am really excited! Can't wait!!

And then on top of that, the first Mardi Gras parade of the season, Krewe du Vieux, was this past Saturday. Pictures and stories to be put up later this week (hopefully). Also, I'm so excited about Mardi Gras!! It's the best time of the year!!

But today's post is all about the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. It was on MLK day that we had off from school on the 18th. The MLK Day of Service was a collaborative effort with Tulane and three other local universities (Dillard, Loyola, and Dillard). I was on the planning committee for the event. It was a full day event and sent about 1000 volunteers to about thirty sites. We sent volunteers to do everything from weeding and planting City Park and repainting the Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center.

Below are few pictures from the day:

And here's a picture of yours truly signing the canvas that we had for volunteers to leave their mark:

It's always great to see so many get together to do a little bit of good. As Martin Luther King, Jr, himself, once said, "An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."

First week of school

2010-01-19T20:56:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

So the title may be a little deceiving since it's not actually the first week of school anymore, but I'll write all about the first week of school. I got back to New Orleans on Sunday night and have been overwhelmed by all my new classes and the Martin Luther King Day of Service I helped to plan (I'll write more about it my next blog post when I have pictures to share!) that I haven't had the chance to write though. However, I am resolved to write more frequently this semester.

Anyways, one of my roommates/best friends Arielle (who has been featured on this blog many a time) got her gall bladder removed a couple of weeks ago and because she was in recovery, she did not make it back to Tulane till this past Saturday. So Amanda made her a carrot cake:

She seemed to enjoy it. (And we all enjoyed it because Amanda makes very tasty things in our kitchen)

And I'm taking some pretty cool classes this semester which I am really excited about. I am taking a couple of graduate level sociology seminars which look like they're going to be great! One is Issues in the Sociology of the Family in which we're focusing all about marriage and its place as a social institution and another about Sociology of Childhood where attitudes about children and childhood will be examined. I'm kind of a dork about these things, so I'm excited. I'm also taking an Intro to Gender and Sexuality Studies class which looks like it's going to be awesome, so I'm really excited about my classes!

Also, the construction that has been happening on McAlister Place (formerly McAlister Drive) got finished at the end of last week and I'm so excited! Not only do I think it's very pretty, but we now don't have to navigate around those construction fences to get through to the academic quad.

Okay. That's all I got for y'all. Got to get make some headway on my classes now! Only a few more weeks till Mardi Gras!

Winter Break

2010-01-06T13:13:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years, all!

It's a little less than a week before school starts again, and I thought that I would take the time to post about my winter break. It's been a really great break so far! After taking all of my finals, I flew out to Phoenix, AZ on my way home to California to spend time with a couple of my cousins, Kathleen and Tina, who live out there. It was a lot of fun. Below is a picture of me shopping with my cousin Tina. She's an '05 Tulane alum who now goes to pharmacy school in Arizona. We talked about how much Tulane has changed/stayed the same since she went to school here (we also mourned the death of Tulane icon, Granny Cart Lady)

Then, I went back home to California, spent a little bit of time working at the chocolate store I usually work at when I'm at home, and hung out with my family and some friends from high school. This is a picture from Christmas with two of my little cousins (aren't they cute?) I

Then, I payed a surprise visit to Bryan in Pittsburgh for New Years Eve (which is actually where I'm typing from now). It was cute. One of his friends, Amanda, convinced him to go to the airport with her to "pick up her friend Jake." I walked towards him and bumped into him, he did a double take, and couldn't believe that I was there. But I've been hanging out here on the East Coast ever since. Below is the picture of us before heading out to a 1920s themed New Years Party.

Anyways, that's all from my end. I should be studying for the GRE (Graduate Record Exam) so that I could possibly get into graduate school in the fall! But hope everyone had a great new years. Next time you hear from me will be from New Orleans!

The End of a Semester

2009-12-14T16:48:00.000-08:00

So, it's the end of another semester. I can't believe it's already done. I guess I always feel this way at the end of the semester, but I can't really help it.

Let's recap shall we:
- Moved-in and was an orientation coordinator for the freshman girls in Monroe. Had a lot of fun meeting the girls on my floor and taking them to all the orientation events.
- Outreach Tulane. Good times. Finally have a picture from that by the way (This is Chelsea "taking my blood pressure".. We had invited TEMS to help out at our community health fair):
- Started classes. Had a very busy schedule, but I enjoyed all of them.
- I turned 20! Good times.
- Homecoming. Greatest week ever. Lots of free Tulane give-aways and spirit!
- A lot more community service things. Mentored with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Best Buddies, Project Grandpeople, and science club.
- A lot of fun GWA (Green Wave Amabassadors) things like giving tours and having student lunches.
-WiS things - met a lot of new people and got to have dinner with Celine Cousteau. Awesome.
- Halloween. Who doesn't love Halloween?
- Po-Boy fest. Yum.
- Couldn't have asked for a better Thanksgiving.
- Finals. Not so fun.

But now, I've finished. And it's been a great semester!

So, let's see what's in store for me. I'm going to be going to Arizona to visit a couple of my cousins (one of them is actually an '05 Tulane graduate who just graduated pharmacy school), then I'll be at home in California hanging out for the holidays, and then I'll be in Pittsburgh before I head back here for spring semester!

Anyways, I'll hopefully be posting a few times over break. Can't wait for the spring! More on that when it gets closer though. For now, I hope everyone has happy holidays!

Po-Boy fest and Thanksgiving things

2009-12-03T13:40:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

So, today was the last day of classes! I definitely cannot believe that it's already the end of my last fall semester here at Tulane. I'm getting old.

Anyways, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. I know I did! It was a great break away from school, that's for sure!

One really cool thing that I got to go to before leaving for Thanksgiving holiday, though, is going to the annual Po-Boy festival. Maeve and I headed over to Oak street (like a fifteen minute walk at most) and joined the crowd of people that had congregated on that Sunday to taste some of the finest food New Orleans had to offer.

So Maeve and I, of course, had to get po-boys (which for all of you non-New Orleanians is basically a sandwhich... but infinitely more delicious). Maeve got a cochon de lait po-boy which is a roasted pork sandwhich and it had some coleslaw and other good things like that in it. I got a classic fried shrimp po-boy and it was so good. Notice the emphasis on the so. (Unfortunately Maeve's sandwich got cut off in the picture)

Anyways, it was a really fun afternoon. There was lots of live music, some people dancing, and did I mentioned the great food? Oh. We both also tried this amazing pumpking pie cake which was one of the best things I think I have ever eaten in my entire life from Bozo's restaurant (which we need to find again because that pumpkin pie cake was like heaven in my mouth!)

But now that classes are over. Do you know what that means? Yes, folks. It's time for finals, unfortunately. My schedule doesn't look too, too bad. But it's pretty bad. I have lots and lots of papers to write and onle a couple of actual tests. But yeah. Wish me luck!

I'll be sure to write at least one more post before I leave for home! Good luck with applications, y'all!

Notes on Community Service

2009-11-17T12:25:00.000-08:00

As you all probably have figured out by now, I love doing community service. I mean, I wouldn't even be here at Tulane if it wasn't for community service!

So, a couple weekends ago, I had the pleasure of accomponying my friend Seth to an awards dinner where he was honored by Operation Reach as a finalist for a young leader in the community award. It was a really fun meeting all sorts of people in the community who are making a big difference in the community.

I was really proud of Seth who, as chairperson of CACTUS, works hard to bring about change right here in the city!

On a similar vein, I had dinner this past weekend with CACTUS with LUCAP (the Loyola University Commuity Action Program) which is Loyola University's community service organization. A few LUCAP-ers were kind enough to host a bunch of us CACTUS-ers at their house, and we had a delicious home-cooked meal (I must steal Chad's sweet potato/corn/jalepeno soup recipe) and talked about social issues that both of our universities are trying to fight in the city. It was cool meeting with like-minded students from our neighboring university!

Anyways, I have a really busy week ahead with various midterm papers and such, but after that, it's going to be Thanksgiving! So I'm really excited!

I hope you all got your early applications in time!

Halloween

2009-11-06T10:05:00.000-08:00

Wow. Can you believe that it's already November? I can't! It's only two and a half more weeks until Thanksgiving, and then after that it's only a couple of weeks until the end of the semester. Crazy! Where did all the time go?

Well, this past weekend was Halloween, and of course, being in New Orleans, it was a lot of fun.

One of the great opportunities that I got to participate in was Boo at the Zoo which was held at the Audubon Zoo (which is practically right across the street from campus). It was a Halloween night for families with music, food, games, and trick-or-treating. The best part? All the proceeds went to benefit the zoo and the Children's Hospital.

We (me, Maeve, and Katie, pictured below) got placed at the "Big Kid's Games" section and we were in charge of a booth where kids tried to throw ping pong balls into the haunted house that you can kind of see behind us in the picture for tickets. Also, in case you were wondering, I was dressed up as a fairy princess and Maeve was a bird...

On Halloween, I hung out with a few friends and went to a Halloween party. Below is a picture of me (dressed up as Tom Cruise from Risky Business), Holly (a cowgirl), and Seth (dressed up an matronly woman) being silly.

Anyways, that's all from my end. Big perspective weekend on Sunday. Can't wait to meet some more future Tulanians!

Celine Cousteau

2009-10-29T23:14:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

As always, I am apologizing for not posting in a little while. I swear these things will come weekly instead of every other week. Keep me to it!

Anyways, I have some really exciting updates from here in New Orleans. I just came from a dinner reception with none other than Celine Cousteau, Jacques Cousteau's granddaughter! It was great! She was invited to come speak by the Newcomb Institute and since I was the chair of the Women in Science committee in charge of bringing a speaker to campus, we worked to set up her lecture, a nice daytime reception with a small group of undergraduates, and the dinner reception I just came from.

Celine talked to us about the importance of environment conservation, sustainability, and giving back to others since we are all part of the same human species. It was a really great lecture. And then dinner at Daisy Bistro was amazing and we got an even more intimate chat with her over some great food.

Anyways, another great opportunity provided by Tulane which I thoroughly enjoyed and had to gush about. Celine was even nice enough to take a picture with some of the girls who came to the dinner and me!

Have a great Halloween weekend everyone!

Homecoming

2009-10-15T12:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy busy week of midterms and papers to write (which explains my momentary absence) but I'm back now because it's fall break so we have a couple of days off of school which is a nice change.

So last week was homecoming week and homecoming/parents/alumni weekend! It was a great week of Tulane spirit. They had fun activities planned all week that even the rain couldn't drive away. There was the annual powderpuff game, a pep rally and a homecoming concert, featuring Augusta (picture below). Augustana was really great live and it was really great break from all the midterm madness.

I also got to participate in a parents/alumni community service project on Friday as part of homecoming. We worked with Project Greenlight and had some parent and alumni volunteers come help out as well changing lightbulbs in the Hollygrove neighborhood to more energy efficient ones.

Then on Saturday was the homecoming game and a bunch of fun tailgating. Like all of our other football game, we headed over to the Superdome. There were a bunch of different tents set up from the various fraternities and sororities, Tulane's various schools (the Tulane-Newcomb Undergraduate college had really great jambalaya), and various alumni reunions. Below is a picture of Megan, Amanda, and I venturing over on the busses.

Anyways, even though we didn't win the game, it was a really fun week and weekend. We also had a campus preview day that Sunday and I got to meet some prospective students! Good luck with applications, y'all!

My 20th Birthday

2009-10-04T09:09:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

It's been a really busy couple of weeks (which is why I haven't posted for a little bit), but here's my update on everything I've been up to at Tulane.

I've had so much schoolwork to get done. And on top of that, I had some CACTUS stuff to get done (more on that in my next post) and then some Women in Science things as well.

Anyways, it was my 20th birthday last Friday, and so I thought I would share some pictures from that. We went to La Thai, possibly one of my favorite restaurants in the city, for dinner. It was delicious. Then, we went back to my apartment and had some birthday cake, baked by the two best friends/roommates a girl could ask for (Amanda and Arielle). It was a great birthday!

Also, it was the first big prospective student weekend this past weekend, and I got to meet some really cool prospective students on the tour I gave. Hopefully I'll get to see you around campus this year as you preview our school!If you've already submitted an application, good luck!

September-ness

2009-09-16T12:41:00.001-07:00

Hey all!

I feel like I am constantly apologizing for not posting in a while, but once again, I'm sorry for not having posted in a couple of weeks.

Let's see. What's been up? Well, I've just had a lot of schoolwork to do. It's amazing how much reading I've had to do since school has started. I guess I've never really taken a semester full of liberal arts classes, and for the first time in my college career I have papers to write every week and lots of pages to get through every night. But it's okay. As least I find the topics interesting.

One really cool class I'm taking is this persuasive writing class with Professor Joseph Letter. We spend most of class in discussion and Professor Letter is a really great lecturer. One really cool thing is that since the class is about how to apply ancient rhetoric to the modern day, we can use sources such as Youtube and Wikipedia. It's great!

Also, I've been doing a lot of stuff for CACTUS which is always really fun. And when I get the chance, I hang out with those crazy people I call my friends. Example:

My roommates, Amanda and Arielle, and I holding up our friend David in our living room? I honestly couldn't tell you why we thought this was a great idea for a picture... Haha.

Oh! Actually, I gave my first couple of tours for the new year last week. They were really fun. I love meeting new prospective students!

Anyways, that's all from my end. I'll be better with posting from now on. Actually, my twentieth birthday is next week, so hopefully I'll have some pictures from that up! Hope to see you around campus!

Outreach Tulane

2009-09-02T20:38:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

I've been so swamped with first week work, that it's been a little hard trying to find time to update, but here goes. I am loving all of my classes so far; they're all pretty interesting. And! Not having Friday classes is probably one of the best life decisions I have ever made.

One of the things that I have been super busy with for the past few weeks has been helping with Outreach Tulane. For those of you who don't know, Outreach Tulane is the big campus-wide community service day that CACTUS (the Community Action Council of Tulane University Students) and the Center for Public Service (and various other organizations on campus) put on every year the Saturday after move-in. Basically, it's about a thousand volunteers who help out at various sites around the city. Now can you see why I haven't had time to update?

The day turned out really great, actually. We had a great turnout (even though everyone had to be unreasonably early for college students on a Saturday), and we did some great work in the community. One great (Project Greenlight) installed energy efficient lightbulbs in houses. One group cleaned up cemetaries (Save our Cemetaries).

My group actually got to help out with the Community Health Fair and Play Day by playing with kids whose parents came to get health screenings from the Tulane community health bus. This was all part of a bigger day that was the 4th Commemoration of Hurricane Katrina, and it was great to see Tulane students be able to be part of the New Orleans community. Actually, it was just great to see the community come together as a whole to commemorate the 4th anniversary, to mourn the losses, and to celebrate what has been regained.

Anyways, I don't have pictures from the day of yet (yeah... sorry... I suck), but I promise pictures as the semester progresses!

Moving back in

2009-08-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all!

Sorry I've been a little MIA, but here's the good news, I'm back in New Orleans! I moved in on Wednesday into my little on-campus apartment, and I've just been having a good time decorating and getting ready for freshmen orientation since I'm an orientation coordinator.

So all of today was spent moving boxes up and down the twelve stories of Monroe (so tiring... and with humidity? Killer!... but it was great to hear parents hear they appreciate it) and now I'm heading over to a floor meeting with my girls and the RA.

There are so many great orientation activities, I'm so excited! My favorite one is called Reily Rocks. If you don't know, Reily is the recreation center here on campus (and our gym as well). And they put on an event for freshmen where they have a night of video games, great food, and fun activities. Oh! And the free t-shirt is usually awesome.

Also, I'm looking forward to meeting my Newcomb Little tomorrow for the pinning ceremony. (More on that later)

And another great one? The riverboat cruise. Basically it's a dinner cruise for the freshmen (and since I'm an OC I get to go too!) and there's music, dancing, and great views of the city, too! Here's a picture of Arielle and me on the cruise freshmen year... (wow, I look so much younger...). It was one of the first times we ever hung out as roommates, and it was a lot of fun. We also met a few of our good friends that night, too!

Okay! Have to go now! Don't want to be late. But I'll start posting regularly again after this entry! Oh! Also, classes start on Monday! We'll see how that goes...

August already?

2009-08-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

Hello there!

Can you believe it's August already? In almost exactly two weeks I'll be taking off on a plane to New Orleans. I can't believe it that summer has gone by so quickly. It's been a really nice summer - I met some great new people, explored both San Francisco and Berkeley, made a little money, learned a little bit, hung out with old friends, watched a lot of Giants baseball and slept a lot. What more could I ask for?

So what's in store for me next year, you ask? Well, I don't know how many of you know this but next year is going to be my last year at Tulane! Can you believe that I'm graduating (fingers crossed) in the spring? I can't! But I am totally excited and can't wait for the year to start. Things I'm looking forward to:

- Moving into and decorating an on-campus apartment with two of my best friends.
- seeing friends who I haven't seen all summer
- orientation (I'm going to be helping out at Monroe this year!)
- Newcomb Big Sisters/Little Sisters (more on this one later)
- Outreach Tulane
- meeting the new community service scholars
- seeing my mentee Myles again
- homecoming weekend
- GWA stuff (I love meeting prospective students... I hope to travel somewhere cool this coming semester to talk... I can't wait until Jeff sends out the city list!)
- Mardi Gras (haha... I know it's in the Spring... but come on! What's there not to be excited about?)

There's probably a lot on that list that I'm not remembering right now because, as always, there's a lot to be excited about here in New Orleans and at Tulane!

So, good-bye summer, hello Tulane! See you all in a couple of weeks!

Berkeley and Baseball

2009-07-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Quick summer update in case you were curious what I have been up to away from Tulane. Well, I definitely miss New Orleans, but I'm loving my time here in California. Like I mentioned in my June post, I moved up to Berkeley to take a summer class (which has not been very fun... but it was necessary so I just have to deal, I guess) It's been really fun here hanging out with friends from high school and whatnot.

Actually, a couple of weeks ago, I got to meet up with a friend of mine from Tulane who is working in the Bay Area this summer. She and I actually went to a southern-cooking restaurant in San Francisco. She had the gumbo (pretty tasty... not as good as the real thing), and I had some really good mac and cheese. Mmm. It was reallly nice to see a familiar school face!

Other than that, I've been trying to catch as many baseball games as I can because I absolutely love baseball and the San Francisco Giants (who have been doing remarkably well this season!). The stadium is actually a quick subway ride across the bay, and I love spending afternoons at a game. Here's a picture with me and Lous Seal, the Giants mascot, from last night (sorry the lighting isn't very good!)

Anyways, that's all from me. I can't wait to see a bunch of new faces in the fall! Hope everyone's summer is going well, too!

June Things

2009-06-19T14:41:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

It's been a little while since I've updated, but here goes.

I've been home now for about a month and a half, and it's been really fun (my mom's cooking is delicious!) I'm actually taking a summer class at UC Berkeley this summer, so I moved into an apartment in Berkeley and am enjoying my time so far! I'm still looking for a job (I had an interview at a retail clothing store, so keep your fingers crossed for me on that one), am probably going to start volunteering at some local elementary schools next week, and am looking forward to meeting new people.

Other than that, I went to my brother's eighth grade graduation and a few of my friends' younger siblings' high school graduation. Oh. And this weekend? Going to my first SF Giants game of the season (finally!)

Can't wait to meet all the new freshman in the fall! Hope everyone is having a nice summer!

End of Sophomore Year

2009-05-09T14:11:00.001-07:00

Hey all!

I'm typing this entry (my last of my sophomore year) from Southern California where I'm hanging out for a few days with my family who lives down here before I go back home for the summer.

So, that means that somehow I managed to survive all my finals and that I somehow managed to pack away all my worldly belongings into a few boxes and suitcases.

This year has been a great year, and I hope that you guys enjoyed reading my blog as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'll post a couple of times over the summer, but other than that, I hope to see you all in the fall!

And congrats to our graduates of 2009! Roll Wave!

Arielle's birthday and finals

2009-05-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Sorry it's been a little while since I've updated, but I have a good reason, I promise! It's been final exam period, and I've had so, so, so much to study. So this entry is going to be a short one because I actually have a physics exam tomorrow morning and still have to take a copious amount of notes. It was my roommate/one of my best friend, Arielle's, twentieth birthday last week so we took a little break from studying and celebrated!

Below is a picture of Arielle and our friend Aaron at PF Chang's where went to dinner. It was very tasty.

Here is a picture of Arielle, me, Meghan, and Amanda after dinner hanging out uptown.

Anyways, I hope Arielle had a nice birthday! I know I had a nice time celebrating with all of our friends!

Okay. Back to my physics book now. I know all of the decisions about college have all probably been made by now, and all of you who are going to Tulane, I can't wait to see you in the fall! All of you who are going elsewhere, I wish you the best there, too! I wish finals would be over now... please?

The Desire Community and Dinner with Dr. Cherry

2009-04-20T21:42:00.001-07:00

So I'm still swamped with so much work, but I decided to take a little time out to take a study break and write about this great opportunity that I had last night. I had the privilege of eating dinner at Dr. Cynthia Cherrey's home with members from the Tulane and Desire community.

First, who is Dr. Cynthia Cherrey, you may ask? Dr. Cherrey is the Vice-President for Student Affairs here at Tulane and Dean of Students (you can click on the link for a fuller bio) which means that she works closely with the students and student life here at Tulane. Since I am a community service scholar, I was invited to her beautiful home yesterday evening for a delicious dinner catered by Tulane's own Olive Blue (GWA uses them to cater as well!) to bring together members from the Tulane and the Desire community which included students, Tulane faculty and staff, and members of the Desire neighborhood.

Second, what is the Desire neighborhood? The Desire neighborhood is one of the housing projects in New Orleans located in the upper Ninth ward which I had the opportunity to spend a day at last semester on a Spotlight tour conducted by Tulane to show students different areas of New Orleans. We actually got to play with the children of the neighborhood that day as the community members put on a community yard sale to raise money for the community center that they are trying to build. Below are a couple pictures of some of us playing with the kids at Desire

There were two very moving points in the evening last night. One was when Luke, one of the Tulane students at the dinner who is part of the Roosevelt Institute, spoke about how what people who do community service fail to realize sometimes is that they think they are knights on a white horse coming to rescue the people they are trying to help when in fact most of the time what the people need is a friend with a helping hand. And what we're coming as are friends with helping hands.

The second point was when Miss Julie, one of the community leaders from Desire, spoke about how she know that the Desire neighborhood needed help, and how historically, their neighborhood has been overlooked and "was nothing to everybody." She was moved to tears by the fact that an institution as big as Tulane would help out people that everyone else overlooked. She was truly so grateful that Tulane was helping Desire raise money to build a community center. I was glad I was able to witness such a beautiful moment.

Anyways, that was what I had to share for today. Only one more week of Destination Tulane! Hope to see you there! I've met so many great prospective students already, and I want to see all of you in the fall! I'll be an OC in Monroe!

Speakers

2009-04-14T23:06:00.000-07:00

Hello! I hope everyone had a nice Easter or Passover!

I have a ton of work to do before finals (which are in two weeks) including an organic chemistry test next week, a public health presentation on ebola due next week, physics lab due tomorrow, and various club responsibilities, so this entry is going to be a little short and all about the various speakers I have heard speak at Tulane. I have heard a lot of speakers here, but I'll mention my favorite three here.

President Barack Obama was definitely very, very inspiring to hear speak at Fogelman Arena. We waited in line at 7:30 am for his 10:00 am speech last year when he was still a presidential hopeful. His speech was very moving, and it was touching to hear him speak about the problems facing New Orleans and hearing his proposals about protecting the wetlands and providing more for the public schools.

from http://my.barackobama.com/

Sir Salman Rushdie, the famous author (Midnight's Children, The Satanic Verses), was also another one of my favorite speakers. When he came to speak to us last year, he was very funny and eloquent, and I left feeling just a little bit more enlightened. I told my friend Maeve who went with me that I wish I could be his grand-daughter so I could listen to him speak all the time.

from www.tulane.edu/

Anderson Cooper, the news anchor and journalist who I have had a big crush on forever, came to speak last year as well, and I can still say I have a big crush on him. He spoke about the importance of rebuilding New Orleans and about his unique experience as a journalist.

from www.tulane.edu/

Anyways, that's all from me. Wish me luck with all my work! And I still wish all the college-bound kids luck with their decisions! Hope to see you at Tulane!

Crawfest 2009

2009-04-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was of my favorite days of the year - Crawfest!

What is Crawfest you might ask? Well, it's an annual music festival that the Associated Student Body puts on that has tons of crawfish, booths with local arts and crafts vendors, and two stages with great musical acts going on throughout the entire day! And admission was free with a Tulane ID! Bands like Funk.Soul.Family, the Revivalists, and RJD2 as the headliner. It was pretty much the best day ever. What more could you want than delicious crawfish, great music, beautiful weather, and the best company?

Anyways, below are some pictures from the day of. Enjoy!

The very large Crawfest banner

Seth and his new little crawfish friend

Sam and Arielle digging in to their crawfish.

Oscar holding up a bacon brownie that he bought. Yes. That's right. A bacon brownie. He said it tasted like a regular brownie with just the slight aftertaste of grease.

Regen showing off the crawfish she's about to eat.

Arielle, me, and Amanda after a long day in the sun.

Newcomb

2009-03-30T20:36:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Sorry it's been a little while since I last posted, but it's been a little hectic with midterms and then spring break (nothing noteworthy to speak of, though, since I went home to just relax for the week).

What I really wanted to talk about, though, was one of the great assets on campus for women (and men) which is the Newcomb College Institute. For those of y'all who don't know, Tulane University used to be for just men and its complementary women's college was Newcomb College. Even though classes were integrated in the 20s, it wasn't until after Hurricane Katrina that they two undergraduate colleges finally combined to form the Tulane-Newcomb Undergraduate College that it is today. Below is a picture of Newcomb Hall.

The Newcomb College Institute is what remains of the old Newcomb College and tries to keep the old Newcomb traditions alive. Even though the last Newcomb College class is graduating this year, Newcomb has a lot of great programming directed at the young women here on campus such as student groups, speakers, etc.

One of my favorite activities that Newcomb has is called "Friday at Newcomb". They provide a great lunch about three Fridays a month and also have really great speakers come in and speak about interesting topics. The best part? It's all free!

A student group that I am involved in is Women in Science. As a public health major, it's great to have a network of other women in the science field to connect with. We have a lot of professors come in to speak to us about whatever they'd like. They tell us about their research or sometimes just about their own personal experience with being a women in a science field. I've met some great people through Newcomb. Me with Mediha, Pearl, and Sam - three of the other executive board members of Women in Science (I am the Community Outreach Chair).

So that's a bit of Newcomb for you. Also, it's Destination Tulane all this coming month, so hopefully you'll see me around campus if you come to visit (which you should!).

CACTUS Field Day

2009-03-17T12:58:00.000-07:00

I know I've talked a lot about CACTUS (the Community Action Council of Tulane University Students) already, but I'm really involved in it and love the community service activities I get to do because I'm involved in it.

Last Friday was CACTUS field day in which about 200 kids from various local elementary schools were invited to come play on Newcomb quad. CACTUS encouraged other student organizations such as Greek life, student government, ROTC, etc to come out and sponsor a table with different events for the kids, and we had kettle corn, snowballs, and even a rock climbing wall!

The boys of Phi Gamma Delta "mummifying" kids with toilet paper.

A member of the juggling club teaches a little girl to juggle.

Mostly, I sat at the Women in Science table. We had cookies and bought frosting and sprinkles that we let the kids decorate. It got a little (okay.. a lot) messy, but it was a lot of fun.

Lindsey helping a kid with some sprinkles

Other than that, I've just been really busy with school. I went to this "Undoing Racism" workshop this weekend that was really interesting and tackled a lot of issues surrounding race in New Orleans. I also had an Orientation Coordinator meeting on Sunday for next fall and I'm so excited to get to meet all the incoming freshman and help show them around (I'm going to be in Butler but they might move me to Monroe... so if you're living there next year, you'll probably see me around).

What else? Oh. Next week is spring break, and I'm going back home to California to just chill out for a bit. I am very excited for that.

Anyways, that's it for now! I hope everyone gets the chance to visit Tulane before they have to make their final college decisions!

Tulane Athletics

2009-03-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

So I have so much work to do this week, so this is going to be a short post all about Tulane athletics.

If you didn't know, Tulane is a Division I varsity school in Conference USA. Currently, we have 11 sports ranging from men's and women's basketball to baseball to women's golf.

Currently, the big sport season that is upon us is baseball season. Our team plays at Turchin Stadium which is right on campus and had is inaugural season last season. I personally love baseball so going to the games with my friend is a good weekend activity (although since I have been swamped with work, I have done nothing of the sort as of late)

During football season, our games are played at the Superdome, and students are bused there for free. Below is a picture of my roommate, Arielle, and I last year with the school mascot, Riptide at the first home football game of the season. I love Tulane football; I even went to a game for my last birthday!

Anyways, definitely check out Tulane athletics. Our athletes put a lot of hard work and dedication to make our teams great!

Also, we just had prospective honors weekend here, and I hope that all the prospective honors students are having/had a good time!

Mardi Gras 2009

2009-02-28T09:37:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! So Mardi Gras weekend was last weekend, and I think I've finally recovered from all the madness. Mardi Gras was fun as always.

So let's recap. One of my really good friends from grade school, Yana, came to visit me for the weekend. She flew in on Friday night and stayed until Sunday evening. Basically, on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, we went to parades and caught lots of beads. The picture below is of my friends Amanda, Regen, and Meghan (apparently all wind-swept) after a parade on Saturday night. Notice that Meghan caught a feather boa... I was so jealous!

Here is a picture of my friend Ashleigh and me on one of the parade routes:

Here is a picture of one of the floats that we saw on Saturday:

On Sunday, I actually went to the French Quarter during the day to show Yana around, and she absolutely loved the French Market and the performers across from Jackson Square. It was a lot of fun; she's even planning our Mardi Gras costumes for Senior year!

On Tuesday, a few of my friends and I planned to go to the Zulu parade which was at 8 in the morning, but we were so exhausted that instead we just stayed on campus all day and ordered in Chinese food for dinner.

All in all, it was a great Mardi Gras, but I'm glad we're all back to reality now... well, kind of glad because now I have to study for an organic chemistry quiz on Monday and a sociology midterm on Tuesday.

Community Service Scholars and CACTUS projects

2009-02-15T10:13:00.000-08:00

So I don't know if y'all know this, but I am a community service scholar. What exactly does that mean? (In case you don't want to click on the link). Well, I'm here at Tulane with a scholarship for doing community service work in high school (I was really involved with this organization which put on Girl's Economic Power Day that taught high school girls how to deal with all things relating to money).

What being a scholar entails is having to do forty hours of community service a year, going to various development meetings, and getting a mentor who would help me develop my own communtiy service project here at Tulane.

Last year, my mentor was a Senior named Brittany who I still am in contact with is one of my best resources even though she graduated. She was the project coordinator of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program at Tulane under our big community service organization the Community Action Council of Tulane University Students (CACTUS) and so I got involved with both Big Brothers/Big Sisters and CACTUS.

Now, my mentor is my friend Seth (pictured below) who has deemed himself my "life coach" and tells me that I need chill out because he thinks I do too much.

He is also a project coordinator of a project called Paint Rally which is a great project where we go out and paint schools almost every Saturday (contact him at srushton@tulane.edu or me if you are in town and want to volunteer a Saturday with us at Paint Rally!). Below is a cute picture of my roommate, Arielle, when she came to help paint a school (obviously not a clean task)

Basically, I love doing community service work and am glad I get to go somewhere where community service is really valued and needed. I have met some of my best friends doing community service and had a great time while also getting to make a difference. What else could you ask for?

Mardi Gras 101

2009-02-07T23:42:00.000-08:00

Mardi Gras is coming up in a little over two weeks, and I am very excited! So, I thought would write about my past Mardi Gras experience to give you a little insight into what Mardi Gras has been like for me.

Since I am only a sophomore, I have only had one Mardi Gras last year, and it was so much fun! Everyone has this idea (at least I did) that Mardi Gras was spent on Bourbon St. doing things only seen on Girls Gone Wild to get a string of beads, when in fact, it is much more family friendly and less scandalous than that altogether.

It might be a little hard to believe, but believe it! I only went down to the French Quarter once during Mardi Gras last year and it was during the daytime before any of the parades started just so that a friend of mine from out of town could see what the Quarter looked like. Mostly, we spend Mardi Gras on St. Charles St. where the street is lined with tents and lawn chairs and barbeques and families waiting on the parade route. It's a lot of fun - kind of like a picnic except that everyone in New Orleans is invited! Below is a picture of Arielle and Amanda and me coming home from a parade last year (notice the abundance of beads!)

Here are a few fun facts about Mardi Gras:

- The actual date of Mardi Gras this year is Tuesday, the 24, but parades started running as early as this weekend! (the first being Krewe du Vieux) As a Tulane student we actually get school off on Monday the 23 and the next day!

- The parades that are the centerpieces of Mardi Gras festivities are run by social clubs called "krewes". Examples include the Knights of Sparta, the Krewe of Pegasus, and Krewe of Orpheus. These krewes also hold balls (usually masquerade) throughout the Mardi Gras season. Below is a picture of my friend Gerardo and me at a masquerade ball that Tulane put on last year.

- Gold, green, and purple are the colors of Mardi Gras!

- Despite what people think, all you need to do to get beads during Mardi Gras is stand there and hold out your hand! Seriously! You catch so many beads! In fact, most people bring ladders for the height advantage (the little kids who sit on ladders get the best beads!!)

- They don't just throw beads at people from parade floats! They throw weird trinkets, stuffed animals, cups, frisbees... you name it! At this one parade, Zulu, they throw coconuts to a few lucky few in the crowd! Of course, my friends and I managed to catch four between the four of us! (The one with the eyelashes and braids is mine! It's actually still sitting on my bookshelf!)

So that's a little bit about Mardi Gras! Did I mention I'm excited!

Amanda's Birthday

2009-01-31T13:38:00.000-08:00

On January 28, one of my best friends, Amanda, turned 20 which means that we had to celebrate, of course!

It has become a tradition for a few of my friends and I to eat at this great Indian restaurant, Nirvana, on Magazine Street (I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before). Anyways, we were there the weekend before Amanda's birthday per tradition when I looked at the buffet line, and lo and behold, there was someone in the line who looked remarkably like Jennifer Coolidge (think American Pie, Legally Blonde, Best in Show, etc). I turned to my friends (Amanda, Arielle, and Meghan) who also agreed that the woman in line looked like her. Long story short after arguing if it would be rude to ask her or not, Arielle took the initiative to ask if she was Jennifer Coolidge, AND IT WAS! It was really exciting! We told her it was Amanda's birthday (and she wished Amanda a happy birthday) and even took a pictures with us:

Now I can say I've met a celebrity!

For Amanda's actual birthday, though, we went to this restaurant called O'Henry's which serves you a free birthday steak as long as you can show ID that proves it's your birthday. Needless to say, Amanda got her steak:

We just hung out the rest of the night with a bunch of our friends, recalling memories of living in Monroe (6th floor, represent!) and ridiculous hurricane evacuation stories. I think Amanda had a nice 20th!

Audubon Park

2009-01-25T12:12:00.001-08:00

I don't know how many of you know this, but Gibson Hall (the original building of Tulane University) is located on St. Charles Street and right across from it is Audubon Park.

Audubon is super pretty, and Tulane (and Loyola) students (as well as locals) use it to run, play golf, or just hang out. Personally, I think it's a great place to study when it's warm or to have a picnic with friends. For my birthday this year, my friends (left to right: Arielle, Hannah, Amanda, and Maeve) we had picnic in Audubon with some food from Whole Foods (I highly recommend the potato salad).

Audubon park is also home to the Audubon Zoo which I haven't been to yet, but a lot of my friends have said that it's really cool. Apparently, they also take the elephants out for walks in the park some days!

If you go through the park and past Magazine Street, you go to this area that's know as "the Fly" which is on the banks of the Mississippi and has a lot of picnic spots. It's just another place to go on the weekend with friends with a frisbee or a soccer ball and some food and just relax. Below is a picture of me, Meghan, and Maxine at the Fly for Maxine's birthday last spring.

I can't wait until the spring again!

First week back

2009-01-18T07:36:00.000-08:00

So, I got back to Tulane last Saturday and have been here for a little over a week now.

My classes are really interesting this semester. Of course organic chemistry and physics are still a little too dry for my liking, but both my public health are interesting, and my sociology class is really cool (the professor is really cool!)

Other than that, it's been really nice seeing all of my friends. My roommate, Arielle's, younger sister, Leila, actually was in town for the weekend, so it was great having a third roommate! Leila doesn't want to go to college here she doesn't think (she wants to forge her own path since both her older siblings go to school here), but after visiting it was nice to hear that she will probably apply. Below is a picture of us (Arielle, Leila, me, and Amanda) at a party last night which was fun.

Also yesterday, we had a day of service for the Martin Luther King weekend, and I was a project coordinator which means that I (along with a couple of girls from Xavier University nearby) led a group of about sixty students to City Park and we remulched a path there. It was cool to work with and meet students from Tulane, Loyola, Xavier, and Dillard Universities! After lunch, since we had some extra time, we got a chance to explore the sculpture garden (which is free!) that is at the New Orleans Museum of Art which is also located in city park.

My friend Walt and I had fun posing with the statues:

Well that's that. I am really excited for the inauguration! And also if any of ya'll have applied to Tulane (since I know the deadline just passed), I wish you luck!

New Years

2009-01-06T20:06:00.000-08:00

Hey all! Happy New Years!

Yes, I'm still in California, but I get back to New Orleans on Saturday! That's pretty exciting.

So what have I been doing with myself here at home? Well mostly, I've watched a lot of episodes of CSI (did you know that they have marathons practically every day?) and working a little more at the chocolate shop and hanging out with friends from high school.

For New Years, we went up to my aunt's apartment in San Francisco for dinner which was really fun. Below is a picture of three of my cousins (Vivian, Tina, and Kathleen) and me.

Then after I went to a friend's house and hung out and watched the ball drop in Time Square and toasted the New Year and played Scattagories until like two in the morning (I know, we're cool).

Anyways, I can't wait to get back to Tulane and get started with the new semester. I'm taking a lot of classes (organic chemistry, physics, a sociology class, genetics, and a public health class), am still involved with various community service things (I can't wait to get started on volunteering with the Children's Hospital), and seeing all of my friends. I also need to find a job. Suggestions?

Also, my friend just posted this link on my facebook wall:
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/mayor_ray_nagin_launches_2009.html
Yes, that's right. Another thing to look forward to this semester? Mardi Gras! (But more on that when it gets closer!)

So, I think next time you hear from me, I'll be in NOLA! 'Till then!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T18:59:00.000-08:00

Hey all! Hope everyone is having happy holidays!

I'm still writing here from California. I've been really busy as of late because in high school I had a job as a wrapper at a small local high end chocolate shop in my town and ever since then I still go back and help out whenever I'm back in town. Since the holiday season is one of the busiest times for chocolate buying (who doesn't like chocolate, right?) I have been working eight hour days since I got back.

But now it's Christmas which is really exciting. My family always celebrates Christmas on Christmas eve so last night we went to an aunt and uncle's house. It was so nice to see my extended family. I have so many cousins, it's ridiculous. On my dad's side alone, I have sixteen cousins. It was really fun because since I am only one of two of the cousins who live outside of an hour from where we grew up in California (the other being my cousin Kelly who lives and works in Hawaii) everyone wanted to hear about how life was in New Orleans (which was fun telling them about school and my friends and such).

Even though going to school far away from home can cause homesickness sometimes (I really love my mom's cooking and not being able to see my brother and cousin grow up is kind of sad) I wouldn't have it any other way. Your friends become your family, and it's fun to be able to realize that you are a responsible person on your own. Anyways, below are a few photos from my family Christmas.

My cousin, Shaun, who opened up my Christmas present. I got a Save Nola shirt!

Me with my little cousin Gavin (whose present is bigger than he is)

My cousins Rachel (left) and Vivian (right)

(From left to right) Brian, Nick, and Shaun.

Brian and Rachel and me

Happy holidays everyone!

Snow Day

2008-12-16T19:31:00.000-08:00

So, I'm home now from school and have been for the past couple of days. Finals went okay although I didn't do as well as I would have liked to. Life moves on, though.

Now that I'm at home, I get to wake up to this...

(my dog, Milano)

Before I left Tulane for a more domestic setting, it snowed last Thursday! That's right. It snowed in New Orleans! Now I know that admissions talks about how the weather is beautiful all year round (which for the most part it is)... but we were so excited to wake up to snow outside our window!! (I got at least ten text messages/phone calls at eight in the morning that said "SNOW!" It was really exciting.

Anyways, here are a few pictures:

Some captions:
Picture 1- Snow on the UC quad (right outside my window)
Picture 2- Snow on the palm trees. A rare sight.
Picture 3- Me walking through Brown field (which was definitely white)
Picture 4 - The quad melting with a lone snowman still sitting there.

It was exciting. Trust me.

Finals

2008-12-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest:

It's finals period so basically I've been swamped with a lot of work. Want to know what I did all weekend? Here is a photographic representation:

This was the view from my table at Starbucks (the top photograph) which I was basically been glued to since Friday afternoon. In all seriousness, I think I spent more time studying organic chemistry this weekend than anything else combined (my book, white chocolate mocha, and notebook at in the bottom picture). It was a little sad.

On the plus side, though, I took the test this morning, and it wasn't as horrible as I thought it was. The thing about organic, though, is that you never really know how you do until you get the test back. Anyways, I have a public health final tomorrow and then a physics final on Wednesday and then I'm free!

So, here is a short list of things I am looking forward to after 5 pm on Wednesday:

-Not having to look at an orgo/physics/public health textbook for a whole month

-Christmas shopping

-Taking a nap

-Indian buffet at Nirvana with friends Thursday night

-Just hanging out with friends for a few days with nothing to worry about

-Good-bye-for-a-little-while hot chocolate on Friday night
-And, of course, I go home on Saturday.

Even though I'll be sad to leave my friends in New Orleans, I'm really glad to see be able to see my family and friends from high school.

Okay. Enough procrastinating from my end. Wish me luck!

A Typical Tulane Day

2008-11-29T13:38:00.000-08:00

So, you might be wondering where I was at this turkey day, and the answer is… right here in New Orleans. Now, no, my family did not forget about my existence or anything, but I just have a lot of work to do and it was impractical for me to fly out to California, so instead my mom flew out here for a few days, and I stayed with her in a hotel in the Quarter (which was a nice break from school).

We ate so much good food (breakfast at Brennan's in the Quarter is a must do if you visit New Orleans... try their bananas foster!) and went black Friday shopping, so it was a good time. She left earlier this morning, though, so I have the next couple of days to study for an organic chemistry quiz that I have and for all the finals that are coming up in just a couple of weeks!

Anyways, I wish I had more to write about for the past week, but unfortunately my life has been consumed with very little more than alkynes and spectroscopy (Google them if you must...) But, let me outline to you what I do do on an everyday basis. Here is a little breakdown of what a typical Tulane weekday is like for me...

9:30 AM - 9:50 AM - Wake up (always the hardest part of the day) and get ready

10:00 AM - 10:50 AM - Organic chemistry class (fun for everyone)

11:00 AM -11:50 AM - Physics

12:00 PM - 12:50 PM - Lunch with friends at the LBC (the Thai chicken wrap from Sandella's is delicious... or maybe some sushi)

1:00 PM - 4:00 PM - Organic chemistry lab

4:00 PM - 4:40 PM - Free time (usually spent napping, running errands, typing up emails, calling people on the phone)

4:40 PM - 6:00 PM - Mentoring Myles (Myles, picture below, is the sixth grader that I mentor at a local school twice a week)

6:00 PM - 6:30 PM - Women in Science meeting

6:30 PM - 8:30 PM - Teaching English as a second language classes

8:30 PM - 9:00 PM - Late dinner with friends at Bruff

9:00 PM - 11:00 PM - Hanging around with friends (pictured below, Meghan, Amanda, and I were playing Sorry! last week)

11:00 PM - 1:00 AM - Schoolwork and tying up other loose ends

1:00 AM- Bedtime!

So, this is basically what I do on a day to day basis - not too exciting, but I enjoy it.

Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's going to be December!

KaBOOM! Build

2008-11-19T14:04:00.000-08:00

So, my life has been a little hectic since last week. I had a physics test last Friday, an organic chemistry test yesterday, and an organic chemistry lab final earlier this afternoon (that's what I get for being pre-med I guess). But now all I have is a public health presentation next Tuesday before Thanksgiving break so I can breathe easy for at least the next few days.

Despite all the school craziness, though, I found some time this weekend to help out with a great community service project called KaBOOM! If you don't know, KaBOOM! is a national nonprofit whose goal is to make it so that there is an accessible playground in every neighborhood. Basically, it was an awesome way to spend a Saturday morning.

About a dozen of us (pictured above in front of the finished playground) from CACTUS (the umbrella community service organization at Tulane) including my good friend Seth (pictured below) helped out at KIPP Central City, a local charter school, to build them a new playground, fix up their basketball courts, and plant them a new garden.

All in all, there were about a couple hundred volunteers who helped do things like paint, spread mulch (which I did for like three hours), mix cement, put up the playground, etc. It was so cool to see because the lot literally started off with nothing there, and six hours later, we had a full fledged playground!

Below are some more photos from the day...

I also went to see the India Association of Tulane University's Diwali show on Sunday which was really cool and colorful (and they served some really delicious food afterward! I love Indian food!).

That's all from my end. More to come next week!

Also, I definitely want to hear from you. If you have any questions or comments, that's what the "comment" button is for!

Voodoo Fest

2008-11-12T22:22:00.000-08:00

The number of great festivals in Louisiana never ceases to amaze me. Whether it is Jazz Fest, the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival, or even the Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival, Louisiana is never short of having opportunities to socialize and eat.

The most recent one to roll through town a few weeks ago was Voodoo Fest, a three-day music festival with big names (Nine Inch Nails, Mars Volta, Panic at the Disco!) as well as local bands (Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Hot Club of New Orleans). My friend Meghan (shown here with me before a night out earlier this semester) had scored us a very good deal on tickets for the Saturday (October 25) – free admittance for a few hours of volunteering at the festival. Considering that tickets usually ran fifty dollars and that when Meghan and I get together a good time usually ensues, I was so in.

So, after a nice brunch at Bruff (because who doesn't love Bruff brunch?), we set off to City Park at around noon.

We ended up tabling for the Ashe Cultural Arts Center, a community center in New Orleans which focuses on education about African American culture. She and I were set loose to pass out flyers to any passersby who would give us a chance (which was an interesting experience to say that least). There were so many people dressed up in bizarre costumes – Meghan’s and my favorite was this girl with bright blue hair, a furry blue skirt, and matching furry blue boots.

After a couple hours of handing out flyers and talking up the cultural center, we were allowed to go.

Of course, the first stop for us was to look around at all the vendor's booths. Meghan ended up buying a great purple “Defend New Orleans” shirt, and I finally bought myself a pair of sunglasses. Then, we peered around at the different concert stages and scoped out which shows we wanted to attend.

After a quick stop to buy Meghan (pictured looking very hungry) a spinach and crawfish bread bowl, we decided to meet up with some of my friends who had places near the stage where Lil’ Wayne was going to perform.

Quick background note: although I can enjoy the occasional Lil’ Wayne song and even know the words to a few, I am not exactly his biggest fan. Neither is Meghan.

After fighting our way through the massive sea of people, we somehow made it next to my friends who were not exaggerating when they said they were thisclose to the stage (notice the picture below). It was quite the spectacle when Lil’ Wayne came to the stage. We were in the midst of the really hardcore Lil’ Wayne fans; they knew all the words to every song, and all the female fans screeched at the top of their lungs every time he did so little as breathe.

My favorite quote from that day was from Meghan: “I wish I could just lay down on a stage and have people just adore me.”

We then met up with one of Meghan’s friends for a while and enjoyed some lemonade, but by that point we were so exhausted that we didn’t stay for the rest of the night. A quick cab ride later, we were back on campus, and I think I lasted about another half hour before I fell asleep.

Just another good day in New Orleans.

Also, a follow-up story: Meghan and I volunteered with this high school Senior, Jamal, that day as well. When we were downtown for Halloween, we both were tapped on the shoulder and it was none other than Jamal, wishing us both Happy Halloweens! Small world.

Coming Soon!

2008-11-12T11:00:00.001-08:00

Frances' blog is coming soon!