Mardi Gras Madness

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??

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

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

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

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

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

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!