I'll start practicing my southern accent now

I feel as if I need this trip. Now, my mom is still trying to teach me the difference between wants and needs and at the ripe age of 21 years old, I’m telling you people that is it a hard concept for me to understand. I don’t need this trip to physically survive but I need it for the fun and excitement! It is going to be an unforgettable and amazing week and it is such a great way to start off the New Year! The classwork seems simple yet meaningful which is perfect for a winterm class, I think it is going to set me up for a successful semester by getting me back into the swing of things. This will be my first travel course at Methodist and hopefully not my last. From personal experience, I have learned that I remember and learn more from a trip and actually seeing things along with being hands-on, rather than reading or listening about it in a classroom. I love how the education portions of this course are fun and interesting and I don’t know if it is because I’m a huge nerd or if they are actually interesting, but whatever the reason I’m excited! I hope to learn a lot about the city of New Orleans, but also I want to learn about myself and gain knowledge of me as a person away from home. I have traveled before but mostly for tumbling competitions, which meant a lot of training and competing, there was no time for sight seeing the city we were in (if there was ever a competition about who’s seen more hotel rooms in a city over actually seeing the city, I would win). I hope to find out that I am diverse and culturally competent as a person because that is what I strive to be. My expectations are high, which is scary because without expectations there can be no disappointment, but I have the best feeling about traveling to New Orleans and the opportunities it has to offer. Who knows, maybe I’ll want to move there someday and be a nurse in the heart of it all. I really love being outgoing and adventurous, which is the kind of person I am, so traveling is a perfect way for me to experience places and be adventurous. I’ll try anything once and the countless amount of opportunities I will get to try something for the very first time is unbelievable. When being asked what I’m looking forward to the most, I didn’t know what to say because I could rattle off every single thing that is on the itinerary. So my answer is that I’m mostly looking forward to experiences and opportunities I will be getting. New Orleans is a city like no other and if there is a place that is different from the Midwest and where I am comfortable being myself, Nola is the place. Goodbye for now, the next time you hear from me I’ll be the girl on the train (theoretically, not literally, of course). Adios Muchachos! 

No, my fish is not for sale

Packing and organizing is one of my favorite things in the whole world to do and I admit that I obsess over packing when it comes to taking trips. I always make a list to ensure that I do not leave any necessary items behind and when I’m overly excited for a trip I make numerous lists (I am on my third packing list for the trip to Nola) and I am not embarrassed to say it. I bought a brand new suitcase for this trip and it is massive, and by the word massive I mean I could literally fit a full-grown hippopotamus in this thing. To say I am excited is an understatement. It is so hard for me to know that I leave in five short days but don’t have anything packed yet, but writing this post is making me so anxious I think I’ll start tonight! One of the biggest things I am looking forward to while being in Louisiana is the weather. You know how you can add cities to your weather app that comes on your iPhone? Yeah, well I added New Orleans about six months ago and have been tracking it daily since then. Going from Illinois in January to the 70-degree weather I am seeing for the week we are there is going to feel so good on my skin and I can’t wait! I have to admit though, the only research I have done about this glamorous city it is the weather. I am not new to the Amtrak system. I absolutely love the train and it is by far my favorite way to travel. It’s safe, fast, and so easy... but have you guys ever tried to buy some sort of food or drink on there? I think I dropped a couple of tears the first time I ordered a muffin on the café cart, that thing was going to cost me like 5 bucks! So in preparation for the 17-hour train trip I am about to embark on, my only goal is to take as much food and water as possible. My carry-on will be so heavy it will look like I came straight from the food pantry with all of my non-perishables! My life is so boring that I’ve been counting down the days until we leave since we made our first payment for the trip back in May, and trust me, that was a lot of days to count so thank God there is an app for that! The only thing that I needed to arrange was fish sitting for my goldfish. Leo is my world and by far the best 15 cents I have ever spent. No worries, my mom is going to watch him while I’m gone and she takes overly good care of him since her track record was ruined when she killed my first goldfish when I was in 1^st grade. Besides missing Leo while I’m out exploring what New Orleans has to offer, my “normal” life will be just as boring as it is now when I return!

These are my choices for reading material on the train, any suggestions on what I should bring? 

Inner Journey Expectations

Urban Expectations: Inner Journey

December 27, 2016

            I hope to grow a lot on the inside after experiencing the adventures that New Orleans has to offer. I see myself as a very cultured person and I care a lot about people of other cultures, especially the minority cultures in our country that do not receive the same rights as the majority of the population. I realize that sometimes I can be insensitive to people who claim to go through hardships on the inside of their own mind and know that it is something I need to work on. I am hoping that seeing a city that has gone through such hard times and is still recovering from things of the past, such as hurricane Katrina, will soften me up. I tend to live in a bubble because I have a great life and my parents and myself are able to give my family and me everything we need and want and even more. I know that some people are not as fortunate and have to live day-to-day trying to figure out when will be their next meal or shower. I get emotional thinking about people who are homeless because of things that they can’t control. For example, many families were homeless due to Katrina destroying their homes and belongings. Homelessness is such a harsh reality in the world we live in today and I am expecting to see a lot of it while in New Orleans. My goal, though, is to help anyone I can because I am in the position to help and do better for someone.  The emotions that I will experience on this trip will both be bad and good ones but all will lead to a positive outcome. Every happy emotion that I have will be attached to a good memory from the adventures of the city and the tours and architecture that we will be experiencing and all the negative emotions, such as sadness or anger, will lead to me growing on the inside as a person and gaining more knowledge of a great city. My main goal of this trip is to have fun, but I also want to learn. Learning to me is fun, especially when it is about something that I can relate to. History and culture has always been a big interest of mine and now that I am traveling to learn about a new city, history, and culture and then relating it back to healthcare it is like my dream come true. The experiences that I will get on this travel course are once in a lifetime opportunities and nothing can prepare me for everything I will feel and experience while in New Orleans but I know that the emotions and feelings that surface while traveling will stay with me forever along with the many amazing memories I will make with new and old friends. We leave in eight days and it feels like a lifetime; my suitcase has been open on the floor of my bedroom just begging me to put things in it. I am ecstatic for this trip and the opportunities that come along with it!

Urban Expectations Of Nola

Urban Expectations: Outer Journey

December 27, 2016

            As the trip to New Orleans gets near my expectations of this exciting journey that I am about to embark on get more and more realistic. I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge of the country we live in and I hope to see the highs and lows that the great city of New Orleans. My expectation is that the city has had some of the best and worst journeys in its history and to truly learn and know the city, I believe, that it is important to see the amazing things it has to offer along with the unbelievable hardships it has seen. I am hoping to see someone famous also like maybe Ellen DeGeneres will just happen to be home visiting her Mom or something while we are there; I know it seems a tad bit unrealistic but hey a girl can dream, right? I’m expecting the city to be very loud and noisy, which is something I enjoy. I love the buzz that a large iconic city has at all hours. The only city that I have actually paid attention to while visiting is Chicago and the business of the streets and noise of the cars and people is something I am wildly attracted to! On the other hand, the smell of a large city is something I am not attracted to whatsoever. I have heard stories form my uncles about how terrible the streets of New Orleans smell and although it wont be pleasant I know it is all part of the experience and am kind of (secretly) looking forward to it. One of the highest expectations I have of this trip is the cuisine I will get to experience. I love spicy food and just recently have fallen in love with seafood and I know from watching Harry Conick Jr. on American Idol that there is no better crawfish than what is served up in New Orleans. My mouth is literally watering as I’m writing and thinking about it right now. I almost feel as if I have too many feelings about this upcoming trip to describe them all because if I did we would be here for days but the biggest feeling that comes to mind is just complete excitement. I’m excited to feel the warm weather compared to what friends and family will be experiencing at home. The itinerary set up for us as we travel through the city is adventurous and fun, but meaningful at the same time. I want to feel scared during the ghost tour and stuffed full after the cuisine tour and after the pharmacy tour, I hope to feel glad that I’m living in this day of age instead of back then because God only knows what was used to cure illnesses. I’m most excited, though, to feel like I belong in New Orleans at the end of this trip. I want to fall in love with the city and strive to go back and experience different things each time.