Girl on the train

As I traveled to the train station with my two best friends, Anne and Jessica, we couldn’t stop talking about how excited we are to embark on this amazing journey. The train station was boring but we did get to order some yummy food to be delivered. Also, shout out to the Amtrak worker who I’m pretty sure lied about the weight of my suitcase because there is no way I should have passed the 50 lb. test. 

Now I’m sitting in the observation car, which is way cooler I must say than the coach cars, on the train blogging about my experience it doesn’t seem much different from any other train experience I’ve had. Last night was my first overnight experience on a train and I’m not looking into ever doing it again. I think my neck is actually broken and I’m probably going to be going to the chiropractor on my free day in New Orleans. I thought I would be seeing something other than fields and tractors, but I have yet to see any land that seems different from home. The train is a wobbly place to be, but a fun experience to feel how fast you are going and watch everything go by you at a speed that is unimaginable if you were outside the train. The more South we travel, we are in Mississippi right now, the more flooded fields there are and I remember my mom saying how New Orleans got a lot of rain in the last few days and I was thinking, “Gosh, it’s not hurricane season is it?” Along with the rain, the more we travel down to New Orleans the severity of poverty in our country is getting more real in my mind. Some of the houses and trailers that have cars outside them, I’m wondering if people actually live there because the roof is falling in and plywood over the windows. I can’t imagine having to experience the hardships and depressions of poverty that some families and individuals have to experience every day. I feel very blessed and humbled right now to live the life I do, but somewhat guilty because some of the people down here are experiencing hardships still because of flooding and Hurricane Katrina. The yards are dirty with pieces of wood and debris and tarps are covering their houses.

The train has an old smell to it. I can’t describe it as anything else I’ve ever smelled so it is now known to my brain as the “train smell, ” and it’s not good. I’m so ready to get off this train and be in the city now. We have been stopped for about 20 minutes waiting for a freight train to pass so we could use the tracks it was on, but we are stopped in the middle of a woodsy area and its kind of creeping me out. I’m not trying to be the next inspiration for a Criminal Minds episode if you know what I’m saying.

This train experience is similar to others I’ve had and it is giving me a lot of time to think and reflect on what I want to accomplish on this trip. This will be my first time in New Orleans and I really want to experience everything the city has to offer in the short time that I’m here. I’m looking forward to learning about myself and how I react to being outside of my comfort zone. On the other hand, I don’t really think I will feel awkward or uncomfortable being in the city. I love big cities and enjoy being in and seeing new places. New Orleans is iconic to the American culture and one of the most fun cities in our country and I really want to see the good and the bad it has to offer. By bad, I mean the realities of some of the locals, such as the struggles of being a local artist or a street performer or the hardships of Katrina survivors. As our train traveled through a small town in Mississippi I couldn’t help but notice the confederate flag flying from the pole outside the train station. Even though I grew up in a small town where people had a closed-mind view, but thankfully, I did not inherit that trait. I believe that every person should be treated equally no matter what the color of his or her skin. I know some people consider the confederate flag of an industry thing when it comes to North versus South and not a racial thing, but with the derogatory comments and the symbol that the confederate flag has become through the media I find it to be offensive. That was the first time I realized I was getting into territory that was unfamiliar to myself and different from home. I know racism is real and has a big history in the Southern states we are traveling through, but I hope I don’t see any of it on this trip. I want to have positive and happy trip without negativity. New Orleans has such positivity throughout it and I hope it seeps into me. I’m excited to experience the feelings that I will have while going on adventures in the city. I’m hoping to have feelings like happiness and excitement mostly. I want to take every opportunity I have offered to me and make the fullest of the day. I want to learn and grow as a person and come back more cultured than before. I want to feel and experience the ghosts on the ghost tour, taste the food on the cuisine tour, show respect on the cemetery tour, and learn about medicine in the pharmacy museum. My most favorite part of this trip so far is getting to spend them with my friends and classmates talking and learning from each other. We are almost there, only a couple more hours to go, and we are all so anxious and excited to get there and have a real meal that is going to taste so good!