Capturing a City Project _ Aurelie Saulnier

 

 

          I came for the first time in New Orleans two years ago and I immediately felt that I had something to do with this place. I was right, but still don't kow how, why and for how long.
The Big Easy is a very loveable city, despite its ruinded sidewalks, where I've felt many times already, its electric wires that kiss the trees and the houses' roofs, its crazy hot and mosquitos invasted summer and its hurricane season.

          I like to wake up with the sound of the street car passing right next my apartment as to walk along St Charles avenue with its wonderful trees full of beads. I enjoy to run or bicycle at Audubon park, to feed the ducks or play with my daughter there too. I love to seat on a banch at Washington square for an hour, when it is calm and quiet because it reminds me a long and intense discussion. The sunset over the lake Pontchartrain is beautiful from the levee.

          I don't know how much of me is influenced by the place I currently live, and at what point I play a role on my environment and acquaintances. I still have to figure it out. What I am sure of, is that I know what it means to miss New Orleans, and it feels good.

Diary entry - 01/12/12 by Candy Nguyen

Krewe of Jingle Parade

December 1, 2012

            On November 31, 2012 I received an e-mail from Christina. It contained a document list of Christmas and winter-holiday events in New Orleans. I was glad when I saw this list.

Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. I love all the events and activities during this time, especially in New Orleans, no snow, just warm and full of outdoor events.

I went through the list. Then I decided to go to the Krewe of Jingle Parade with my boyfriend Ian. It was a Christmas parade that started from 1pm. It started in downtown, and it ran from St. Charles Avenue to Canal street. I was very excited and this was the first time I participated in a American style parade. I have been to many countries because have seen different tradition parades. This was a great chance for me to experience a parade in America for the first time.

            On the day, I woke up at noon. It was very late. I rushed to the bathroom and did my make-up as fast as I could. I refused to have lunch even though I was starving. Ian and I ran to the Market in the Danna Center. We bought some snacks and drinks. Then we caught the street car in front of the university.

            It was supposed to be a sunny day according to the weather broadcast. But unfortunately, it rained for a bit and the sky was cloudy. I did not bring my umbrella, and I was worried about the parade. It was a very crowded day, both on the buses and the street cars which were headed downtown. It seemed as if everyone in NOLA was there. There were many tourists. It surprised me that even though it was not yet the holidays, people from around the country and the world were still here in New Orleans. It took almost an hour to get to where the parade started.

            I missed almost half of the parade because of the traffic. The bus stopped at the parade route, which meant I had to run from there. I found out that if I ran ahead of the parade to Canal Street where it had not passed, I still could catch up. I was right: I found a perfect place to stand.

    When the parade approached, everyone was shouting, and the kids were especially crazy and insane. At the head of each parade group, there were two people who held the banner that had their group names on it. The parade participants were parade floats, stilt walkers, marching bands, Christmas characters, and many more. They threw bead necklaces, animal plush, cups, car toys, and other small stuff. I liked those plush so much. Ian shouted and ran along the parade, trying to get one plush for me. But unfortunately I did not got any. Sad L Instead, I got a medium sized bell charm and a plastic cup that printed logos of the parade. These were my memories and souvenirs for the day. I was happy afterward.

The music was great. Some groups played the music from their song playlists, and there was one group that had a huge band. Dancers were mostly young people, from ages 4-20. At the end of the parade, Santa Claus threw candy to everyone. It was a happy ending to great day.
            The traffic downtown closed many blocks. One funny thing I saw was that many drivers left their cars in the middle of the street. Because they could not move, they decided to come to the parade.

It was a good time. The weather was kind of depressing but it was fun anyway. I have seen the Disney parade, but this one was totally different. People were from different backgrounds and the themes for their groups were different.

I liked it and will come again next year.

            

New Orleans; the Land of Festival- Mariana Ricaurte

New Orleans; the Land of Festival

I remember the first day I came to New Orleans; I could never imagine I would be that in love with this amazing city. Five years ago I saw for the first time the magical places that today I feel they are like home.  New Orleans has a relevant importance for my family since my grandmother´s generation. She arrived here with my grandfather and all their kids to work in the Colombian embassy as a Consulate.  My dad stayed to finish college and then he went back to Colombia. Since I can remember, his dream was to see my sister and I enjoy New Orleans as he did in his youth. It happens to be that our most wonderful cousins live here so everything was perfect for us come to New Orleans and enjoy the experience.

Since the moment we got to the US, more specifically to Miami, every single person that asked us where we were going next and we answered New Orleans, they responded with the same happy face saying; you are going to have the best time ever!!!   Apparently they were all right, good music is everywhere, delicious food is everywhere, and great people are everywhere, what else can you ask for?

What inspired me the most to write this review of this amazing city was the numerous festivals I went to. First was the Crescent City Blues BBQ festival, followed by the Louisiana Seafood festival, then the Voodoo festival, the Po’boy festival and finally another Blues festival, all of this in less than a month and a half. In my drawing, I drew a self-portrait in a cartoonish way surrounded by all my favorite dishes. From the top to the bottom we can see a po’boy, below there is a drink I had at the Voodoo festival. Under the drink, I drew an image of the most delicious oysters I´ve ever had from the Louisiana seafood festival. At the left side of the oysters is the plate of unbelievable quesadillas I had at the Crescent City Blues BBQ festival, and at the end we can see the crepe I ate at the Blues festival. 

Each festival was magical in its own way. Not only because it was a completely new way for me to appreciate the weekend and the city, but because the joy and happiness of the people overwhelmed me since the first festival. Normally in Colombia the weekends are different. What happens there is that people have their group of friends and they plan trips to farms near the city. Maybe it is because there are no places to have festivals, or because people are not used to festivals. The closest thing in similarity that you can find in Bogota is big concerts which are expensive and don´t have delicious food, also they are not that often.

I think that going to all these festivals allowed me to deeply understand the New Orleans culture of music and food in the same environment. Although I’m leaving this city soon, I feel extremely happy that I had the opportunity to get involved with the culture so well. I am happy to go back home fulfilling my father´s wish. I think I have had enough experience in this marvelous city to tell the next person that tells me they are going to New Orleans; you are going to have the best time ever!!!     

Living in New Orleans Just Like My Father- Natalia Ricaurte

Living in New Orleans Just Like My Father

    My experience in New Orleans was more meaningful to me because I was able to experience my dad and grandparent’s favorite American city. They both lived here in the 1970s for three years when my grandmother was a diplomat for Colombia. My father attended the University of New Orleans and studied hospitality while working at an Italian restaurant. My dad is extremely excited that my sister and I were able to live here and understand why he loves New Orleans so much, especially since he was the same age that I am now. My goal during my stay in New Orleans was to visit all of his favorite places so I could remind him of his time here.

    The places that still exist today that my dad still remembers are Impastato’s restaurant, Tipitina’s, and Lake Pontchartrain. At each place he has different memories and I was able to create new memories as well. XXX restaurant was the place where my dad spent the most time when he lived in New Orleans. This is where he started his hospitality career and learned about excellent customer service. It was so special when the owner remembered who my father was and was able to share specific stories from 30 years ago. Hearing these stories helped me understand why this restaurant represents so much to my dad.

    I had always heard that Tipitina’s was a very historic place to hear music. I was able to hear music with Latin roots and dance a little bit of salsa that reminded me of Colombia. It’s incredible that a bar with live music from so long ago is still so popular today. The music culture in New Orleans opened my eyes to a lot of new genres of music. Watching live music has changed my view of how meaningful music can be and how it shapes a city’s culture. It was nice to see how the musicians truly enjoy what they are doing; I hope to enjoy my work as much as they do.

    My dad insisted I visit Lake Pontchartrain since the day I got to New Orleans. This was the last place I went because I don’t think it is as popular as it was back in the 1970s. I was very impressed with the size and with all of the activities that people can do on the lake. My experience on the lake was to watch a family friend at a sailing competition. She is also from Colombia and happened to live in New Orleans at the same time as my father as his roommate. She complemented the stories that the owner of the Impastato’s restaurant told me, and I loved hearing more details about when my dad was my age in New Orleans.

New Orleans' nightlife: Bourbon St _ Hebe

I can still remember my first night in New Orleans. I arrived at the airport and my cousin picked me up. We met my sister and checked in at the Marriot hotel downtown so we could walk around the French quarter and have fun at Bourbon Street. I had this picture in mind of Bourbon Street being all about bachelor parties and girls going completely crazy just to get a few beads. I was excited to see what bourbon had prepared for us that night. As we walked around the French Quarter, I realized there were a lot of things to do there and the major attraction for me was the variety of places you can find— there is something for everyone! You can find restaurants, art galleries, museums, souvenir stores which open until late midnight, and places with different kind of music. The first place we went that night was the Pat O’Brien’s on Bourbon St, a very curious place that have been there for decades! It was funny to think about my dad being there about 30 years ago. Pat O’Brien is famous somehow because it is considered the creator of the hurricane, a sweet alcoholic drink made with rum and fruit juice, syrup or grenadine. I have to say that the best hurricane I’ve ever tried was there!

An important feature of New Orleans nightlife is the variety of drinks that can be found here and that there is no law against open containers, one of the reasons why people love to be around here. Tropical Isle is another famous place on Bourbon St, which offers a sweet but strong green drink called Hand Grenade. We tried hand grenades too, which I must say is my favorite NOLA drink, and continued our walk. It didn’t surprise me to see all those people completely out of their minds. Girls showing their breasts for a strand of beads, tourists doing crazy things, college students getting drunk, seniors partying as if they were young and, yep, bachelorette parties too. It was also weird to see a group of people standing in the middle of Bourbon St. talking about religion and how much Jesus loves us. Beside this, everyday is always a good day to wear a costume or something just ridiculous there. This place is crazy, it doesn’t have to be Mardi Gras for unforgettable things to happen! Despite this, the lights, the crazy people, the weird and wild things you'll see, it's a total experience that you are not going to get anywhere else.

That night wasn’t the only night I went to Bourbon. Actually, I visit that area very often, but it doesn’t mean that New Orleans nightlife is all about Bourbon and the French Quarter. There are also several places in Uptown that can be considered as fun as Bourbon and the prices are much better. During the week, all the places around Loyola and Tulane Universities, like the Boot and those on Maple St, are full of students. Also, the Bulldog and other places on Magazine St. are good places to visit too.

Frenchmen St. is known as an entertainment street, especially for locals. Tourists can be found here too, but not as on Bourbon St. Frenchmen is famous because it houses artists and a large variety of restaurants, and for Halloween celebrations. During Halloween, the street was completely crowded and it was very interesting to see the variety of costumes and Halloween ideas. It was different from all the Halloween parties I have attended; it was a real New Orleans celebration.

In summary, there are many other places around the city, which offer the feel and sound of New Orleans life, but Bourbon Street is one of the most popular attractions and a visit to New Orleans would not be complete without experiencing it. From Hurricanes and Hand Grenades to the classic bars in Uptown, New Orleans is a great city and its nightlife is full of surprises :) .

A suspicious neighborhood (SUNG)

When I first decided to live in off-campus, I searched on Craigslist for a week, and finally found a fantastic house. I and my former roommate visited the house, and immediately fell in love with the house. At the same day, we met an old gentleman in front of the house. He was living next the house, and he kindly introduced a satellite TV when we said we came from Asia.

 

After moving the new house, I named the old man as “Walking Man”. The reason was that he always walked in front of my house for exercising. I could see him almost every day except rainy days. His walking route was very simple; starting from his house, passing our house, arriving at Chase bank, and coming back. It was just two block distance, and he came and went many times a day.

 

 

I cannot say that we are so familiar, but at least we say hello each other. Especially, when I bought a car, he showed a great interest in my car. Sometimes, he made a joke, “I have a date. Leave your car key at my house!” I considered him as a good neighborhood and an old gentleman. He always dressed up when he was walking so I guessed him as a retired businessman.

 

This summer, I had an unexpected visitor. A woman visited my house, and introduced herself as a detective. She showed a picture and asked me I could recognize a man in the picture. He was my neighborhood “Walking Man”. I couldn’t 100% understand what she said, but he had some problem in other State, and moved here without permission. I couldn’t figure out what was the exact problem, but he was kind of a former criminal. I was shocked because I thought him as a really nice man. Next day, I was afraid he would be arrested, but nothing was happed.

 

He is still living next my house, and I say hello when I see him. However, I and my new roommates sometimes make a joke about him. “Maybe he has a private jail in underground”. “He tries to find a new victim. That’s why he is always walking around”.

Maybe I cannot know what was his problem in other State forever. However, I became suspicious about my neighborhood. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

 

 

 

 

New Orleans _ Elena

New Orlenas 2012