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 

Cathedral Square

 Sr. Kim Dung

It was my first time at Cathedral Square since I have studied in the LIEP program. That day was my field trip day to the New Orleans Exhibit which is close to the Cathedral; it was my unforgettable memory in front of Cathedral.

It was around early evening. After we had more than an hour visiting exhibit and getting out there, my professor gathered us in front of the Cathedral to experience French Quarter environment. Standing in the square, I saw some people were there who were playing music, walking dog, waiting for fortune telling and someone was setting another table for fortune telling. The area was an active place with many activities would play around.

I sat on a chair which was near to a torture telling table waiting for some people who were getting out of the exhibit, and gathered with my classmates to talking. While I enjoyably was observing people around and looking people, there was a middle man aged quickly approached to me and kneeled down in front of me asking me whether I was a real sister. I was completely surprised with his gesture. I could not say anything except nod my head to indicate "yes". Immediately, the man asked me to bless him. I was driven completely in sane of his thinking; i looked at my professor preferring for a question what I should do. I saw she nodded her head, and I blessed him by putting my hand on his head and gave a silent prayer for him.

I did what he asked; he thanked me and left.

I was unspoken after that because I had never sunk in that familiar situation before, so I perplexedly found myself at that moment. Besides, my classmates laughed at me because they had though that I would stand up and make a power prayer by raising my hand up, sound a loud voice and put my hands on the man's head.

I could not believe that an American could approach to me and asked for blessing.

After all, my professor indicated to me that New Orleans is a religion region where people kind of respecting religious people by asking for blessing or prayer; beside that, in Halloween day people might dress up as a religious people. Therefore, the man had asked me to confirm that if I was a real sister or just for dress up as a religious person before he asked for a blessing.

Through that man, I understand that New Orleans has been a traditional city of religion and I need to be awake of asking blessing.

Movie Magic Project (Mariana)

As an art lover, this Magic Movie Project result to be the best beginning for my Inglish classes. To be able to do a great job, we have to learn about what we are going to do and the topics we are going to talk about. In this case, the process that ends with the creation of two mosaics, start by learning about the magnificent world of colors. After our brain is full of new rich information, it's time to relate it with another topic, movie clips. It is possible to have enough information about the movie since the colors they use, although we only watch a small part of it. After analyzing the six clips, it was time to choose two of them and start the artistic part of the project. I chose "Marie Antoinette" clip and "Alice in Wonderland" clip. Although you may think that both of them have a similar palette of colors, they don't. I used pastel colors such as pink, baby blue and purple for the first mosaic and for the second one I used darker green and red paper sheets. That was almost the final step of the project but before we had to design and the cut all the color papers I picked up to put together the mosaics. After sticking all the pieces, the result was two mosaics, one more literal than the other but equally representing what I understand about the clips according to their colors.

Color Understanding Process (Natalia)

Before the movie magic project, colors for me were meaningless. I was able to see each color, but not understand them as a source that communicates ideas, feelings and intentions. That is why this activity represents to me the process of understanding colors. The first step was to learn how to name different tones, the effect they have in perception and how we can use them in advertising and movies. The second step consists of watching six different movie clips. The main purpose was to analyze each of them and identify the meaning of colors. The third was about choosing two of the movie clips to make the mosaic. It was difficult to define the criteria to use in this selection. Also all of them had wonderful and meaningful colors. Finally, I chose the ones that were more visually attractive. The process ends with the performance of the mosaics. In my first mosaic I created an abstract piece of art. The main characteristic of this image is movement, which is represented by the yellow leaves. The second mosaic was more meaningful and literal. In this one I used a skull to represent evilness and pink spectrum tones to show innocence and kindness.  I also used fancy materials to create a strong sense of irony. The whole process represents a big step for me into the world of colors and their power in communications. That is why I invite you to take time and think about them and analyze how they can affect and influence your perception daily.  
 

Mosaic project

Hero

Mosaic

Alice in the wonderland

Doing mosaic processing is a good ability to learn how to write a process essay because one needs to follow step by step. First of all, one have to know the color; i was introduced all color names in class, and i got familiar with them. Then, i watched continuously 6 movie clips and took note also; after that I chose two from six clips that i had watched which were Hero and Alice from the wonderland. The next step is I selected color papers and all materials that i need for making two mosaics; the color and design of mosaic need to interpreted the effect from clips. The last step is created mosaics. Finally, when i finished my mosaics, i sat down and wrote a processing assay. This activity is quite useful to help me to get familiar with processing writing