We are nearing the end of the first day and I can confidently say I have never stayed up this long my entire life. Over 36 hours with no sleep is a little crazy. But today was so amazing, I can’t believe it’s only been one day. I already feel like I’ve been here for a week. Between seeing wild gators, exploring the French quarter, and eating amazing food, today has really made me excited for the days to come! Good times from NOLA.
Today was an adventurous day! We took a nice walk through Jean Lafitte and saw alligators, snakes, and lizards. What an experience to see those things beyond the zoo. After that we had an interesting talk with Harry Shearer going over why the Army Coor didn’t take the correct standards to insure the levees wouldn’t break. After that we indulged in delicious poy boys. As exhausted as we were, we managed to explore the French Quarter. It has always been my dream to go there. It was quite different from what I thought but just seeing it was jaw dropping. The architecture was beautiful. We ended our night with going to ‘Rock n’ Bowl’ on st. Patrick’s day! Even though we haven’t slept in the last 24 hours , it is complete worth it to experience a new cultural. I’m looking forward to the rest of trip.
So far our first day here has been amazing. We got here at 5:30ish (am) and the whole group hasn’t slept for atleast the last 24 hours or so. We started out our day by visiting Jean Lafitte National Historic Park & Preserve were we all got to see our first real alligators really up close and personal. We followed that up with lunch at Parkway beakery where we had some poor boy subs and listened to Harry Shearer talk about the army corps of engineers and the disastrous levee incident that lead to the massive flooding event during Hurricane Katrina. However, perhabs the best part of the day was walking around the French Quarter and really immersing ourselves in the NOLA culture. The only negative is that the humidity here sucks and you can tell by simply looking at my curly hair lol.
-Dulce
Such a long but amazing day! We arrived in NOLA around 5 am this morning and have been going non stop since. In one day we managed to visit a national park, see alligators, visit with Harry Shearer, explore the French Quarter, eat amazing BBQ, and hear some good music. Excited for what’s to come!
Day one of NOLA complete! Last night I was extremely excited to be embarking on the trip that I had wanted to take since my freshman year. Although I was tired and fighting a cold, I was ready for this trip to start. When we arrived this morning, at a wonderfully humid hour of 5:33 a.m., we were greeted with not only 93% humidity, but two lovely suburbans, in lieu of vans, to take us along our ten day journey.
After “comfortably” settling everyone’s luggage into Dr. A’s room, we all helped ourselves to breakfast downstairs. There we decided that we wanted to visit the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. This was one of the highlights of my day. We went on a roughly 2.5 mile hike through the marshlands and were able to identify some of the trees that we will have to work with in the coming days, as well as view the wildlife that surrounded us.
It was my first time ever encountering an alligator (and hopefully not my last). It was so amazing to see something in the context of it’s natural habitat instead of in a zoo or on television.
I also enjoyed meeting students from William Paterson University in New Jersey; it is always a good time meeting people with similar interests and learning their story. Visiting the National Park today really gave me a good introduction into the Louisiana terrain and has made me excited to get to our site and start our restoration/monitoring.
Following the park visit, we met with one of Dr. A’s friends (whose name escapes me) who discussed the involvement of the Army Corps of Engineers in the levee failure of Katrina. Hearing his take on the matter was very insightful and I could see his knowledge on the subject matter was not only informed but passionate.
After our lunch we ventured into the French Quarter. I branched off with Dulce, Patrick, Sean, Aspen, Michaela, and Jay. We first went down to find some bars with live music in the hopes of sitting back and enjoying the sounds of the city. Unfortunately, we did not succeed in finding a good spot so we made our way over to the hub of the action in the French Quarter. There we saw a group of men who jammed out in the middle of the square engaging those around them to feel the music they were passionately flowing from their instruments. We all sat/stood for a while and watched attentively.
We also made our way to the edge of the Mississippi River and discussed the “lovely” color and massive size of the river.
It was also the sight of Washington Artillery Park so we observed different statues and read plaques in the area.
Spending three hours roaming around, we finally made our way
back to the cars and set off to grab some dinner. We went to a place called “The Joint”. It smelled super delicious but I didn’t eat anything because I wasn’t feeling well.
Overall, the first day went very well despite my feeling ill and I cannot wait to see what the rest of this adventure will hold. Goodnight!
Wow! The first day in this place and we’ve been to a National Park and the French Quarter.
I had such an amazing time today. We got to go on a beautiful walk along the Jean Lafitte National Park and we saw six alligators! We also had time to explore the French Quarter and enjoyed some delicious southern cooking. It has definitely been a long and tiring day of travel and exploration, but it has been completely worth it. I can’t wait to see what more adventures the next 10 days will bring us.
We visited the Barataria Preserve of the Jean Lafitte National Park
Today we flew out of LAX in to NOLA and did some really cool things, first we went to Jean Lafiette National Park and saw 3 species of snakes, multiple alligators, frogs and learns native vegetation in the area. Next we had po boy sandwiches and I had alligator for he first time next we went to the Frenchman street and walked around enjoying live music, culture and art. We than visited a local BBQ joint called The Joint, this was some of the best brisket I have ever had. Today was a true learning experience and I had so much fun soaking up culture, nature and local cuisine. 
This is a vascular plant that floats on the water in the swamps and bayous, it had small string like roots. The swamps and bayous are thick with big trees, but as you go down the coast, these areas turn into marshes that are more open.
The NOLA class made it to New Orleans in one piece. And we brought President Rush with us!
#whereberush
