Daily archives "April 14, 2016"

Learned, Most Shocking, Missed

Learned:

           The following are some of the highlights and interesting aspects of my trip to New Orleans. The Cooking School was really interesting. Using the local markets and talking with the community members really opened my eyes to starting line of people making local food. Visiting and learning about the levee and dam systems also changed my view on New Orleans. I now realize what people meant when they stated “New Orleans is underwater.”  You can’t really visualize the water levels, elevational complexity/subtlety, or challenge of this city without being there. Learning about their levees and standing on top of them really gives you the true understanding of the city below the waterline.

Most Shocking:

To add to the disbelief of water levels, the 9th Ward was an extreme manifestation of all of these factors. The poverty, low elevation, levy failure, and destruction that took place really changed my perspective on the people’s situation.

Missed:

           There was little we missed during this trip. And if we did miss anything, I didn’t/wouldn’t have known. The only portion of this trip I would have like to have learned more about centered around the Cooking School and culinary arts. I had an amazing experience and learned a lot, but I wish I learned even more about the recipes and key techniques. We learned about the culture and food, but putting the two together was very insightful. I learned elements of Cajun cooking, but mostly took away that a ridiculous amount of seasoning salt will cover you most of the time. Prior to this, I thought there was more to cooking southern food.

What I Wish I Would Have Know About NOLA

The Service learning trip to New Orleans was an amazing eye opening experience. For the more part, all of the essential amenities were met by the class but there are a few items of information I learned from attending. My personal experience with New Orleans was strongly swayed by the amount of allergies I had. I became sick with a sinus infection which dragged on through the entirety of the trip. If you are planning on going on this trip, enter the trip well rested and if needed lots of allergy medication. Other aspects of the trip, I was very happy with my rain boots. A good “pro-tip” might be to bring foot insoles to place inside your rain boots. Also having a quiver of power bars and cliff bars were handy. If you don’t get car sick, I would recommend blogging in between stopping points as you drive from stop to stop. You can always take more pictures. At minimum I took a photo at every stop, but it was an easy way for me to document and remember everything that we did in a day.