Eunice Macharia
4/24/2012
Finally my favorite part of the 3 week session.....A trip to NEW ORLEANS!!!
My first bus ride in the U.S. Very excited. 5:20 a.m. and the long trip commenced. 14 hours later, I am eating a PoBoy sandwich in New Orleans at the famous Mothers Kitchen restaurant. A few blocks later, I am in my hotel room with my friends. All I can think about is the Swamp tour taking place the following morning.
4/25/2012
9:00 a.m., in the bus listening to a fun tour guide as he tells us about the events of the fateful Katrina hurricane that destroyed most of New Orleans city. Roch cementry was an interesting site to see in a good way. The grave yard looked similar to my home country grave yard even though the history behind the design is different from mine. We had a chance to see the Make it Right Foundation of Brad Pitt consisting of beautiful houses built to endure any future flooding. It was interesting to learn new names of house models "Shot Gun" and "Camel Back". To top it up, my long awaited moment of touring Cajun Swamp that is filled with alligators, turtles and snakes finally came to pass. We had a delicious buffet that was prepared for us, Gumbo and Jambalaya.....Yummy!!! I later had so much fun and enthusiasm, as I watched our tour guide feed the alligators with chicken meat, not to mention, I had a chance to hold a two year old gator in my hands. That was an experience to remember! At around 4:00 p.m., we had the privilege to meet with Mr. Cesar Rodriguez of Make it Right Foundation and got more detailed information about the project. Delicious Yogurt from Pink Berry shop crowned my day!!
4/26/2012
This was a busy day starting at 8:00am. We visited Idea Village, an organization that helps new enterprenuers during the incubation period of starting a company. Later we visited Launch Pad, a company that offers office space or a desk to the new entrepreneurs. We then rode on a trolley to Tulane University. Here we met with the participants of the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative the purpose of which is to educate and promote business students to expand their thinking by turning class work into hands on work and assisting the community. Our next stop was Southern University of New Orleans. Here we met with the dean of the school and other business course staff members. We learned of the effects of Katrina hurricane on the school and also the projects initiated to help the students develop their business skills to revive New Orleans economy. To climax this day, we went to Rock and Bowl and did as the name suggests :) Real fun!!!
4/27/2012
Last day in New Orleans. I visited the French Quarters, had a fun ride with Mrs. Abbott, Dr. Deege and two of my school mates on a horse carriage. The tour guide showed us famous houses of the French people dated in the 18 century. We also rode to areas where the floods divided the city. We later had some great chicory coffee with snacks that I call "mandazi" back in my country. Laney and I shopped at the beautiful French Quarter boutiques then headed to where our bus awaited to take us back to school :(
4/28/2012
4:15am, back at Culver Stockton College!