Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Not Too Far Up the River...


I decided to take a small hiatus from New Orleans and the excitement of New Orleans this labor day weekend. Instead, I traveled back home to Shreveport to celebrate my father's birthday, visit friends in Baton Rouge, and rediscover my home state. While Tulane students find New Orleans has everything that they could want, many don't realize that there is a old and beautiful world outside of this waterlocked city not too far up the river.

Deciding how to spend my labor day weekend was a task in itself while I was staying with a friend in Baton Rouge. What would be the best way to spend a day near Baton Rouge? At first, we wanted to go tubing or lay out on a inflatable tube while slowly cruising down a small river near Baton Rouge for four hours. Not quite ready to invest so much time into one particular activity, we ended up deciding to head out to the River Road that winds along the Mississippi from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. River Road is famous for its many plantation estates including Oak Alley, perhaps the grandest of them all.

Having lived in Louisiana for my whole life, it is strange that I had never been to Oak Alley before. Whenever you read books about Louisiana, the 34 live oaks and grand mansion would probably be the cover of the book. Picturesque as it is old, the grounds tell a story about love during winds of change, restoration and reconstruction. Make sure to travel up to Oak Alley and drive down the River Road to catch the grandeur of old time rural Louisiana.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The Frosh is Here

Welcome to Tulane!!!

It is great to see everyone and catch up with people from over the summer. It has been a busy time for me and a busy time at Tulane. I am an RA in an all freshman dorm which has been very rewarding and big time commitment. My residents are very excited to be here at Tulane which makes me excited. And let me just say that the men of Sharp 5 will dominate this year in flag football intramurals!

The freshman experience cannot be complete without the dormitory experience. The two go hand in hand. Living amongst 400 of your closest friends with your first taste of independence from parents is unbeatable. Everything from the community bathroom, the study lounge, the roommate – things that won’t probably miss after your freshman year but things necessary for an authentic freshman experience.

Our freshman have been doing everything from going on riverboat cruises, listening to Pulitzer Prize winning authors (Junot Diaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao), and slip n’ sliding during the rain on the quads. Tulane is as fun as ever now.