Swampy Saturday
Author’s Note: The following events were written as they were occurring. As such, they were written in the appropriate tense at that time. The following events occurred on January 12, 2019.
Day Eight was the first true free day everyone had on the trip. The class was free to do whatever they wanted across the city of New Orleans and we did just that. Everyone made plans for this fine day throughout the past week, and we were ready to have some well-deserved fun. My group went on a swamp tour and walked down Magazine Street. Later that night, about half of the class would go visit different clubs and bars along Frenchmen and Bourbon Streets whereas I decided to stay “home” to unwind and write this journal. Do I regret this decision? Only time will tell.
My roommate and I woke up just past 7:00 AM to prepare for today’s swamp tour. It was expected to rain today so we wore jackets and, because alligators can only see in black and white, made sure we were not wearing those colors (well, I actually did wear those colors. Oopsie). After getting some cheerios in the hotel lobby, my group gathered outside the hotel and walked over to our awaiting bus which took us to Lafitte, Louisiana to Airboat Adventures. After our bus finished picking up additional passengers, we crossed the Crescent City Connector into Jefferson Parish and drove down Jean Laffite Boulevard to Airboat Adventures, a popular swamp tour company which takes tourists through the swamplands on airboats.
After paying the albino alligator a quick visit, we boarded our boat and we were on our way. By sheer luck, we happened to have the same captain that gave Will Smith a boat ride through these swamps years ago, and let me tell you, we were in for a treat. After viewing a cemetery / Indian burial ground where Jean Lafitte is alleged to be buried, we glided over the still water at speeds of approximately 40 miles per hour (I can’t verify how fast we were going) and went water drifting. Our boat was spun in different directions, turning sideways at several points throughout our journey. To clarify, our boat was not on its side while turning, but the starboard or port side were going forward prior to straightening out. We then slowed down as we traversed a narrow stretch of swamp, which allowed us to move to the front of the boat and take different pictures. At one point, all the passengers on the boat who were twins took a group picture, which was kind of special. I never imagined I would have so much in common with people. After our little tour, we continued to go speed boating some more until we paused at another location near some posted property. While we were smelling the marshlands, our tour guide pulled out a baby alligator he had been keeping in a cooler and spooked one of the graduate students with it. He then offered us an opportunity to take pictures with it. Most students, including myself, started off by simply holding the cold-blooded reptile by its neck and tail while some more adventurous ones pretended to kiss the gator and others, including myself, placed the gator on their heads. After taking photos with “Ali”, or possibly “Al”, we sped through the swamps back to our dock in Laffite and concluded the tour. Although we were disappointed in not seeing any gators in the wild (there may have been one spotted, but I did not see any personally), we agreed that we lucked out with our tour guide / boat operator. We spent a couple minutes at the main building where I purchased an alligator slim Jim. While the slim Jim was made with pork and alligator, it was delicious and held me over until lunch. We boarded our bus back to the French Quarter, enjoyed some magnificent views of the New Orleans skyline from a distance, and disembarked near our hotel at 12:15 PM.
The group decided to spend a few minutes freshening up before heading out to Magazine Street in the West Side of the city. While the group was getting ready, I decided to visit the French Market and purchase that bracelet for my friend back at Chapman while I still had a chance. I was able to get back to the hotel just before 1:00 PM and boarded an Uber with the group to District Doughnuts off of Magazine Street. I ordered a fried chicken sandwich and a King Cake doughnut which I found to be a little too sweet. The sandwich was pretty good, the chicken was a little dry but for the most part, on point. After finishing up our meals, we explored Magazine Street and took refuge in an art store as it started to rain. The rain came in fast and hard, dropping heavy rain in a span of about 30 minutes. When it rains in California, it rains for usually the whole day and at a consistent rate. Here, it rained for 30 minutes and harder for the first two. We continued exploring different stores and worked our way to Louisiana Avenue, walking towards Saint Charles Avenue to board the historic Street Car.
While on the streetcar, a couple classmates took video of the route and started a conversation with Nathaniel, the driver. While I had wanted to ask Nathaniel questions about what it’s like operating the street car, my classmates learned that Nathaniel was born and raised in the Seventh Ward and survived Katrina with his family. They took refuge on the 16th floor of a hotel in the French Quarter but later had to evacuate due to substantial damage the hotel received during the storm. Even on the 16th floor, water pipes were backing up, creating unstable conditions for the family. For a while, they survived by finding food at nearby gas stations and grocery stores. Nathaniel and his family fled New Orleans for Houston for nine months, but he ultimately returned to the city. However, he stated that if another hurricane were to strike New Orleans, he would leave for good.
Once we departed the Saint Charles streetcar, my group and I walked through the French Quarter back to the hotel where we unwound for a bit. Some wandered through the French Quarter whereas I relaxed and rested until meeting with some classmates to go to Clover Grill just down the street. Because I did not have much in common with these individuals, I found dinner to be awkward. However, one of my classmates enjoyed her chicken fried steak sandwich while the other ordered a burger. As we were leaving, we bumped into a few others and the group convened to make a plan for the night. There were some text conversations going on with a group wanting to go to Frenchmen Street and meet with our friends from Rebuilding Together. I wanted to join them but after thinking about it, I decided not to go. I thought my roommate, who was also burnt out, was going to stay as well but I think he decided to join the Frenchmen group instead.
I’m not much of a party person yet I’m wondering if I made the wrong decision here. Even though it seems safe to say that I did make new friends on this trip, I don’t think I made any deep and lasting connections. Only time will tell whether these friendships last the test of time or not. On one hand, I want to attend these kinds of things but on the other hand, I want to do it in a more familiar environment with trusted people.
In addition, I still have thoughts racing through my mind that I am not going to hear too much from the students I met during this class post-New Orleans (this has been proven incorrect as of January 28, 2019). It’s always nice to hear people say that they want to hang afterwards yet I personally do not feel any deep connections with people. I have to rely on their word, yet I am not fully trusting of that. Experience is my guide and it has shown me that most friendships formed during these experiences ultimately fail. I do not want to get any more emotionally invested in anything and I currently want two things: to become a robot and to sleep.
But it’s not all negative. Throughout the day, I made plans with my classmates to celebrate my birthday tomorrow. The plan is to go to Preservation Hall and get dinner as a class. This allows everyone plenty of free time to explore the city and do their own things while also celebrating a birthday with everyone. I’m sure it’s going to turn out fine, but I really need to keep my cynicism in check. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
Author’s Note as of May 4, 2019: It’s been a long time since I wrote this piece, and I am happy to report that things are much better than they were portrayed. I revealed a lot about my personality in this piece, but I can honestly say I made new friends from this course. Throughout the spring semester, I occasionally hung out with my peers from LEAD 485, and at the time of this note, am attempting to organize a reunion of some kind.