Bienvenue à la Louisiane

I left Atlanta at 2:30am.  I was too excited.  I was like a kid on Christmas Eve.  You know good things are coming, you just can't wait to see what they are.  I laid in bed pretending to sleep, but every few minutes I would peek one eye open to check the time.  So after about an hour of that I packed up and headed out.  Bad move, Patrick T., bad move.

For those of you that follow me on Twitter (for those of you that don't, please do @patrickterril) you knew I was on the road last night.  I was tweeting while driving (the law says texting while driving, I think they are mutually exclusive) just in case I got lost in Alabama.  I was unbelievably tired, obvi.  And every couple of miles I would see another car broken down on the side of the road.  I love Vye, but I wasn't sure if she was ready to make this 800 mile journey.  I'm not a mechanic or a car whisperer, so I never would have seen it coming.  For those of you that watched and commented on my progress, Thanks!  And for those of you that missed the hilarity...here's my tweet when I crossed into Mississippi.

Tweeted while driving. #beimpressed and scared for your safety

I got really excited when I got into Louisiana!  I've never been here before.  Hashtag newadventure.  I stopped at the Louisiana Welcome Center to take the touristy pictures and to change my clothes.  There's nothing better that having your first impression be in Hokie sweatpants and a raggedy Francis Marion t-shirt.  Although, they were very comfortable driving clothes.  Hashtag youknowimright

Lake Ponchartrain

Before I could get to New Orleans I had to cross Lake Ponchartrain (No I can't pronounce it either).  The bridge over this lake should have come with a sign, or an nonobligatory troll.  I would have appreciated being told by sign or troll, that this bridge was long.  Very long.  I felt like I was on it for 5 five minutes going 70 mph.  Since I had so much time, I took a picture.  See?  Pretty.  After that, I passed the SuperDome (Greaux Saints), whizzed by the French Quarter, and made my way Uptown.  Pause.  The street here are horrible.  I need to buy a bike cause I will not mess up Vye's suspension.  I have to drive through Alabama to get home.  Unpause.

I coulda been a contender!

But y'all.  Y'all.  Sans the road situation, Uptown and Tulane are beautiful.  I have a strong affinity for Charleston, SC, but this city is a major contender.  Marlon Brando reference, hashtag solid.

I got to Tulane and immediately got lost.  From Freret street to Audubon, to Zimple, to Willow.  Who knows where I was.  A student worker guided by simple self to the HRL office where I met my supervisor, who helped me unpack into Phelps House.  This building has character, spunk, moxie.  Mostly because of the trees that are around it.  They are strung with Mardi Gras beads.  Most things down here are laced with them.  I like it.

Mardi Gras Beads in Tree

After the sweaty move in.  Pause.  It was 92 degrees when I got here.  Fahrenheit. 92.  Degrees.  Unpause.  We headed into the city to grab some lunch.  The Rum House is a Jamaican-inspired restaurant.  It doesn't hold a candle to my former supervisor's native Jamaican cooking, but it was awesome.  I had jerk chicken tacos with mango salsa, jalapeno cole slaw, and mac and cheese.  What?  What are you thinking?  Oh yeah, I said, "Jamaican-inspired".  They had oxtails, plantains, and Red Stripe.  I just didn't order any of those things.

After some tour of New Orleans from Uptown to the Business District, the French Quarter, and avoiding Tchoupitoulas Street ( I can actually pronounce that one) we made our way back to Tulane did some paper work, and I headed back to my apartment to unpack.  This was at 4 pm.

At 8pm I was awaken by a text.  I'd crashed so hard.  I was horizontal across the bed, legs hanging off the end, and a considerable amount of drool on my arm.  But the text was about dinner.  So you know I popped up quickly, hashtag hungry.

But that was my first day at Tulane.  More exciting adventures to come.  #GOGREENWAVE #tulanehereiam