Wake Me Up Before You Gogh Gogh

Alright, my artist might not be Vincent van Gogh, but he is a very unique artist. His name is Jason A. Cummings and he does abstractions.

 As I was wandering around the city to find an artist that truly captured my eye, I came across this artwork in Jackson Square. When you first glance at his artwork, it looks like there are bubbles trapped in the artwork. After I went up to his work and looked closely, I noticed that the "bubbles" were actually glass balls. It was very cool! Personally, I have never seen artwork like this, so I had to go and see how he did it.

As I said earlier, the artist is Jason A. Cummings. Before he took up artwork full time, he worked as an antiques dealer, art director and designer. As far as his academics, he went to South Choctaw Academy in Toxey, Alabama. Cummings was born in Needham, Alabama and moved around quite a bit for various reasons before settling here in New Orleans.

As I was talking to Cummings, he said that he kind of moved to wherever he felt like it. When he came to New Orleans, he loved it. For a while he was working as an employee somewhere in New Orleans and he did not enjoy it. In fact he said, "I don't think I'll ever work for someone again. I hated having a boss." During our conversations, he mentioned how he didn't go to work for a few days to ensure he would be fired. Shortly after his stunt, he got his wish and was fired. After he was let go, he talked about how he began messing around with his art. He started small and through trial and error, he began to see progress. Since he doesn't live far from Jackson Square, he decided to bring his work out to see if people would actually buy it, and they sure did!

As I stood and talked with Cummings, I could really tell he was a friendly guy. What I mean by that is that he loves to talk. We actually had a genuine conversation that lasted about 45 minutes. He talked briefly about his private life and then we spoke about his artwork and the process it took for him to get where he is now.

When we were talking, I asked him how long a piece of his artwork approximately takes. He kind of laughed at that and said "honestly, no one has asked me that before and when I think of it, I don't really know. I have a row of my artwork set up at my apartment and whenever I have some time, I go through and do touch-ups on each of them. I just go down the line and keep up the process until I'm happy with them." As we continued our conversation, I really enjoyed listening to him because I could see the passion for his work in his eyes. I feel like an artist should never feel like their work is a burden. Instead, the artwork should be a fun hobby and that's truly how it is for Cummings. He gets to do his work on his own time without having anyone tell him what to do.

The reason I chose Cummings' artwork is because it's rare. As I said earlier, I have never seen this type of work before. In his biography on Facebook, it states that "his varied experience in career, residence, and natural creativity that allows him to create such unique works of art today." There are so many artists in the world and the work they do ranges. There are musicians, dancers, painters, jewelers, and chefs (to name a few). Each of these people have their own individual style and history behind why they are doing it. I think that's why Cummings is so interesting. He wanted to be fired from his job, so he missed work. He started messing around with some paint and chemicals to see what would happen. This is how he began it all. I mean think about it, would you ever just quit your job because you were sick of it? You have no back up plan or savings. I mean think about how scary that would be. Then one day, you just come across art. You decide to put some work together and see what happens...

Personally, I would be terrified. I don't think I could ever just quit my job because I didn't want a boss anymore. Let alone, quit a job without a backup plan. This man's life is very roller coaster like. Shortly before I spoke with him, he had just sold an $875 painting. As we were talking, he's like "yeah, I didn't know if I was going to eat this week before I just sold that painting." That's terrifying to me. An artist's life is so up and down. One week they could easily make $2,000 and the next only $200. It all depends on chance. Cummings has shown me that he doesn't really fear for what's to come. He lets life take him where it wants to. Even throughout all his hardships, he smiles without fear. As we were talking, you would never have guessed that he was worried about eating this week. It's amazing to me though; these artists are selling their work on the streets in hope that someone will buy them and sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't.

I really enjoyed Cummings story and his work. He does this artwork because he enjoys it. He likes to talk about what he does and talks about his past and laughs. When he told the story about him quitting his job, he had the biggest smile on his face. He was unhappy, so he did something about it and now he solely does what his heart desires. Isn't that what we all want though? To be genuinely happy doing what we do? The story of the artist Jason A. Cummings is my favorite because he doesn't just talk about what makes him happy, he's out there doing it.

The Beauty of Music

What would the world be without music? Sad. Very sad. I mean, think about it... Ask yourself how often you listen to music. Think about all the times you’ve been sitting there and a tune will pop up in your head. Music is literally everywhere when you think about it. If something could link all humans together, it would be music. It doesn’t matter the genre or how the music is made, but just that there is music. Whether it’s just a few beats on your lap or an instrument, it is all music in some form.

The appreciation of music in New Orleans is higher than I have ever seen it. I think the people are so friendly down in New Orleans because they have a common interest between them. I can only imagine how local strangers start conversations. I feel like they either start it due to food or music. I had the opportunity to visit Frenchmen Street to listen to the music. I had the time of my life sitting back to appreciate the music coming from the musicians. It was something I have never experienced before. To be honest, I never really had an appreciation for jazz music until this trip. My friend had played the trumpet and I have tried to play. Guys, it is not easy… at all. I’m just going to stick to my flute and piccolo. When you’re listening to the musicians and they hit those high notes on the trumpet, it is not easy. The amount of force that goes into the instrument is tremendous. It takes years of practice to master that. I just went speechless when I saw locals get up there out on Frenchmen Street and improvise next to the band to match what they were playing. It was so cool!

The city spoke to me through music. Since I have a musical background, I understand the hard work that goes into it. It goes to show me that the street performers might only have music, but that’s because they never gave up on it. New Orleans survived Hurricane Katrina. They survived one of the most horrible natural disasters to hit the United States. They took something that completely shattered them and picked up the pieces and put them back together again. Sure, some parts of New Orleans will never be the same, but this isn’t the first disaster to stop them. I thought about back to when the church burned and part of the other buildings burned. This didn’t stop the residents before. They picked those pieces up and rebuilt their empire. It is all a really beautiful disaster.

When I think about those street performers, I think about what they must have went through to be where they are today. I vividly remember this one man who had a beat up trumpet. I think about what he had to go through to get that instrument. The best part is it is a beat up trumpet, yet he still plays the most beautiful rhythms with it. When an instrument is beat up like that, it makes them harder to play. I have seen that firsthand so I know. Another thing is an instrument should be cleaned regularly, but I know there's are not. When they are cleaned it gets rid of the bacteria in the instrument, but with their financial situation, they most likely can't. Another fun fact is that if the instrument is not clean, it can make it harder to play as well. 

An average non-musical person will just go "oh that's pretty" or something like that. I don't do that though. I mean sure I say the music is beautiful, but I go deeper than that. It's natural to just go beneath that and realize how difficult the music actually is. I stop and look closely at their instrument. Is it beat up? Is it a typical instrument? I remember the first night we were in New Orleans I saw this banjo looking instrument with all these things coming out of it. It was definitely the weirdest instrument I have ever seen in my life.

As the musicians perform, I listen for the vibrato in the instrument. If you're not familiar, vibrato is the pulsing you will hear on a long note. As you walk through the streets listening to the music, I challenge you to listen for the vibrato. When you recognize the music, I want you to realize playing vibrato is a special talent in itself. It is very challenging and not everyone can do it. It takes lots and lots of practice. The man I listened to for a while had such a unique vibrato that I couldn't stop listening to. He made it just flow naturally. 

The thing about the music that the musician's play is it tells a story. As I said earlier, some of these musicians do this for a living. They make a living off of tips. When the musicians play their instruments, I feel like they are playing everything that makes them broken and into such a beautiful song. They are not just hoping you put money in for tips, but rather playing you these alluring tunes to give you something. When they're playing, they don't say you cannot record them or anything like that. In fact, they ask you take a picture with them and they'll smile the brightest smile as if nothing's wrong. Due to the age of the man playing the instrument, he was around for Hurricane Katrina. After briefly speaking to the man, he talked about how Hurricane Katrina tried to break the city, but it failed. He said "it (Hurricane Katrina) might've taken my home and belongings, but it didn't touch my instrument. I took this with me into the dome and we had a hell of a time. It was horrible, don't get me wrong, but we don't let anything take us from our music." When the man told me that, I realized they have this appreciation for music that will never die. New Orleans is the home of music, and no one can take that away from them. 

 

It's Not Goodbye, It's See Ya Later

 New Orleans, you took a piece of my heart. Let me tell you something, you will never experience a city like New Orleans. There is a picture above this that is black and white with my orange umbrella that is colored. In the photo, I am located in Jackson Square at one of the gated entrances. In the picture, I was looking at the Andrew Jackson statue. When you walk into the garden, go to the front of the Andrew Jackson statue and face towards the cathedral. If you don't go wow, you're not doing it right. Anyways, that is exactly what I did when I walked to that spot. The entire area is gorgeous and I could not seem to walk away from it. Jackson Square as a whole is my favorite spot. In the garden of Jackson Square, you are surrounded with beautiful flowers. Since the weather is warm year round, the flowers are always blooming.

 The garden itself is properly maintained and you won't ever find garbage lingering around. That's another thing about New Orleans, it is clean. They wash the streets daily which surprised me, and they do the same in the square. If you go out into the streets in the morning, there is a fresh scent smell from the soap. I'm definitely going to miss going to Jackson Square. There's something about going into the streets and hearing the performers. They are constantly playing these graceful tunes on their instruments. I can't help, but stop and listen for a while. It's music to the ears (literally).

So, I haven't mentioned this, but I play an instrument myself. I play the flute and piccolo and have been playing since I was 10 years old. If you're unfamiliar with the music world, there are two ways to learn music. You can play sheet music or play by ear. The street performers play by ear and they improvise constantly. The craziest part of it all is that they improvise constantly and yet the audience has no idea. They just know they are hearing this incredible music and don't think much of it. Since I have my music background, I appreciate music for more than non-musicians. The work that goes into playing music takes a lot. The performance you see on the street has so much work beneath it.

Anyways, enough about my spiel... The reason I want you to come visit Jackson Square is because you are going to get an experience like you've never had before. When you walk the square, you will hear these sounds and voices from street performers that just draw you in. I want you to sit or stand nearby the street performers and just listen to them. After you listen for a while, I highly suggest putting a few dollars in their box. It's important to remember that some of these people make a living off the money that is placed in there. You might ask why don't they go get a real job, and the thing is they may or may not have a job elsewhere, but this is what their heart desires. The music that is played might be all they know.

 After you've listened a while, I want you to venture out into the streets. You're going to feel like you're elsewhere like Europe or something from how the buildings and streets are set up. I recommend taking a stroll through the garden first so you see a different perspective of the St. Louis Cathedral and the surrounding area. Also, I recommend you go into the St. Louis Cathedral if you want to see a church like you have never seen before. I mean the amount of history in that church alone is astonishing. If you're deciding whether to go into the Presbytere or Cabildo, I recommend the Presbytere. The Presbytere had so much information about Hurricane Katrina. There were plenty of videos that had real people from the time that explained their purpose and experiences. If you do go there, I recommend sitting down and listening to each of the videos playing.

 If you had to ask me what my favorite part of the class was, I would say it was the blogging. Through this blogging, I have captured my favorite memories and really elaborated on them. If this was a vacation, I would not remember some of the things I have done. I think it's really important to blog or keep a journal of what you have done and how you felt doing it. To be honest, I don't know the next time I will come to New Orleans. I mean I would love to, but I know it will be years down the road. At least, I have my blogging to read back through to actually see what I enjoyed.

 This was my very first travel course, so everything is new to me. I thoroughly enjoyed blogging and obtaining new friendships. There are classmates I have in the course, and I grew so much closer to them. Through them, I experienced new things. For example, I went to a palm reader and I have never done that before. I think having the trip be with classmates who are currently going through nursing school with me and actually had a course where we got to have fun and visit new places was an experience I will forever be grateful for. This was the trip of the lifetime and I get to read this blog later in life to relive the experiences again. Who knows, I could be a travel nurse in New Orleans? ;)

The residents of New Orleans are super friendly people. They really enjoy entertaining the tourists and the locals. I mean they have their music in which they do live jazz shows almost nightly. After I went to Frenchmen Street, I gained even more appreciation for music. Since I live near Chicago, they have bands who will come and play small shows. Here in New Orleans, the performers invite the locals to play with them. The craziest thing to see was the locals joining in and not even missing a note. They just stand up and join with the band when cued. I have never seen that until I was down here. I grew up playing sheet music so it would be hard improvising since

 I've learned how much I actually appreciate music and appreciating everything I have. Music has been a big part of my life and I know how frustrating it can be when it comes to an instrument. The people who play on the streets might only have music. Speaking of the streets, some of these people live on the streets. I complain if my room is too warm in my apartment, when these people are sleeping on the cold hard ground. It's really sad to think about it. I have become so much more appreciative of the things I have. I mean look at this trip. I complain about sleeping in a reclining chair, when the people on the streets would love to have a place to sleep whether it's a chair or not. The people on streets don't complain, but rather try to give you something in return for a few dollars. They play their hearts on the street for a few dollars. As I sit on this train home, I think about how grateful I am to even have this experience and to never take anything for granted. Things can happen in the blink of an eye. Thank you, New Orleans for the wonderful memories!

Beautiful Disaster

I could never imagine being a slave, let alone treating someone as a slave. I mean a human being is a human being regardless of their race, ethnicity, age, gender, etc. The Spanish period began around 1762, and the French period was before that. Our tour guide said something that stuck with me, he said, "we celebrate when you die, and mourn when you're born."

Now, we talk about how it was a Spanish period. The French Quarter isn't too French. When there were wooden buildings, if a fire broke out, you let it burn out. There was a huge fire in 1788 and the church was rebuilt and part of the Cabildo was partially rebuilt by Don Almonester Pontalba. When he died, his daughter Michaela finished his work on the Cabildo and built the Presbytere. Michaela is one of the toughest women I know of. She refused to believe that because she was a woman that she was incapable of having so much money. Although Michaela was in an arranged marriage, she still owned her inheritance. After the father in law attempted to assassinate Michaela, she lived and he died. I mean, if there was any woman I would like to become, it would be her. She has such this strong will, and refuses to let anyone control her. She ended up developing the square into what it is today. In addition, there are the Pontalba buildings, which are the very first apartments in the United States. Who created them? Michaela Almonester Pontalba. This woman is someone who you never want to mess with.

The very first time I set my eyes on Jackson Square, I felt like I wasn't in America. I almost felt as if I was somewhere in Europe with how it was set up. Considering Michaela's vision of the square was set from a foreign country, she did an incredible job of completing it. The detail on each of the buildings was beautiful. There was so much to look at, and no matter where you looked, there was something for you. The iron that was used was a different iron that was used regularly during the time period. Michaela created the two mirrored Pontalba buildings and knew exactly what she was going to do with them. They were two stories, so the top part was apartments and the bottom part was businesses. I mean Michaela had thought out absolutely everything that she was doing. She was truly an incredible woman.


 Michaela is the same woman who I told you had an affair with Thomas Jefferson and supposedly had his statue face her apartments so he would always be tipping his hat to her. That always makes me laugh because it is totally something Michaela would do. I'm telling you so much about Michaela because I thought she was the most interesting thing we learned on our tour. I mean sure, we learned her story, but without Michaela, Jackson Square would not be what it is today without her.



 In a way, I felt like Michaela spoke to me. She was just so interesting. I learned from her that even though she was a woman, she was nothing less than a man. There was a standard that women shouldn't be able to have authority because we're supposedly less or something and Michaela refused to believe that. Her own father in law tried to assassinate her and she survived. Her will to live was stronger than anything she had. Michaela had all this money that she inherited, but yet she chose to use it for the good. She used it for the people and practically created an empire of her own. In addition to Jackson Square, she added the steeples onto the church.

The tour we went on took us to the cemetery, which was probably one of the neatest things I've ever seen. They call all of their graveyards, the "city of the dead." The reason is because they make the graves look like houses, so that's where they came up with the name. The graves are kept above ground because they don't have enough solid ground. So if the water came up, the bodies would come up. All the tombs have a "basement" at the bottom of their tomb. The remains of the coffin were put in a tagged bag and put in the "basement" with the rest of their family members. This is to preserve space, and keep the family members together. What kind of blows my mind is the fact that the people who are buried are moved once again. To me, I feel like I disrespect the dead if I step on their grave back home since they're below ground. When we were taught how they remove their bodies and put them in a tagged bag, it was kind of hard to believe. I mean, yes it is very smart considering they are conserving space, but I feel like it disrespects the dead since they're moved. This was my first initial thought when I was there, but after the tour when I thought about it, it is their way of life down there. Just as we have ways of doing things up north, they have their ways down here. To the residents here, this is the way they know; it's possibly the only way they know.



The last adventure of the day was the Presbytere. Alright guys, it was possibly the coolest museum I have ever been to in my life. The bottom was dedicated to Hurricane Katrina and the top Mardi Gras. Back when Hurricane Katrina hit, I was 11 years old. To be honest, I don't remember specifics, but I do remember something really, really bad was happening. I remember seeing some of the broadcasts on the news, but not listening to what they were saying, but what was actually taking place. I just remember seeing the videos of the horrible winds and flooding.



As I was going through the museum, I really took my time and read through everything I could. It was really amazing to see the heroes and hear their stories. I really appreciated what they had to say when they were telling their stories. Some of the things they talked about really made me as a person appreciate what I have now and that I have never had to deal with a horrific natural disaster. There was one man who spoke about how he heard a woman screaming and he went to help and found that she was pregnant. The man had never encountered a pregnant woman who was about to bare her child. When he was helping the woman, he realized that she pushed and the baby had slipped into his hands. As he was holding the baby, he asked God to cleanse his hands to make sure the baby was in no harm. After the fact, the man mentioned how even though it was such a horrible disaster going on, something beautiful came out of it. It was a beautiful disaster. There was so much bad happening around him, but yet a life came into the world and that in itself is such a beautiful thing.

Free Day (More Like Freeze Day)

Today was our free day in NOLA! I should say yay, but I was saying brrrrr... I think the cold followed us all the way from Peoria. Okay, but seriously, trying to choose what you're going to do on your day off in one of the most beautiful cities in the United States is difficult. We really didn't have too much planned, but rather to just sit back and let the city take us where we want it to.

Since we didn't head out until lunchtime, we decided to eat at The Gumbo Pot. While there, I had a crab salad and it was absolutely incredible. The biggest thing to me when I was down here was to eat foods I normally wouldn't. I wanted to spend my money on experience rather than things, such as clothing. The mistakes I would make on previous trips was to buy things for people, rather than take the trip and enjoy it. For this trip, I made sure I didn't do that... especially not on my day off! Anyways, while at The Gumbo Pot, I took a minute to appreciate the work that was around me. There were so many paintings on the wall and they were all filled with music and artwork of all sorts. The thing about New Orleans is that it has art, music, and history everywhere you look.

 After we left The Gumbo Pot, we went to the shops that were attached to the restaurant. It was just so cold outside, so we needed to savor the heat and while doing so, look around. I found a cute medicine bottle shot glass, and bought it considering I have never seen one like that before. After we left there, we just walked the streets and went into whatever shops that stuck out to us.

  As we continued walking, we noticed street performers were setting up. So my group of friends decided to sit down and wait for them to perform. Let me tell ya, they were hilarious. They were a group of four men who wore matching navy blue jerseys. They were older in age and mentioned that they have been doing this for over 30 years. I mean 30 years! They have so much fun doing it too. They made comments (nice, but funny) about the people passing on the streets. At one point, the performer went out into the middle of the street and balanced on his head. After doing so, he actually got into a car that was stopped in front of him. I just couldn't stop laughing with them. You could really see how much they enjoyed doing what they're doing. So happy and effortless. They just let the music playing take them wherever they wanted to. The chemistry between all of the guys was effortless and you really wanted to watch what they were going to next. I highly recommend you see them if you're walking in Jackson Square. They are so fun and keep you intrigued the entire time. The moves they performed throughout the show were very impressive, but the jokes and comments made beforehand kept me laughing so hard my stomach hurt (in a good way).



After the show, we walked around some more. I got a palm reading (sorry mom), I had to! It was such an experience. I do not regret it one bit. The reason I went to a specific palm reader was because she was so spot on with my other friends who went to her. She was an older women with worn down teeth, but very kind. She had a small table set up with a couple chairs surrounding it. There were five different sets of tarot cards on the table and a couple stone jewels as well. I thought they were for decoration, but it might be since it was windy and they kept the table cloth down. Anyways, with the palm reader I was told some cool stuff. She talked about my lifespan, love life, personality, wealth, work life and children. It was really neat to hear what she had to say because I have always been curious about those types of things. She was the very first palm reader I have been to, so the experience was definitely one to remember. The only downside was it was so. cold. I was literally shaking as she was reading my hand.  Since the weather was freezing, we decided to go back to the hotel. I know, you're probably thinking you have a free day, go do something! Trust me guys, it was just too ridiculously cold. I mean I probably should've brought a jacket, but I thought my vest was enough (definitely wrong on that one). Ya know what though, that's okay, it didn't keep me from laughing at the street performers.



After getting to the hotel, we went to the hot tub, but jokes on us.... it was broken. It was literally room temperature. We were all excited about it, but I was so upset when I found out it wasn't working. I mean knowing we were freezing, and all we wanted was the hot tub, only to be let down was sad. I ended up just taking a shower and getting ready for dinner. We had reservations at thee Emeril's. Like the famous guy, yeah that guy. Emeril Lagasse. It was such an experience! Guys, the food was so incredible there. I had gumbo soup, and it was the best gumbo soup I have had this entire trip. I mean I ate the entire thing quicker than I would have liked. It was just too good to stop. If you're thinking "yeah right," you're wrong. This restaurant is a five star restaurant. All I'm saying is don't knock it until you try it. There were six of us at dinner, and we had three servers. Our water glasses were never empty and they were constantly checking on us. They quickly took away the glasses that we didn't need. Okay, I'm not used to five star restaurants that are so fancy like that, so don't judge me from my amazement. There is such a technique when it comes to serving people. For example, you only pour the water from the right side of the person and place food from the left. The managers checked all the food before it was brought out to the table to make sure everything was in place.



Overall the day was great! I had a blast with my friends. Below is a picture of us at Emeril's. I definitely won't forget this trip, and it's not even over yet!

The City Speaks

We visited the Cabildo today and I have to say it was pretty cool to see all the different aspects in one museum. It is a shame to find out that the Cabildo had a fire in 1988 when it contains so much history. I was very intrigued by the Surgeon's Chest (yes a chest, a huge one in fact) with Medicine and Post-Mortem Dissection Equipment. I mean could you imagine hauling that thing around? The chest was owned by the Confederate States Army Surgeon Dr. Joseph Jones. This chest was unusual because it reflected the interest of post-mortem dissection. Even though this was unusual, he did so to increase his knowledge of the human body. This is fascinating to me because he was probably one of the first people to start doing so, and in doing so he gained so much knowledge for the living. When I looked at this box, I thought about how the instruments used were not sterilized after each use, but the thing is, is that Dr. Jones had no idea the benefits of sterilization. To us in today's medical field, we look back and think "how could they not know?" I mean you have to tell yourself though that we would not know about sterilization techniques without the evidenced based practice that we use today. This truly helps us gain the information we have today and use it to our benefit. We really do need to tip our hats to these people because they have brought us to where we are today.



Another interesting piece was the ballot box that was located in the Cabildo. Now a days, when you go to vote, it is so strict and there are the computers to enter your vote into. The fact that the ballot box was a simple box with a key lock was fascinating because it would be so easy to alter the votes once cast. This wasn't the most interesting though. What really caught my eye was the strong desire of free black men to gain their own voting rights. They went to numerous meetings and waited years before any changes were made. I was just so thrilled to see that through their perservance and dedication that their dream became a reality. Although their dream was only a reality for a short time, they did not give up right away. They continued to work so hard and with their hard work, they have come a long way to where we are now. It's hard to look back on history and realize that people treated other human beings like this. Right here in Louisiana, the free blacks had fought so hard for their rights no matter how many times they were declined. I mean look where that brought them to today. My Dad is involved in politics, so I have grown up around it. I have seen first hand how much work goes into making a new movement. Even in small towns, there is so much work that goes into having one small bill passed. I cannot even fathom how hard the blacks had worked to get as far as they have. It is truly incredible to see how hard they worked and never gave up. Some probably fought until their last breath, so they didn't have to see their loved ones continue to live like that. A voice is a voice, and the power of the words that can come from it are endless.

Now onto the pharmacy museum! Okay guys, this place was pretty neat. When you walk into the museum, there were potions and herbs lined up all around the room which was so cool to see. I mean the fact that some of those bottles were from the store originally was pretty cool. The pharmacy was actually owned by a man named Louis J. Dufilho who was America's first licensed pharmacist. I mean that's pretty cool right? What's cooler is the museum is where he did his practice. There were 3 floors entirely, but the second floor is the only one we could go to. There were some pretty cool, kinda scary things up there. I mean some of the medications they would give patients were red flags for us now. I mean the patients would normally not die from the disease they had, but rather the medication they were given. I mean thankfully we have learned these things throughout the years because I was cringing as I was reading some of the information under the bottles. Okay, depending on how familiar you are with the medical field, I just hope you know that you CANNOT give lead or mercury to a human to ingest. They are so harmful to your body! Yet Dr. Dufilho was giving them to his patients because at the time that was all he knew. The pharmacist himself died from all the injections of mercury in his system. So if those things don't make you cringe just reading, how about I tell you about a Cesarean Section.

 

The very first Cesarean Section was performed in 1610.... with no anesthetic. Ouch! The biggest thing that really caught my attention was the fact that there was no successful C-Section until 1764. So to remind you, out of all of the C-sections that were performed from 1610-1764, not one woman survived. There was either too much blood loss or disease. I mean the saddest thing is that the women who were pregnant had a very strong inkling that they were going to die during childbirth if they needed a C-section. There was no way around it because at the time they may not have realized it, but they were trial and error. This really makes me cringe as a nursing student because the way child birthing is now is already painful. I mean sure they have anesthetics, but these people back then didn't even have that! I really do have to bow my heads to the people who went through these times because this was all they know. They really did not have the resources we have today, and they managed to get a successful C-Section in 1764. This trip has spoken to me by really showing me what the people went through at the time, and how they gained all the experience and knowledge through trial and error. They gained this knowledge of trial and error with real human lives. Without these people, we would not have the medical advancements that we do today. It really is incredible when you think about it.

I NOLA a Great City When I See One

Have you ever been on a cuisine tour? Well let me tell you, I took my very first one today and it was amazing. I don't know why I haven't done one before! If you're planning to come to New Orleans (which I hope you do), a cuisine tour is a must. You will have some incredible food, but not only that, you will gain a lot of insight to the history of the food itself. New Orleans has such a wide variety of history with different rulings and influences of the vast cultures. You will learn the term Creole a lot down here, which is the name of the foods influenced from the culture through out the years, and what brings us to the meals we eat today. The foods are intermixed from different cultures, therefore Creole is the type of food. On the tour, we tasted a wide variety of foods to give us a feel for what foods are the biggest sell around here. During our tour, we went to multiple restaurants. The first food we enjoyed was the Creole Beef Brisket. It was so tender and the sauce was perfect. It has a good amount of horseradish in it. I understand if you are not a big horseradish person, but you need to try it at least once! I, myself am not a big horseradish fan, but this was just incredible. At another stop in our tour, we had gelato and a cannoli. Let me tell you guys, do not wear jeans. Honestly, just wear your fat pants (you'll thank me later). The gelato has this creamy texture and the perfect amount of sweetness that you just can't seem to get enough of. The cannoli was honestly the best cannoli I have ever had in my life. My Dad is a huge cannoli guy, so I just had to send him a picture of it. (He was jealous!) I think my favorite part of the tour was when our tour guide, Naif, took us into a restaurant for our very last meal. When we were finished, he showed us this back door that led to multiple other dining rooms. There were secret dining areas that you would never know about. There was this one dining area that was set up 1920s style. There were coat hooks all around the room and these huge wreaths on the wall that were hanging in these five large windows. There were three large portraits on the wall. One was the owner, the next his wife, and lastly the sister of the wife. There is a mystery as to why the sister in law is up there, but no one actually knows!

 

Now, just when you think the surprise is over.... Naif took us to a staircase. The owner of the restaurant had a daughter. The daughter did not want to take over the family business, so she chose a different route instead. She was a party girl! She went off to live in Paris where she just partied away, but eventually she came back home. Her name is Germaine Wells. When she came back home, she had won the Mardi Gras queen 22 times! If that's not impressive, I don't know what is. While being home, she also created a museum of the dresses she had worn for the parties. She had the photograph of her wearing them, along with the dresses themselves placed on manikins that looked like her. Some of these dresses were so extravagent that they had wings on them and trains so long they were pinned on the wall behind her. These dresses were so beautiful and she literally looked like a princess in everyone. This girl lived every girl's dream!

The cuisine tour was not the only thing we did today. Before hand, we went to the Ursuline Convent and the St. Louis Cathedral.

 Ursuline Convent

To be honest, I was disappointed that nuns no longer live there. I understand that they are preserving it, and it is a museum now, but I think having nuns there would be very neat. New Orleans has been through so much as a city. From who has owned it and the natural disasters that have taken place here. My mother used to work at a summer camp with nuns, and the only thing she really told me about them was that they prayed. Constantly. It was important to me to see the convent because I am religious myself. I wanted to understand what it was like for them and actually see how big their faith was. From reading the letter of one of the nuns back home to her father really hit home. I mean, it took them five months to get to New Orleans when it should have only taken a few. They bared the worst of storms and throughout it all prayed through it. As I said, I am religious, but I don't think I could ever be a nun. I have a lot of respect for those who do. It is incredible to see the amount of faith through their lives. Since I am a visual learner, actually going into the convent and walking around gave me a lot of insight as to how they truly lived. Unfortunately they do not let visitors go upstairs anymore, but I like to imagine what it was like back then.


This was the exact clock that they brought over in 1727.

St. Louis Cathedral 

This place was just beautiful. The cathedral definitely had the biggest impact on me today. As I said earlier, I am religious, specifically Christian. Although I am Christian and this was a Catholic church, I learned so much today. I am a very open minded person, so I was really intrigued to listen to the speaker and what he was saying about the church. While I was in there, I really observed the people who were there to pray. Religion is very important to me, so I made sure to respect those around me. Something that I found very interesting was that there is a chair that is strictly for the Bishop. One time, the Pope came to visit and he was not even allowed to sit in the chair. That was probably the most shocking and interesting thing to me. I mean, the Pope is well, the Pope! He was not even allowed to sit in that chair. I totally respect their religion, so learning these things was very interesting to me. I spoke with a couple classmates who are Catholic and they gave me some information about their rituals as well. I learned things about Catholics that I never learned before. My favorite part of the Cathedral was the artwork on the ceiling. I have been to multiple churches in Europe, and their ceilings were just as beautiful. I mean, these churches were built in the 1700 and 1800s, so I can't help, but wonder how they did it without the equipment we have today.