18/3/2016
Heute hab ich ganz viel gemacht. Wir habben Creole Essen gekocht, wir haben ein Zwei-Stufen-Marsch an Bourbon Straße getanzt, und wir haben so viel im der Französische Viertel gelaufen 
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Day 2
Today we all left the hotel and headed to the New Orleans Historical Collection and walked through the history of the city.
There were old maps and paintings as well as other artifacts. Pictured below was one of my favorite pieces. It is an illustrated newspaper that dip it’s sicknesses in the city.
After we went to a Vietnamese place called 9 Roses and I tried spring roles which were super good! Leaving we all walked through the rain and went on our way to our levee tour led by a professor from Tulane University. It was very informational and put the failure of the levees in perspective because we were able to see the neighborhoods effected.
Aside from the amazing history and science we learned, one of the highlights of the day was the flat tire on the Escalade. The second highlight was eating BBQ and watching Paul Sanchez perform all Chicke Wah Wahs.
Today was all about food!
Today we went to the New Orleans Cooking school to learn about classic New Orleans food. It was super unique in that we went to farmers market to buy the ingredients for ourselves. The teams were: appetizer, salad, soup, entree, and dessert. I was head of the dessert team and we made calas. These are known as the predecessors of beignets. They are sweet rice patties deep fried with powdered sugar. We added strawberries from the farmers market to the rice patties and made a sweet strawberry sauce to the plate as well. Traditionally, these were made by slaves who used left over rice to make them. They sold them in front of parishes in an attempt to buy their freedom, but it hardly ever worked. All in all the food each team made was delicious and learning the history of each dish really made me appreciate the food and culture even more. I also got to try a piping hot fresh beignet which was something I really wanted to do while I was here. But I have to say the most interesting food I ate today was an avocado sorbet Popsicle from the farmers market.
Day three
We learned how to cook calas, which is a desert that was sold by slaves in an attempt to buy their freedom back. We definitely had a great meal today.
This is Jambalaya, and it was an amazing meal that we had throughout a five course meal.
Historic New Orleans Collection
This morning we started off our day by going to the Historic New Orleans Museum in the French Quarter. It was awesome to spend some timing hearing about the history of such a unique place and seeing the collection there. The old hand drawn maps were my favorite with all of the intricate details.
Levee Failure Tour
Yesterday we went on a levee failure tour in the Lower Ninth Ward. This area was devestated as the flood wall protecting it from the Industrial Canal catastrophically failed. The area has been very slow to recover, as many of the property lots still lie empty, some with only concrete slabs indicating where houses used to be.
Photo showing the new t-wall flood protection system, standing at 14.5 ft tall, now protecting the Lower Ninth Ward.
History, levees, food, music, and changing a tire….?
We started out our day by visiting the New Orleans Historic Collection Musuem and learning about the history of how New Orleans really came to be and how it morphed into this colorful and vibrant city filled with such diverse people. It turns out that the largest demographic/ethnic population here in New Orleans are African Americans at around 87% and Vietnamese being the smallest group making up only 3% of the population. That being said we ended up having lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant were I had some delicious yellow curry.
We then got a tour of the levee system here in New Orleans which really put things into perspective as to what really happened during/ after Hurricane Katrina. It’s interesting yet sad to see how much of the lower nine ward has been pretty neglected as far as restoring back the community. Sad reality is that half the time we can’t tell if communities look the way they do because of poverty or simply the effects of Katrina, or both.
Perhabs the most unplanned for event today has having one of our vehicles get a flat tire. It was defentily funny seeing 2 Professors with a pHd and 14 college students all trying to figure out how to change the tire. It took a while but it was all figured out.
We then ended our day at Chickie Wah Wah were we had some amazing southern food and listened to some amazing local musicians.
17/3/2016
Heute sind wir nach ein historisches Museum in die Französische Viertel und ein Levee Tour gegangen. Für Mittagessen haben wir Vietnamesische Essen bei Nine Roses gegessen und war sehr lecker. Ich hatte gelb Curry mit Schrimps Die Durchschnittperson in die USA wird 7k Meeresfrüchte essen aber hier in New Orleans 13-52k! Es ist unglaublich! Und für Abendessen sind wir nach Chickie Wah Wah gegangen und wir haben zu Paul Sanchez und Jamie Lynn Vessels gehört. Jamie ist so talentiert, dass ich einen CD von ihr gekauft hab.
Day two: Levee Tour
We had a great tour of the levee system and the construction failures that led to the flooding. We also got a flat tire on our way to the last levee sight, which gave us all an opportunity to learn how to change a flat tire.
Dr. Sean Anderson taking pictures on the levee wall that runs along the canal that connects the Mississippi River with Lake Ponchartrain
How many CI students does it take to change a tire?
TRICK QUESTION: it takes 12 students from CI, two from Oregon State, and two professors.
