In Reflection…

I cannot believe that I almost didn’t go to New Orleans!!! I was on the fence about joining the NOLA trip in my last semester before I graduate. I commute from Orange County and barely have enough time to fit everything in as it is let alone go on a two and a half week service learning trip during my spring break where I could be spending time getting precious homework and field work, and catching up on hours at my workplace(s). Against my better judgment, I decided to apply for the trip and let Dr. Anderson’s decision determine if I should go on the trip. Here I am four months later reminiscing on the absolute most amazing experience of my entire life. 

I have visited other states and countries before, I have done service/volunteer work before, and I have participated in research and data collection before. Nothing in my entire life could have prepared me for the experience that was New Orleans. Going in to the trip my knowledge of what I would be encountering in New Orleans consisted of: bring lots of bug spray, bring pants that will hold up to blackberry bushes, and get a lot of sleep before you come because you’re not going to get any while you’re there and it’s going to suck. Of those three things that I knew, my biggest concern was that I would be tired and not be able to perform in the field. I didn’t think too much about the bugs and blackberry because I was too preoccupied worrying about not getting enough sleep. Turns out that I actually never even realized how tired I was until I returned home and I’m embarrassed now that that was even a concern of mine. The work we were doing and experiences that we were having there were so non-stop and so fun and so rewarding and so emotionally and intellectually stimulating I didn’t have time to feel tired. So it turns out that the first two were true (so painfully true) and the thing that I was most concerned about turned out to be a non-issue… figures. 

I’ve never worked so hard in my life and I loved every second of it. I will never be able to recreate a trip with the amount of camaraderie, joy, fun, hard work, and culture. We were doing work that, although it might have seemed trivial and as if it was barely making a dent in the ominous future that New Orleans faces, it really makes a difference in the big picture. We were able to see the fruits of our labor while planting a community garden and were able to see the smile on Carol’s fac, the man whose property we used to build the garden, and the amount of relief he must have felt knowing that he wouldn’t have to plant the garden himself with a bum leg and that he would have fresh vegetables in the future to help ease the strain on his budget that lord knows is limited after losing everything he owned when the levee broke. 

I am so humbled and grateful to have been a part of this trip. The live music and delicious food after long days of hard work in the swamp, the fun times with professors and students alike, the relationships that were built between CSUCI and the people of New Orleans, getting to cook traditional New Orleans’ food with produce purchased directly from the people of New Orleans themselves, being able to connect with students from another university in New Orleans who may never get the opportunity to do the work like that that we were doing in Woodlands park again, and all of the other amazing experiences that we had on this trip all rolled together. I can’t even imagine that I almost missed this opportunity.