Over 80% of New Orleans Flooded in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

Today was quite eventful. We all met as a group at 9 this morning to go over logistics about getting to work. Even though I had directions, I still got lost. It was nice taking the streetcar over to Lee Circle, though. Tomorrow I'll have to remember to take the second street off the traffic circle instead of walking past the entrance that connects to Julia St. After figuring out where the Southern Food and Beverage Museum is (it looks really really cool from the outside; I didn't have time to go in), I met up with one of the other DukeEngagers working near me, and we ended up taking a cab over to Jackson Square to meet the rest of the group by Cafe du Monde. We went around the French Quarter for a few minutes and decided to go to Johnny's Po Boys for lunch. They had some really great food. I ordered the special that consisted of half a shrimp po boy and a bowl of gumbo. The gumbo was brown colored with a hearty helping of rice and several pieces of shrimp that melted in your mouth. It was a bit peppery but not particularly spicy. The po boy was pretty good. Since I didn't add mayonnaise, it felt a little dry, but the fried shrimp was really good.

After eating, we headed over to the lighthouse to catch our tour of New Orleans. We went all over, including the French Quarter, St. Bernard, the Lower Ninth Ward, City Park, and New Orleans East. It was really hard to imagine the water being that high in a majority of the places in the city. I've seen the pictures, but still, it's extremely difficult to understand how much water there was. Seeing the water lines on the houses was surreal, and looking at the Xes noting how many dead were found in the buildings was just weird. I don't know how to explain it, but there is a big difference between seeing pictures and seeing the actual houses. I know pictures can't do it justice and there's no way I can ever understand how horrible the situation was, but still it's crazy trying to comprehend the scale of the disaster. Our tour guide really pushed the point that over 80% of New Orleans flooded in the aftermath of Katrina, and that a lot of people, not only the poor, were affected.

The tour lasted about three hours, and we went back to the inner courtyard in the French Quarter to debrief and talk about the tour. We walked back on Bourbon Street (very interesting to say the least) to catch the streetcar on Canal back to Loyola. After a quick trip to Winn Dixie (totally reminded me of the book), a group of us went to Reginelli's Pizzeria, which has great food. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the restaurant and the food, but I'm sure we'll be back. I ordered the chicken pita (tender chicken cubes with roasted red pepper and garlic cloves on soft pita bread). Meghan ordered the chicken salad which was amazing! It was a combination of greens and nuts and chicken and apple with a vinaigrette. Next time we go back I'm definitely getting that. It was a nice walk back to campus.

I'm excited to take the streetcar to work, and hopefully I won't get lost!