Only in New Orleans...
I'm updating from Karissa's couch in NOLA. Karissa is at class, or coming back from class at this point. I was going to go with her as her public health class had some interesting speaker but I decided I'd rather take a nap instead as we're going out tonight and I was exhausted. I had a nice two hour nap instead. I skipped micriobio this morning as I wasn't in eastern time, let alone NY. So really I skipped two classes today...
I had a bit of a debacle getting here. Melissa dropped me off at the airport at about 3:20pm. My flight was due to leave at 5:10, and had a connection at JFK that left there at 7:35. When I printed out my boarding pass it said "boarding at 5:35" and all the flight screen said was "delayed." But fortunately I'd called Karissa, who happened to be at her computer, and according to JetBlue's website my departure was delayed until 7:05, about when my connection would start boarding. I figured if I was to start boarding at 5:35 I would still be able to make my connecting flight, so thank god I called Karissa. Then I had an extremely stressful hour in which I talked to Jet Blue then American Airlines, then Delta. I purchased a new flight from Delta (unfortunately for $50 more than I originally paid), canceled my Jetblue flight (after the lady tried to tell me they had a flight that would get me there at 10:20, then realized this was the flight I was canceling b/c the connection was no good), got my luggage returned, dragged it up an escalator and then checked it with Delta who thought JetBlue was sending it over to them and had already sent my tag down to the loading place.
My Delta flight flew to Atlanta first where we had a two hour layover. It went by really fast. I had some Ben and Jerry's Coffee Buzz Buzz ice cream which was delicious and perused the Bath and Body works. Who knew there were Bath and Body Works at the airport. There was also a jewelry store "hey honey I'm sorry I slept with that hooker...here's a diamond." Two things I found odd about the airport were that there was a smokers lounge (omg) and the bathrooms had sharps boxes (as did the New Orleans airport). They kept making announcements like "don't carry 'lighted' cigarettes out of the designated smoking areas" wouldn't it be lit? Holly? After eating like 600 calories of ice cream I bought I "Shape" magazine. I'm kind of disappointed b/c all of their work out moves, that promised to get me through the holiday skinny and make me sexier, require a ton of equipment I don't own. The second leg of my flight was much less pleasant than the first. Idk if it was the Ben and Jerry's or what but I was really nauseous and my ears hurt a lot. I got my baggage no problem and Karissa was right there to pick me up at the airport, even though she had to shout my name b/c I didn't see her at first. It was midnight by the time we got back to her apartment and my L ear didn't clear until Thursday morning. It was terrible, I could hear but it was all muted on that side which was really annoying.
Yesterday we got up and had a nice walk in Audubon park before going to this middle eastern place for lunch. It was like the Lebanon Cafe, or something like that. Great atmosphere, the front door was open, and it was very friendly and low key (as opposed to Sahara's in Rochester). We had really good humus and I had stuffed grape leaves, very reasonably priced. Then we drove to Jean Lafitte State Park, or just outside of it, and went on a bayou tour. We had a bit of difficulty getting there. When we got there I asked if there was a bathroom. The guy says "see that tree over there" and I was like "oh, I guess not" and he's like "no there’s a bathroom, its by the tree." I felt dumb. The bathroom had the sketchiest water ever with big signs not to drink it and a giant bottle of hand sanitizer. As luck with would have it we had a private swamp tour, as no one else had come for the two o'clock time slot. Our tour guide's name was Jason. He was really nice, he had a crazy accent and said he'd never been north, however he had vacationed in Mexico, something that I can't boast. We saw some fairly small crocodiles which he illegally fed marshmallows to for our pleasure. We also saw in addition to many scenic vistas, these fish called mullet fish that jumped out of the water, a soft shell turtle (which Jason said was only the like 5th time he's seen one in his 9 years of doing tours), some regular turtles, and these pretty white birds called Egrets. Then we made our was to the state park where we took a cool hike on this really long board walk. I love board walks for some reason. Oh, and Jean Lafitte was totally a pirate. Karissa made us a wonderful steak dinner with her signature yams and some white wine. Oh it was glorious. We also had these rum drinks which I told Karissa need to be her house special. We played some Mario cart, had some peanut butter pie leftover from Karissa's desert party and then I was beat I passed out at like 10:30.
Today we drove to Lake Pontchartrain and took a walk. It was a bit chilly with the breeze coming off the water. Yesterday was mid sixty's and sunny. Today it was maybe sixty but beautifully sunny again. Karissa made us really yummy egg salad for lunch and we had the last of the German chocolate coconut bars also from her desert party. Then I played some Mario cart and took a good nap. Tonight we're going out to Bourbon Street!