DAY 1: March 11, 2024

Written By Laurie Naughton

New Orleans 2024

Embarking on a journey through the soulful streets of New Orleans, yesterday was a whirlwind of excitement for the students.

POV: We Did Not Expect the Unexpected!

Hello, people back in New York! Do you miss us yet? We know life is boring without us there! We had a bit of a rocky start with the weather feeling as if we were walking through Antarctica, and our flight being delayed for what felt like ages. Luckily, we made it to one of the cleanest airports you will ever see. We met our tour guide Sue and collected our bags. Thankfully, no bags got misplaced or sent to San Francisco by mistake. Now, let us tell you about the adventure of the day.

We started with a bus ride that showed us all of the brightly colored houses (we weren’t expecting that) and then went to Jackson Square, where we took some (a lot) of pictures and window-shopped. Don’t worry, we had some self-control and only went into one store. After wandering around, we indulged in delicious turkey croissant sandwiches and cookies and then went to Mardi Gras World. In Mardi Gras World, we were greeted with a luxurious slice of the infamous king cake and hung out until it was time for our tour. On the tour we learned many things about the production of Mardi Gras floats. Did you know that the artworks/sculptures are made of styrofoam, and occasionally fiberglass? Because we certainly didn’t! The sculptures are formed from blocks of styrofoam carved into the desired figure, then covered in paper-maché, painted with vivid colors, and brought to life. Artists work on sculptures and floats for the full year. It was astonishing to see such a variety of massive sculptures and floats in a warehouse. 

“The sculptures are formed from blocks of styrofoam carved into the desired figure, then covered in paper-maché, painted with vivid colors, and brought to life. Artists work on sculptures and floats for the full year. It was astonishing to see such a variety of massive sculptures and floats in a warehouse.”

After Mardi Gras World, we went to the National World War II Museum and learned about and saw artifacts from the war. For dinner, we went to Gumbo Ya Ya and had a variety of dishes. Some had chicken and waffles, others had gumbo, and some of us even tried fried alligator! To end the night, some of us ate ice cream and others indulged in the infamous dessert of beignets. We hope you don’t miss us too much, we certainly miss you, and now are signing off after a long and tiring day. 

Thank you and Good night,

Paige and Fallon 



New Orleans 2024

What didn’t you expect?

  • Culture, surrounded by love, thought NOLA was going to be similar to NYC

  • Brightly colored houses/architecture

  • Southern accents 

  • Not as impoverished, houses, people

  • Airport to be so clean

  • Cable Cars

  • The boat horn 

  • The music

  • More people

  • Horses

  • The delay

  • Museums

  • Not many breaks

  • The different parades for Mardi Gras 

  • How they work on floats all year round

  • Pixie - robot 

Laurie Naughton
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Day 2: March 12, 2024