Naw'lins

Spring is always an extremely awaited time by many a college student. For me, it was an opportunity to see my long-distance boyfriend after a slew of bad fights and general moodiness on both our parts. It was a horrible two weeks before the trip as the "will I-won't I?" fight kept going on not only in my head but a secondary player in those fights mentioned before.

The airplane trip was long and I wasn't very excited until that second leg. As we begun the longest (to me) descent in history, I started feeling jitters. Jitters of excitement and also of fear. Would anything really change?

In fact, nothing seemed to change except that we seemed to be more aware of each other the first few minutes. Which, quite honestly, is not something I mind at all. After the awkward, "I'm here!!", "You ARE," we piled into his friend's car and proceeded the 30m drive back to his campus.

I always find it funny how my mind seems like a soap opera sometimes. It likes to overanalyze, overcomplicate and over-think. That's why, most times, I ignored it. Like when he unlocked his shiny new iPhone and I spied a text message from his ex (a girl we nicknamed something very mean). So while my brain was freaking out, I rolled my eyes and smiled. I have a hard time letting go to things that hurt me -but I'm learning.

We got to campus, seemingly familiar yet so alien at the same time. After a while, amidst idle chat and some smiling and touching (just to make sure we were really there), he told me about the text message. My brain felt really bad. Her grandmother had died. I chastised my hypothalamus* (Psych test on Monday, might as well exercise my knowledge) and answered the text message with condolences. I know what it's like to lose a grandparent and it is horrible -no matter who the person is. She answered back something like, "I know... the funeral was last [insert date that was a long time before she actually texted]." My boyfriend and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes at what seemed like yet another one of her ploys to talk to him/get me angry/get a rise out of people.

Yeah, she's one of those people.

I shrugged and smiled, she'll probably never grow out of whatever it is that makes her that way. But I can be the better person. And I was tired of everything having to do with her. It always seemed like a general buzz kill (you might agree).

Onward to the next day. Walked through the beautiful sculpture garden and the museum. The days after that were too much of a blur.The nights were long, the mornings were short and the afternoons were spent in the company of someone I missed too much regularly. 

We were always out. Doing things, seeing, living. It all passed by me in colorful flashes of light. Cafe du Monde, the Zoo, Audubon Park, the Quarter, galleries, antiques. The city...

New Orleans is, honestly, a very magical place. It's a perfect mix of everything. Of family, of students, of both old and new, of history. He is in love with this city; I, as a turist, am too. There seems to always be something to see, something new to discover and delve yourself into.

I was a week late for Mardi Gras but I could still see the evidence in the trees. Beads bleeding from the branches in colorful batches all along St. Charles lined the streetcar lines. The expansive mansions decked out in the colors that I've come to associate with this city: yellow, green, purple. In the Quarter, that's all I'd see. Beads, masks, feathers hanging from the balconies above my head.

On Burbon, the party never seemed to stop. Jazz bands greet tourists (as does a very expensive hot dog vendor!). Drunk people (students, middle and late-aged and even some high schoolers) stumble by, beads and hand-grenades galore. The music vibrating off everything. It made me dizzy with anticipation.

There's a reason why it's been called, "The City that Care Forgot." It's easy to forget yourself here. It's an interesting paradise. Beautiful and jaded. Somehow you feel like you don't want to leave -but you do. It's a contradiction.

Every time I go back, I'll see something new. The city changes yet it stays the same. A constant adventure. We'll see what the next one brings.

Now, back to reality. Exams, cold, countryside.

It'll be summer before I know it.

Always,

Gabs


*The Hypothalamus: The hypothalamus plays a variety of roles in the control of emotions. It is believed to be involved in the emotions of rage and pleasure, but it also plays a part in sexuality, hunger and combativeness.