I write this blog to you from my hometown of Friendswood, Texas, where I evacuated for Hurricane Gustav literally three years and three days after evacuating for Hurricane Katrina. This time around, the seniors, first year graduate students, and others who had been down the Katrina road did things a LOT differently. But thankfully, this time around was NOT like Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans proved itself once again and survived through Gustav's mighty wrath. The biggest question on everyone's mind was if the levees would hold and to some peoples' surprise . . . they did. It takes a lot more to take down the Big Easy than Gustav's winds and rain, apparently.
It seems right now like New Orleans is a hotspot for hurricane activity. With Hurricane Gustav gone and Ike and Josephine churning away in the Atlantic, all eyes have turned to New Orleans and the still battered Gulf Coast to see what will happen. But I have news for all of you who have heard that hurricanes hit New Orleans . . . historically, it happens less than once every ten years and after Gustav, it looks like New Orleans can take a lot more than most people expect.
Here I am reading for my class African LiteratureAfter Gustav hit, the rest of the week was returning power and MUCH needed A/C to our campus and getting operations running as usual. We are all returning this weekend and our classes are resuming on Monday. Most of our professors have emailed us to tell us what to do about a couple of days' missed material. To say that Tulane is prepared is an understatement.
That being said, I enjoyed my little vacation. I had returned from India to Russia to San Antonio to Houston to New Orleans all within about a week between August 6th and August 14th- 10,000 miles in less than 10 days! RA training this year was a lot tougher than last year with new bosses and new policies to maintain and enforce so I didn't get the break I was expecting. This week off was partially spent just catching up in sleep and finally sleeping a whole night through.
Other than that, my very good friend and co-RA Caroline came with me to Houston. She's from Connecticut and decided to come hang out in Houston for a week, starting with her 21st birthday on Sunday. Below are the pictures from our week, which was relaxing after we discovered the little damage Gustav had done.
