Weeks 15-17 - Catch up and New Orleans!

Monday 29th November to Friday 12th December-

Ok so the last two weeks of college consisted of finishing up with lectures, handing in assignments and studying for finals. My finals went ok I hope, I still haven’t gotten the results back yet though so fingers crossed. I climbed up Mt. Sentinel one day because I wanted to see how Missoula looked in the snow. It was pretty cool hiking up in the snow and I got some really nice photos. On the Friday night before finals started Kate, Shannen, James and I went to a Missoula Maulers ice hockey game. They were playing the Butte Cobras, their arch enemies. It was a pretty close game but the Maulers won. The mascots Slash the wolf and Coby the cobra were hilarious in their competition. On Saturday I went to the parade of lights with my Missoula MIFP family. The parade was really cute with floats from many local clubs and Santa and Mrs. Claus even paid a visit. Later on some friends called over for a Disney movie night. Taylor from our Vertebrate class even bought Aldo, her kitten. I had my finals on Monday 8^th and Tuesday 9^th. On Wednesday Kate, James and I went to the ice rink for some ice skating. Kate didn’t really know how but by the end she was skating away. At first there were only a few people skating but after a while a bus load of young children showed up. They did more sitting helplessly on the ice than actual skating. After over an hour and a half of skating we headed to the mall for some last minute Christmas shopping. That evening and Thursday after work I finished up the last two assignments I had due. Friday we had a going away dinner. Shannen and I made two huge lasagnes and brownies and Siobhan, Dave, Elliot, Eoghan, Kate and James called over. As Elliot and James were only in Montana for one semester this would be goodbye. We had a lovely evening and watched a movie before saying bye to two of the founding members of The Bison Bunch.

Up on Mt. Sentinel

Christmas Campus

 

 

Ice Hockey Game

The Parade of Lights

Santa and Mrs. Claus

Some ginger bread houses

Aldo the cat

Going away gathering

Saturday 13th December-

Shannen and I got up at 3am to get our things ready for the airport. I was heading to New Orleans with a big group of International students, while Shannen was heading home. Our friend Sophia from our Vertebrate class drove us to the airport which we were delighted about. I met everyone at the airport, said bye to Shannen and got on the plane. We had a short flight to Denver, got off the plane only to reboard it a few minutes later and headed to New Orleans. It was lovely and warm when we landed at 12pm. We got a bus to our hostel, The India House Hostel, where we had a dorm for 12 of us. After getting set up we headed to a local restaurant which was very busy. I got catfish which was delicious. That evening after a quick nap we got ready and headed to Bourbon Street, the main clubbing street. We weren't expecting it to be so busy but it was crazy! Safe to say a good night was had.

India House Hostel

Sunday 14th December-

We headed off early and got the streetcar to the French Quarter. This is a beautiful area of the city with some very different architecture. We wandered around here for most of the day enjoying the jazz bands playing in the streets and some real New Orleans seafood. That evening Dervla, Stine, Savannah and I got a haunted histories ghost tour. It wasn't your typical jump-out-and-scare-you ghost tour though. Our guide gave us some actual strange historical stories, including one about the Lalaurie Mansion serial killer. After that the four of us got some food and headed home to get ready. Aoife and Eric had just arrived from Las Vegas. That night we went to Frenchman Street, famous for its jazz clubs. We went to The Spotted Cat, which was pretty cool.

Street jazz

Me, Stine, Stacey, David, Haruna, Dervla, Juri, Barry and Savannah

A streetcar

A haunted house

Monday 15th December-

We got up early and headed off on our Cajun Encounters bus for a swamp tour where we'd hopefully see some alligators. Our bus driver Rene gave us some information about hurricane Katrina and the destruction it caused, which can still be seen in places. When we got to the swamp we were all put together on the same boat. The swamp was amazing, with Spanish moss drooping several meters from Cyprus trees into the water below. We sped along in our boat passing by some houses on the water front, until we can to a dead end. Here we found Scarface, a 300lb male alligator who ruled this area. We couldn't see much more than his tail because he was sitting in plants hibernating. After this we headed upriver to Honey Island Swamp, where we met some semi-wild boar. Our tour guide had been raising these pigs and called them over to the boat for their favourite snacks- marshmallows! Just upriver we spotted a great blue heron standing beside several yellow-bellied slider turtles bashing on a log. We sped further upriver until we came across another alligator. This one was smaller and was lying out of the water on a log. It was sluggish because it's their hibernating season and didn't seem bothered as we passed close-by. From here we entered a very narrow creek to see the swamp up close and personal. After the tour we headed back on the bus and back to New Orleans. We got off at the French Quarter and found a lovely restaurant with a live band. After dinner we went to Cafe du Monde, famous for its beignets doughnuts. We spent the evening wandering around the streets finding a few quirky shops before we headed home to get ready for the night. We again headed to Frenchman Street and a jazz club. The first club we went to had a chicken sitting on a stool, which was apparently part of the band! New Orleans certainly is a strange city!

Getting up close and personal

A swamp house

Scarface's tail

Wild pigs

They love marshmallows

Yellow-bellied sliders

The second alligator

Juri, Max, Me, Aoife, Dervla, Savannah, Stacey, Eric, Stine, David, Barry and Haruna

Beignets

Tuesday 16th December-

This was our last day in the city. We headed out to the Garden District to see one of the famous above ground cemeteries. It was eerie seeing how many people were buried at each site to save space. One tiny tomb had ten children buried there, all under 2 years of age. In the 18th and 19th centuries the chances of making it to your 5th birthday were 1 in 10. After visiting here we headed to a voodoo museum in the French Quarter which was very interesting to see. We went to Deanie's Restaurant which was said to have the best seafood in New Orleans. I had a fried softshell crab and gumbo, which tasted much better than the one I'd had at the fancy restaurant the night before. From here we went to the French Market for some souvenir shopping. That evening we packed our bags, checked in for our flights and relaxed at the hostel. A few headed out to town but Savannah, Stine, Dervla and I stayed in and had the chats.

Lafayette Cemetery

Voodoo museum

Voodoo dolls

Softshell crab

Wednesday 17th December-

We woke up at 5am and got ready for our flights to New York. Dervla, Stacey, Stine, Savannah, Average Dave, Haruna, Juri, Francesca and I had breakfast at the airport. I said bye to them as they were flying to JFK and I was headed to Newark. My first flight was just over an hour to Charlotte and the second was about three hours to Newark where my cousin picked me up. I will be staying with my cousins about an hour north of New York city for some of winter break. I got settled in and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

View of the Mississippi

Charlotte

 

 

 

 Thursday 18th- Saturday 19th-

Just spent these days catching up on some much needed sleep, getting to know my cousins and relaxing. Went to the Palisades mall, a huge 4 story shopping center with two cinemas, a carousel and an indoor Ferris wheel! Planning a trip in to New York city to meet up with everyone again next week. I'll write about that later.

 I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays! Thanks again for reading- Fiona