After being home for two days I would have thought that I would have been completely back into my usual routine but it feels different being home than any other break. My mind is still very much in Dulac rather than in Ossining. I miss all the people from the trip and everything that we saw and did in both Dulac and New Orleans. It’s so hard to explain to everyone here, especially my family, why I’m not overjoyed to be home and why I’m not my usual self. I am also finding it very difficult to answer the ever-present question of “How was it?!?” I want to say “Great!” but at the same time it was so much more than that. For me it was a mix of fun and sad and memorable and frustrating and so many other things all rolled into one. I’m not sure that there are any accurate words to descirbe the whole experience. Being able to talk with the group before we left for home and then Arielle and Katie in the car has helped because I know that they all understand what I’m trying to say since they are all in relatively the same place as me. Hopefully as I see more friends and family I’ll find a more accurate way to describe my trip that explains both the happy and the sad aspects of the experience.

I think the hardest moment  I’ve encountered while being home was when I went to the mall today. I was walking around by myself in the heat of holiday shoppping season and the ignorance of everyone around me and the excess of spending that accompanies this season in contrast with the devesation in Dulac, and all the other rural Gulf state fishing towns, was really hard to accept. Yet there isn’t anything that I can really do to change the self-centered frenzy and attitude of my fellow shoppers. It made me want to scream and I eventually had to leave becuase I just couldn’t take it anymore. I hope that everyone on the trip is able to have a happy holidays and enjoy being with their families and I can’t wait to see you back at Union in a few weeks!