I’m just about done with all my packing and as I sit here I am anxious and nervous but most of all…excited!! Yesterday, we had a lot of fun at the Schenectady Community Land Trust learning how to properly use certain tools in addition to putting up sheetrock. The construction aspect of the trip will be a lot of  fun and hard work, but I think what I am most looking forward to is  the more cultural aspects of the trip. In my mind, the best parts about traveling are meeting new people, hearing their stories, trying their food and getting a glimpse at what life is like in that particular place. Meeting New Orleanians, hearing their stories and being able to learn about their very unique culture, is an opportunity that I’m very excited for. The many tragedies they’ve endured over the years-most recently with Katrina and the BP Oil spill-are still very much a part of their lives and I feel very thankful that I will have the opportunity to (hopefully) listen to their stories and perspectives on the disaster while helping to rebuild some of the houses within the community! I cant wait to see what’s in store for us!! Nola here we come! 🙂

I am currently finishing up packing for New Orleans, which is 9 hours away(bus to airport), and after a series of jumping on my suitcase I finally got it to close. By my standards and history of traveling I have underpacked and I’m super proud of that! However, I’m pretty sure that by everyone else’s standards I have probably overpacked. I did my best, and since I can lift it, it’s probably under the weight limit… I hope. Everyone seemed to get anxious and excited during the tool workshop yesterday, and I think it was there that it dawned on everyone that we would be leaving soon. Everyone really seemed to be having fun with it, and I continue to pat myself on the back for keeping all 10 fingers and toes. I’m really excited for tomorrow because I love to fly and travel and it happens so rarely for me, and I feel like we’re going down to New Orleans to do some really great things for people who need it, especially with the holidays no near. It is easy for people to forget the privelages and blessings that we all have, and unfortunately it is not until we lose those things that we truly appreciate them. I’ve been lucky to have the family and things that I have grown up with and it is time to help out those who need it more. I am excited to work with the families who will be living in these homes, and I am excited to get down in the dirt and fix up the wetlands that we’re slowly destroying. Although if I find any animals that need some help, I may return with a zoo. My parents just don’t know that yet. I’m excited to encounter the good things and even the difficult things that are ahead for us all, and I’m really excited to share these experiences with such a great group of people, some that I have known for years, and others I am just now getting to know. Two weeks seem like such a long time to be somewhere so different from Union, or even little Rhode Island, but I know that on December 19th’s plane ride home I’ll be looking back thinking that it went too quickly, but I’m ready to take it all in and do my best to help out however I can. Maybe I’ll even get a little muscle out of it! So far, so good though, I have managed to close my suitcase.

I have always been very eager to put myself in new situations and learn new things. New Orleans is certainly something different for me to experience. I have never spent time down south and I am excited to see the differences in culture and environment. While I have done some community service projects, I have not get gotten the opportunity to travel and spend multiple days on a project. Not only does this help me appreciate what I have, but it also makes me thankful that we have such a large group of students that actually care about what is going on around us. Many people sit back in their living rooms saying, “Oh how sad but thank God that’s not me.” However, this group of Union students wants to make a great gesture by actually taking actions to help with the aftermath of the disaster.

I am thrilled to be doing work that extremely hands on, something I find more rewarding than anything I could be doing to help sitting at home. I think it is important for me to be able to see firsthand what people have experienced in order to truly be empathic. While we have seen many documentaries, I believe that my knowledge in the topic will exceed anything that a book or movie would be able to teach me. Each person in New Orleans has a story to tell, whether it is the construction worker helping us out or it is the Sociology teacher from one of the local colleges. I have never been so anxious to hear stories and learn about lives and experiences much different than my own.

Since fall term has begun we have received so much education about Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill. There are always new topics to be discussed such as the psychological affects and the environmental affects. Not only has our readings and discussions made me realized how these two disasters, essentially, were “manmade disasters,” but it also opens my eyes to how unprepared our society is for “worst case scenarios.” I have really enjoyed getting a closer look at issues that America has been seemingly desensitized to. By traveling down to Louisiana I am only continuing this journey.

When I think of going south of the Mason Dixie line, I always think of going home but this is a completely new experience. We have learned a lot so far and I do not know what to expect once we arrive. I am not nervous but I do believe that I am anxious to see what is in store for us and to experience the culture and lives of the people of Louisiana.

I think I am overwhelmed with information and I am expecting something that is completely different from what I am used to in the south. I will be content when we arrive and I have had my first encounter with folks. I am very excited! I cannot wait to share this experience with new friends.

Overall, I’m not really sure what to expect in New Orleans. I know that there are a lot of depressing neighborhoods and some more lively ones. There will be a lot of poor people there, which isn’t especially new for me given some of the neighborhoods that I have lived in. I’m looking forward to seeing the French Quarter and listening to Jazz, and just experiencing the culture in general. I’m pretty curious about what it’s like to go out in New Orleans—and if there are a lot of young people there or not. I’ve also never been in a majority African American city, so I’m looking forward to having that new experience. My impression is that restaurants aren’t as vegetarian friendly as they are in the north, so I’m a bit nervous about the food situation. I’m more excited to go to Dulac and also to see the urban farm than I am to work with PNOLA, because I’m more of an outdoorsy than a city person (although I do like cities). More specifically, I’m eager to know what projects we will be doing in Dulac. I think that it would be cool to be a peer listener and hear some stories from Louisianans firsthand. I’m also looking forward to the wetlands tour. From what I’ve seen in pictures/film they are very beautiful.

As my extremely creative title expresses, I am really looking forward to heading down to Louisiana on Sunday. Thinking about “what is on my mind as we are about to head south” (something we were supposed to address in our first blog entry) is a bit of a struggle because I can’t really pin down any one topic/idea/feeling that is going on in my mind right now. In other words, it is quite difficult to digest and make sense of the great amount of alarming information we have learned about Katrina over the last term, and especially in the last few days.

If I were to summarize my feelings however, I would have to say that I am perplexed. The general message that we have been learning: that Katrina was not a “natural disaster,” but something that could have been prevented, is really unnerving. I almost feel like the whole situation would be so much easier to deal with if this had just been a natural disaster. But knowing that it could have been prevented, and that response could have been dealt with in a way that didn’t leave so many people in shambles, really makes me question things. I guess it’s hard not to have someone or something concrete to ‘blame’ for such a terrible disaster.

I am really happy to be going at this point (so many years after the event) because I am really curious to learn how such an event would be dealt with. So, in going down to New Orleans, I guess what I will be looking for is answers. What were the main forces that caused this to happen? Five years after the hurricane, which issues are the worst? What strategies have worked best to aid and bring relief to the survivors and to the city as a whole?

On another note, from what I have experienced so far, I think the group we have is awesome, and that we have been working really well together. I am so excited to put in some hard work on reconstruction, and experience the food, history, and culture of New Orleans for the first time with all of you!

As my frozen hands type my first blog in my frigid room on campus, it makes me that much more eager to get on the plane to New Orleans sooner rather than later. For the past 20 years, I have lived in Massachusetts and ended up not going very far for college. With that said, I am very anxious to immerse myself in a new culture away from the North, as well as seeing the area first hand. It is quite difficult to look past all of the media’s viewpoints on New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina, so I am very curious to see the city through my own eyes and judge for myself.

After learning about ‘voluntourism’, I am somewhat worried about being looked down upon by the New Orleans residents. My hope is that they do not think we are there for personal praise, but rather to help the community in every way we can.
Furthermore, I am not particularly close with anybody in the group. So aside from working diligently all day, I am very excited to get close to this small group of Union students because we will not only be working hard together for two weeks on and off the construction sites, but we will hopefully be making a difference in people’s lives. We are all going down with the same determination, which reduces any anxiety I have been feeling. My nervousness has slowly shifted to excitement, because we will all be in this together and I plan on making my first (and hopefully not last) trip to New Orleans a great one.

During the past couple days, preparing for this trip, I have had a mixture of feelings. I am anxious to experience life in a new culture and to try and better understand the situation of the residents of New Orleans face from day to day. I believe it will be invaluable to gain a first hand perspective of this “man-made” disaster rather then rely on what the media portrays. I really want to know how people are coping with the way Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill has affected their lives and as an econ major it will be especially important for me to learn about the economic situation of New Orleans. This trip is directly relevant to my thesis, “What is the Effect of Macro Economic Conditions on Happiness,” which deals with changing unemployment rates and the effect it has on a person’s satifaction of life. I believe that it is important to keep in mind that the “Growth Machine” can have real long-term negative effects on individual citizens not just economically, but in terms happiness or health status. These non-economic “costs” are not so easily quantifiable and may be underestimated or even neglected when public projects are constructed. I hope to gain a better understanding of both the economic and social issues facing New Orleans. My hope, is that after my trip, I will leave knowing I made an impact on this community, share my experience with others, present an accurate portrayal of what life is really like for those affected by Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil and be able to purpose furture actions that can be taken to further aid the victims.

Since I started the process of signing up for this mini term I was excited to have the opportunity to contribute positively to the victims of Hurricane; this feeling has not changed, but has grown in the past couple days as we have discussed the various issues that effect New Orleanians’ daily lives. Not only am I excited to help rebuild structures and contribute to the urban farming, but I also want to interact with the residents of New Orleans and really listen to their story if they are willing to share with me. There is no way in which I can relate to what many of them have gone through, but by listening, hopefully I can have some positive impact.

My other feeling before we leave is nervousness. In all of my excitement, I know I will have to be careful to show sensitivity and to display empathy when conversing with residents of New Orleans.

Even though we all are going to be approaching this trip from different prespectives and backgrounds; I am happy to know that we all share a strong desire to volunteer. I am very proud to call myself a part of the Louisiana Mini Term 2010 group. I can’t wait to get to work!

~James

Union College is located about 25 minutes from the house that I grew up in and 15 minutes from the high school that I went to. When I came to Union my radius of experience outside of my hometown only grew by a few miles, while to many students Union is their home away from home. My entire life I have been confined to this small section of Upstate New York and have only traveled out of its limits on infrequent occasions so I am most excited to get out of here an immerse myself in a new culture. One of my biggest, yet least explored passion is that for travelling to places where I can experience living situations not as ideal as my own. Through this I want to gain awareness for the destituteness that plagues populations everywhere, but from which I have been shielded because my perspective has never been relocated. With this awareness I feel that I will no longer take for granted all of the luxuries that I dismiss as common amenities that people go without on a daily basis. This humanitarian excursion is the first step I will be taking towards exploring my passion and my first dabble with globalizing my perspective and the community to which I am serving.
One thing that I am particularly anxious about is actually getting to leave behind my ignorance about the actual condition of New Orleans. Because it has been hard to untangle the truth from the media about the present state of Louisiana, I think that I will not truly understand the extent to which all of these catastrophes have devastated not only the land but the social and economic constructs of New Orleans until I am living in it, which is an argument bolstered by W.E.B Dubois who implied that the only way to truly learn about and know a culture is to live in it.
I am also particularly excited about our night out on Frenchman Street listening to real New Orleans Jazz. Even though I am not a huge jazz fan, it is definitely a style of music I can appreciate especially in a place where it is such an embodiment of the culture!

I am so grateful for this opportunity to go down to Louisiana and help out. This trip means a lot to me. Initially, my feelings towards this trip regarded my family roots in Louisiana, however, these past few days have broadened my feelings in a sense that I am an individual of this Earth, and the people affected by various acts of both nature and mankind, are human. The films we have viewed in class have really touched me, especially “Trouble in Water.” Visuals have such a deep impact on me, and although your own imagination can speculate, the closest thing to the truth behind what has happened down there, are the individuals who went and are going through it. I am excited to interact with these people, however with this excitement comes some anxiety and nerves. I have had a fortunate life and can never imagine the difficulties these people have faced. Connection is extremely important when it comes to human interaction, and this is what will be challenging, especially when the human interaction is based on the content of suffrage and loss, however hope and empathy are what can be shared.

I feel so privileged to be a part of this group. Already, I feel a great connection between all of us. It is so nice to be surrounded by caring and willing individuals, and I’m excited to share what we have to offer, as not only individuals, but as a group down south. Never did I think a random group of Union College students would be gathering in my Aunt and Uncle’s place in the French Quarter, and I am beyond excited to share their wonderful southern personalities with everyone. This random group of Union College students doesn’t seem so random anymore.