To be honest, leaving Dulac was somewhat of a relief. I was feeling sick, the days were exhausting, and it seemed like tensions were rising within the group. I was excited to see my friends and family and be able to talk about New Orleans and what a great experience I had. However, my recollections of the trip were somewhat tainted, presumably because of the last few days at Dulac. I went from raving about the trip the first week to whining about how much work I had to do. Instead of telling friends and family about Bourbon Street, the Jazz, and the Rock and Bowl, I would say I worked from 9-4:30, I was so tired, and we didn’t get out much.

After sharing my story I became surprised as to how much I complained rather than how much I talked about the fun I had. I began to wonder if it was because of how much stress I began to feel in Dulac. It is so easy for me to look back and think about the great experiences we had and the moments where my whole perspective on topics such as community service and New Orleans had changed, yet it is even easier for me to remember the times people were crying or complaining. It is extremely unfortunate that bad memories often take precedent over good memories in our minds, but the more I talked about the mini-term the more I recalled the great times.

The trip led me to become more mature and more aware of the world around me. I like to think that this is true for most people in the group and that they think more about the positives than the negatives, even though that was hard for me at first, too.