Ok, so I was left with the last day of our amazing trip. It’s sad to think that tomorrow we’ll be heading back to Springfield but so happy to experience everything and every detail that we did this week.
Just for start, english is not my first language (so I’m really sorry for any grammar mistakes) and United States is not my home country. But I can say that not only just me, but all the friends that I did on this trip got really amazed by this opportunity.
Today was our free day but deep down we missed hammering some nails, digging holes, building decks and painting houses. You can think that free day means “chill day” but it was the opposite. New Orleans has so much to offer that we couldn’t even imagine that we would end up this day as much tired as the others.
First, we got to try the famous Beignets at Cafe du Monde and I have no abjectives to describe that experience – not even in portuguese – it was even more than I expected. Then we walked around appreciating local arts on the Lafayette Square until the Presbytere Museum was opened. I think I can say for all the girls (+Alex) on the museum was the highest point of our trip, we could see that all of our work was more than valuable.
When Hurricane Katrina happened we were young so it’s acceptable that we don’t remember much of the pain that U.S. been through that time. But getting to see the images and videos of that time and learning the geographical reasons together with human errors for the vastiness made us realize that we did a good job this week serving a town that has lost so much. Even though we helped build “only” three houses, that makes a huge difference for this city that we are not able to mesure.
After that experience we got the full day to enjoy New Orleans as the way it deserved. We walked around French Quarter small streets, window shopped, bought souvenirs, ate Crawfish Hot Dogs and Crepes. We made the huge mistake to think that our “free day” was going to do a “chill day” and our fit bits just proved that.
The cherry of the pie was St. Patrick’s day Parade, for me, an international student from Brazil, it was an unique experience to watch so many people enjoying and celebrating. The best part was to enjoy all of this with the new friends that I did on this Spring Break.
Our trip ends tomorrow, but I think all the lessons that we’ve learned and the feelings that we shared it’s going to last long.
Hope Alex and Liz have a great night of sleep because tomorrow it’s going to be a long day driving back home.