New Orleans

So I went to New Orleans for Spring Break. I tell people that it was for a friend's 21st birthday (one of the people I was traveling with turned 21 the day before and her party was the night before we left) but the real reason is that a HUGE conference for biomedical engineering research and devices was being held there. I have no way to describe the city other than "completely insane."

I really can't do justice to the experience in words. HERE is a link to pictures. Take a look and I'll try and touch on the highlight below.

First of all, the plane ride there was fairly eventful. My friend who turned 21 the night before (let's call her Andrea) was in surprisingly good shape. If you knew her you wouldn't be surprised, she's Greek, hyper and I guess kind of ok to hang out with (sarcasm). So, our flight was broken up into three legs, Portland to Kansas City, KC to Dallas and Dallas to New Orleans. For me the flight to KC was just fine. The two 1.5 hour flight really did me in. We'll just say I'm prone to motion sickness but usually it's not too bad. The turbulence changed that. I'll keep this decent and just say that I had three 'presents' for the flight attendant.
In addition to this (we'll call him Carl) had a diet coke spilled on him so he wasn't in the best shape. Now for the story of the flight: the flight attendant had gotten to know us pretty well since we'd been on the plane through all the stops. When he stopped by at the stop in Dallas he mentioned that he noticed that none of us were drinking, to which Carl responded "oh, Andrea has had enough to drink for the three of us" and went on to explain that is was her 21st birthday. This comment earned Andrea a "drink on the house!" Next time the flight attendant stopped by Andrea asked for an orange juice (which she'd been drinking all day). After receiving a disappointed look from the attendant she went ahead to say "ok, well just make it a screwdriver." Again, the flight attendant just looked at her and said "no, I've got this cranberry thing..." Andrea being the adventurous type when ahead and agreed without any questions. Now keep in mind that she'd partied all night, been on a plane all day and only had oatmeal in the morning and airplane snacks throughout the day... bad combination. After taking a sip of her drink she turned to me slowly and said "...tastes like straight vodka, there has to be at least 3 shots in here." The picture on the left shows her reaction pretty well after arriving in New Orleans.


Yes, there are tons of stories about New Orleans but really, the pictures describe the experience better than I can. It was an awesome experience and despite my prediction, no one flipped out and we all still liked each other by the end of the trip. Seriously, look at the pictures and enjoy. HERE is the link to the photo album again.