February

Another month done, and only two more months to go! Time is going by ridiculously fast. The semester is almost over. I only have a few more exams left, few more presentations and then just about done. It is crazy.

I stayed in New Orleans for mardi gras and it was definitely an experience like no other. Both my sister and my friend came to visit me for spring break/mardi gras as well and they loved it. The weather here has been pretty cold too. I tend to have to layer up. I knew it was colder than San Diego of course, but sometimes it is painfully cold! So word to the wise, be prepared for cold and I even told my sister and friend to plan for 40 and 70 F degree weather. Just in case. They did not believe me and froze a good portion of their visit. It was funny. However, they still had a great time. We walked through the french quarter almost everyday eating at delicious restaurants and showing them the sites. I also took them to see the cemeteries, since they are above ground. Something really cool is that there are some "Hobuschs" buried here in New Orleans. I even found their grave stone. I am not completely sure if I have some relation to them, but it is definitely possible.  Which I do find very cool! Who knew that I could actually have relatives from the late 1800's buried here?

Also I know that the main focus of mardi gras is to have fun and "party," but I noticed a lot more than just that. During the day, the parades were more than just jumping up and down for beads. It is a huge event for friends and family to spend outside participating in this tradition. I have never experienced a street parade like this before, or probably even a street parade in general. (I cannot remember ever seeing a street parade) After each parade all of the children would go out onto the street and play with the balls they caught or use the broken beads as a jump rope. Everyone was having a good time. One of the coolest or niftiest things I saw while at the parades is people using ladders as a seating area. They would have a bench seat on top. It looked like a giant high chair. One of the most clever contraptions I saw. I would not have minded sitting in of them.

February is a short month, and it usually goes by in the blink of an eye, but I do not think I was even able to blink.

Volunteer:
KIPP: Feb 26th. 9am-12pm