Hello again! Despite the delay, neither finals nor the New
Orleanian heat have killed me; I’ve just been in major vacation mode. Like
not-do-the-dishes-despite-the-cockroach-possibility and
wait-when-was-the-last-time-I-showered lazy...well lazy is a bit a bit of a loaded word, I’ve
been doing a lot of migraine fighting too! Thankfully I ended the first
semester well but afterwards I needed a ton of rest and recuperation!
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| Unfortunately I saw this fellow FLY in my apartment; fortunately my kitchen's cleanliness wasn't to blame for his appearance, it probably had lot to do with getting smoked out of his hidey hole by a kitchen fire in my building. |
VACATION IN NEW ORLEANS AS A NON-TOURIST
Despite my proximity to Bourbon St, I'm always going to be an introvert and I'll never enjoy partying so bear with me on my versions of fun. I’m happily getting back into
the exercise thing – yes, I’m one of those people who actually enjoys workouts :D I have been a bit of a
baby, however, because I’ve been sticking to indoor workouts – it’s just too
humid to consider running outside very often. Heck, a walk to the store and
back gets me sweating plenty!
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| See ya in the fall favorite running spot, Audubon Park! |
I also got to spend Memorial Day weekend with my grandma and
grandpa who stopped here on their way from a vacation in Missouri to their home
in Florida. Their stories are always fantastic and my grandma’s strength and
patience is inspirational as is my grandpa’s energy!
Also noteworthy due to volume and my inability to do
anything else during a migraine, I’ve been making my way through a fair share
of Netflix shows (with the brightness and volume turned way down of course!) I
can now rank my preference of all the Star Trek series (Next Gen > Original
Series > DS9 > Voyager > Enterprise), I realize why Grey’s Anatomy is
popular (great/intense plot!) and why I shied away from it for so long (too
dramatic), I’ve found a couple of gems (Heartland & Sense8 are the best!)
and of course I’ve stumbled across a few movies that aren’t worth mentioning.
And finally, when I’ve had time/energy, I’ve picked up
crocheting again and learned to read patterns so I can make things other than
scarves (b/c who needs scarves in NOLA?!), I’ve enjoyed some great walks around
the energetic and beautifully historic French Quarter (also, a friend put it
perfectly when she said “if you’re ever having a bad day, walk down Bourbon St
and compare yourself with those you see – you’ll feel better immediately”), and
been doing some reading for fun – The Maze Runner is a great series, I should
really watch that film…
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| A typical French Quarter scene |
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| A very rare French Quarter scene...no people! |
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| My favorite view here - the St Louis Cathedral behind Jackson Square |
AND THEN THE BREAK WAS OVER
At the beginning of this month I moved apartments. I was
proud to only have what I need and be able to move alone; however, it was much
less work with my dad around the first time! I’m in the same grad student dorms
close to school, I was just able to swing a cheaper rent by switching from a
two-room, two-bathroom apt to a two-room, one-bathroom apt. For $100/month
savings, I’ll share a bathroom with just about anybody! Especially since last
summer I shared a bathroom with 4 boys; after that I can do anything!
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| The view from my new apartment - I love it! |
Additionally, my Public Health Threats in Suriname study
abroad course has begun! We’re currently doing a bunch of readings and
discussions about so many cool topics! They include: the health and environmental
effects of gold mining (mercury is involved…), the environmental and health
effects of deforestation, vector borne diseases (Dengue, Chikungunya…),
intellectual rights, medicinal plants, the epidemiological transition from
infectious diseases to chronic diseases…I’ll stop there because I could go on
all day but then I’d have zero interested blog readers! Next month we’ll be
travelling to Suriname and we’ll get to walk through the Amazon rain forest,
meet a medicine man (or shaman), visit a gold mining site, volunteer at a sloth
rehabilitation shelter, explore the capital city, Paramirabo … it’s going to be
the trip of a lifetime! Right now I’m reading The Shaman’s Apprentice by
Mark J Plotkin (who’s incidentally from New Orleans!) who spent a great deal of
time in the Amazon Rain Forest documenting the medicinal uses of plants and I’ve
been captivated from the first sentence of the book “The tropical rain forest is
the greatest expression of life on earth – Thomas Lovejoy.” I literally cannot
wait to see it for myself, although in all honesty, a part of me is nervous
about the snakes, piranhas, spiders, mosquitoes, etc :P
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Don’t know where Suriname is? No worries, I didn’t either; it used to be Dutch Guiana.
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Anyways, time to go now, thanks for reading!!
