Uptown New Orleans Was Far Enough

Guest blogger: Adam Griego

Since I was born and raised in a suburb of New Orleans to a family with no ties to Tulane, Tulane was never really on my radar for where I wanted to go to college. I was raised like all of my friends where you rather donned yourself in purple and gold or believed that this was your time to get out of the Southeast or at least Louisiana.  When it came time to pick which colleges that I wanted to apply to and ultimately attend, I had four categories that I assessed when breaking down each individual school.        

I wanted to:
 . Get as far away from home as possible
 . Have a big sports school atmosphere
 . Be one of a thousand students in big intro level classes
 . Attend an academically challenging institution

 Well, one out of four ain’t bad, but ignoring numbers one through three led me to learn more than I ever thought I could about my city and other areas of the world.

As a New Orleanian, I learned more about my hometown in my freshman year than I ever had in my first 18 years. I was able to do this because I got the opportunity to experience my home for the first time, again, with people who were in complete amazement about every single aspect of the city that I already loved. Also, I got to learn more about how what I saw as “normal” growing up by our city’s standards is truly unique to this one area of the world. I could have gone to college in Georgia, South Carolina, or New York, but I never would have gotten the diverse cultural experience like I did in my own hometown. My roommate freshmen and sophomore year was from Kansas, and our neighbors during our two years were from California, New York, Boston, Chicago, Arkansas, and many more, and during my two years as an Orientation Team Leader, I met people from almost every state in a matter of 60 days. By meeting all of these people, I have made connections all around the US and even in other countries. These connections have led me on trips to Boston, Washington D.C., Knoxville, Chicago, and a few others. Though my thought was to get as far away from home for college so that I could learn about another area, I learned that Uptown New Orleans was far enough to open my eyes up to a whole new world and to the lives of others from all around the world.  Another big perk of staying close to home for college is that my parents can still act like I go to school hours away, but when I really need some family time, they are right around the corner to see me for special occasions and feed me a dinner or two from time to time.  Last but not least, I learned the very important lesson that seersucker fabric is only appropriate to wear for Spring events or Homecoming.

In regards to a big sports school atmosphere, I soon learned that a sports program will not make or break my college experience. Sports are a huge part of my life, and if sports are as important to you as they are to me, you can attend every game here for free and enjoy the brand new Yulman Stadium. Also, you have a city that has two big league sports teams, Saints and Pelicans, a minor league baseball team, Zephyrs, and an Arena Football team, Voodoo. Since 2011, we have had the Super Bowl, Men’s Final Four, Arena Bowl, and Women’s Final Four, and the NBA All-star Game is coming next year. The opportunities for getting involved in the sports industry are endless, and I have taken advantage of it by volunteering for multiple events and having an internship with the Triple AAA New Orleans Zephyrs for this entire summer.

As far as being one of a thousand students, that would have been the worst situation for me. I have gotten to know so many incredible professors that have been able to talk to me one on one on both and academic and social level. The professors that I have met during my time here have not tried to fail me to prove that they know more than I do. They will do anything they can to make sure that I understand the material so that I walk away with new information to use in the future.

Lastly, the academic challenges are exactly what I was looking for in my college experience. I am challenged every week with foreign material but have the essential tools and information to complete my work. Our finance program ranks 3rd in the nation and top 30 internationally. The people that I am meeting and classes that I am taking are setting me up to succeed in my life after Tulane.

To this day, going against my original train of thought and attending Tulane was one of the luckiest decisions that I have made because of the time I have spent getting to explore my hometown and the people that I have met during this incredible experience.

Best City Ever!!

Best Year____ Ever!!

Andrew Lemoine, a rising sophomore, wrote an awesome blog series highlighting why he loves Tulane. Stay tuned to hear more from Andrew!

            So freshman year is in the books, and boy was it one I will never forget. As a local kid from Louisiana I didn’t know what to expect by staying in state for college, but it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. New Orleans is one of the most unique places in the world. I think that this statement pretty much sums up my experience at Tulane this past year. Unique!

Best City Ever!!

            New Orleans is, without a doubt, one of the best cities in the world. From the culture, music, history, food, to the people, Nola did NOT disappoint. I think the best part of the experience was getting the opportunity to be in New Orleans as a resident, not a tourist. Of course, I had been to New Orleans more times than I could ever count, but there was just something different about it now that I was living here. I was able to take in the city like I never had before. For example, my T.I.D.E.S. class last fall was “A Running Conversation.”  My class met once a week and ran through the many neighborhoods and districts of New Orleans. From Uptown and the Garden District, to the levee and the lakeshore, this was one of the coolest things about learning the city. Something as simple as running turned into amazing history and cultural lessons about NOLA.   

My T.I.D.E.S. class on a Friday morning run through Storyland near City Park

My professor grew up in New Orleans, so getting to hear his personal stories and experiences growing up just added to it. Seeing and hearing about how so much of the city has changed since then really put things into perspective. I truly just loved being immersed in so much history and culture.

            One thing that makes Louisiana different than any other state is the fact that Louisiana knows how to celebrate. And one way people from the south love to celebrate is festivals, festivals, and more festivals. Louisiana has more festivals than there are days of the year. Many say that in Louisiana, if you can eat it, see it, or smell it, there is probably a festival for it. I mean there’s Mardi Gras of course, but there are so many more! Po-boy Fest, Freret Street Festival, Strawberry Festival, there is a Tennessee Williams Festival, French Quarter Festival, and on and on. Then of course there are some student favorites: Voodoo Fest, Jazz Fest, and Tulane’s very own Crawfest. Getting to spend and entire year trying these new things and learning new cultures even added to the experience. I don’t even think it would be physically possible to type out how much of an impact the city of New Orleans has on you each and every day. The city IS part of Tulane and such an integral part of your life. It’s just something you have to experience. There really is no way to describe it.