NOLAween

Peyton (left) and Sarah (right),
both interns for Tulane Admission

 Guest blogger: Sarah

If you think Halloween is fun in your hometown, just wait until you hear about Halloween in New Orleans. Two weekends of celebratory events, concerts, festivities on campus, plus the general fun of any weekend in New Orleans makes for an unbeatable combination. 

To get into the spirit, my roommates and I went on a little shopping spree. We first went to the pumpkin patch right off Tulane’s campus and bought some decorative pumpkins for our house. Three hours later, after stopping at two different Halloween Superstores and Wal-Mart (and Chipotle), we came home and began our decorating. Soon enough, our house was ready for a pre-Halloween party.

We invited our friends over for a Halloween costume contest and haunted house. I think it’s safe to say everyone and everything looked incredible and that our friends were sufficiently spooked.

While most cities or college towns spend this weekend preparing, decorating, or finding costumes, New Orleans uses Halloween as an excuse to celebrate for TWO weekends. Bars and clubs around the city had Halloween parties and one krewe paraded near Jackson Square. I made sure to check out one of the most intense Haunted Houses in New Orleans, referred to as the House of Shock. After the actual haunted portion, there was an outdoor music festival with food, drinks, and live music. It was one of the more terrifying experiences and my wrists had fingernail marks imprinted from one of my friends, but I wouldn’t expect anything less from New Orleans.

Tulane also got into the Halloween spirit! The Tuesday before Halloween there was a showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. If you’ve been to a live show, then you know that audience participation is half the fun. I’d been once before, so I knew what to expect, but it was a totally different experience being on campus, surrounded by so many young people dressed up in their lace and fishnets. 

Finally, to Halloween weekend itself!!! We started the weekend off on Thursday, which was Halloween night. It’s a tradition in New Orleans to go to Frenchman Street, which basically turns in to a big party in the street. Everyone is dressed up in their costumes and roams around with their friends, marveling at everyone’s unique and clever costumes. To catch a break from the craziness outside, everyone can head into the bars on Frenchmen - which always play live music on Halloween (and most other nights too). My friends and I dressed up as the cast of Orange is the New Black, and we saw three other groups dressed up just like us. I also saw two teachers, which made class extra fun on Monday ;).

I spent the rest of the weekend at Voodoo Music and Arts Festival. My favorite artist had to be Macklemore. He opened his concert with this elaborate story about his arrival to New Orleans. It went something like this… “I got off the plane, and I was just so happy to be here, I was feeling so alive. It’s New Orleans! And I just wanted to go to the river. I had to be in the water. So I went to the river, took off my clothes, and dove right on in. I was feeling so alive, so happy, when I looked over and I see these two dudes holding my pants. And I yell, dude, those are my pants! And they run away”. Macklemore goes on to explain that he finds this old lady feeding the birds, and she tells him to follow her. He continues, “So I followed her, naked, in a foreign city, with no idea what was going on. And finally I ask her, where are we going? And she responds and says, well, it looks like you don’t have any pants on. So we’re going to the THRIFT SHOP!” You’d think I could have predicted that ending to the story was heading… but I didn’t. It was an incredible show and I’m even more in love with Macklemore than I was before. Mary Lambert was there too to perform ‘Same Love’ which was also a beautiful performance.

Other highlights of the weekend included Calvin Harris, Matt and Kim, Paramore, Afrojack, Kid Rock, Pearl Jam, and Bassnectar. The weekend was a total break from reality and honestly felt like a mini-vacation. The weather was perfect (high 60s), the music was great, and the spirit of New Orleans was strong. 

No other city has quite the amount of festivities as New Orleans does. From regular concerts, to parties in the street, 3-day music festivals, and fun events on campus, New Orleans, or Nolaween, is a party similar to none other. We hope you can join us for it next year!

Follow me at @Tulane_Sarah for more scoop on life as a Tulane senior! 

(!Hello from Amman, Jordan) مرحبا من عمان الأردن

Guest Blogger: Peyton Smith

After two and a half years at Tulane, I thought I had it all. A major I was passionate about, the best friends a girl could ask for, a Frisbee team that had my back, and a comfy off campus house. So when I decided to study abroad in Amman, Jordan, I was terrified. I was leaving New Orleans for a life in a conservative, Middle Eastern city to study and live with a new family. First thing you should know is that New Orleans is my favorite place on the planet, so leaving was sad enough, but leaving for a place so outside of my comfort zone was probably the scariest thing I have ever done. But after being in Amman for three months now, I can genuinely say that studying abroad was the second best decision I have ever made; only second to choosing Tulane. Here is a little about about my experience in a Middle Eastern country. 



My abroad program is amazing. While here, I took two different Arabic courses, a course on modernization and social change in Jordan, and a class on research methods and ethics. You may ask, "Why would you take a class on research while you were abroad, Peyton?" Good question, I'll tell you why: I get to conduct my own research and write my own undergraduate research paper! For an entire month, I have no classes; its just me, lots of Arabic coffee, and my research. In fact, I am procrastinating my research paper by writing this blog post for you! It isn't often that undergraduates get to conduct their own research, especially in another country, so this a once in a life time opportunity. I am graduating next year, so I am hoping I can use this research to get me into graduate school!

But here in Jordan, I am not just studying Arabic and doing research all day. I have had the chance to experience life in the Middle East and to become a temporary Jordanian. As part of my program, I get to live with a home stay family. I am currently living in a three bedroom home with seven other people: my mother, father, two brothers and three sisters. There is no such thing as privacy or personal space here. But I got used to it and grew to love my new family as if they were my own. We eat every meal together (the most delicious Middle Eastern food you've ever tasted), sing ridiculous amounts of tribal music, smoke hookah until all hours of the night and laugh at how bad my Arabic is. They are my big, fat, Arab family.

I have also had the chance to see some of the most beautiful sights in the world. During one of our excursions to the south of Jordan, I checked off one of the seven wonders of the world: Petra. The ancient city of Petra is an entire city carved into the most beautiful, red rock. It was absolutely breathtaking. But my fun didn't stop there! I went to Wadi Rum, slept under the stars and listened to the silence of the desert. The best part about that was the camel ride the next morning. Camels are awesome, by the way. Perhaps the coolest cultural thing I have had the chance to do is that I lived with a Bedouin family for a week. I left my home in Amman for a week to live in the village of Umm ar-Rasas (mother of bullets) with a Bedouin tribe. My family spoke absolutely no English, but that made it all the more interesting. My host mother taught me to make homemade bread, herd the sheep and milk the goats. I also drank the most delicious Bedouin tea, which consisted of tea, way too much sugar and fresh, warm goats milk. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Although I was terrified to be leaving NOLA, I am getting sadder and sadder every day to leave Amman. In just four months here, I have learned and experienced more than I ever thought possible. It will be hard to leave the hospitality and kindness this country has showed me. But I find comfort in knowing that I am leaving it for the best city in the world. And the fact that I can finally eat po-boys again.