Ali
Jan 4
The first couple of days have been spent preparing for departure to Mississippi. We have had sessions where we learned a brief history of Mississippi, discussed the John Perkins book, Let Justice Roll Down, shared presentations on southern artists, learned safety concerning construction and power tools, and did a picture scavenger hunt. We are all excited and ready to begin our journey.

Jan 5
When we arrived in New Orleans at about 1 p.m., we loaded our buses for what we thought was going to be only an hour and a half car ride to Gulfport, Miss. It turned into three hours. I was almost thankful for this, though, because it gave me more time to really see this city that has had so much news coverage this last year. I saw boats washed up on the opposite side of the freeway from the water, houses stripped of their roofs and endless garbage piles everywhere I looked. But more than the destruction, I noticed the abandonment of the city. While there were a great deal of cars on the highway with us, the actual city was completely devoid of people. Even parking lots were much more empty than I thought they would be. It made me wonder what the city looked like before Katrina. Was it bustling then? Were there really so many deaths and that much loss that the city was stripped of the majority of its people?

Back to Off-Campus Studies >> Online Travelogues >> Gulf Coast Study Program >>