Hurrication

Okay, I have a minute because I still make freshman in college mistakes. A victory Doctor Pepper is NOT the way to celebrate packing up your room if you planned on sleeping after. Especially if your roomie (who happens to be one of your best friends in the world even after just a week) made the same epic mistake. I think we'll be up for a bit.

Packing up is right. My room hasn't looked this clean since the day I walked into it. Besides the Einstein poster, which is way away from the window (around where the picture was taken) and Meg's suitcase on the ground, we're all packed up. This is nuts because a few short hours ago, our room was a mess...maybe the good that's come out of Gustav so far is the motivation for me and Meg to clean our room (and take a break to take about 160 pictures with the "NO ME GUSTAV" window paint over our window, because we are proud of ourselves).

So tomorrow I get to evacuate with my boyfriend and my roommate to Dallas. In case you haven't seen the projection of this storm, you can see it here, taken from the Weather Channel site.













New Orleans is right in the middle, and the storm is moving very slowly (which is not good), but my dad made a valid point. When he is golfing and there's a big tree in the way, he aims for the tree, as he's bound to go to the left or right.

In Fitchburg, I worry about storms maybe a few hours before ("Canobie Lake trip tomorrow instead? Looks like there's a system coming through"), and even in this summer, when it rained every day (is that still going on, folks, or did I take that weather pattern with me?), we never had to evacuate, the most I had to do was move a tree that fell down in my driveway!

More evacuation news and pictures to come.

<3may

First Week Of Classes, First Mandatory Evacuation

In my first week in New Orleans, I got to brag about how eight inches of snow is "nothing" and complain that it was "so damn hot"while I marched away in band.

Hurricane Gustav seems to be heading our way, and I am faced with my first ever mandatory evacuation. I'll get a nice trip to Dallas with the boyfriend in the deal, and I really don't think it'll be too bad here in New Orleans. It's a little scary, knowing home is threatened, but I think things will be fine in general.

I will write more when I am in Dallas and not packing frantically, I just wanted to let everyone know I'm safe.

<3may

My First Week: Results.

Hey there everyone!

I am quietly typing away on my little macbook while my roommate sleeps in the bed next to mine (she's a heavy sleeper, so i probably won't have to worry about blogging whenever I need to). She moved in yesterday, from Texas. I am in the TU marching band, so I've been here since the 15th.

Band camp was a lot of fun, but I probably worked harder than I ever have. The heat down here is much stronger than anything one experiences in the North, plus, if you can believe it, the humidity is stronger than the New England air I grew up on. In Massachusetts, I would typically reapply sunscreen at my lunch break during whatever outdoor activity I participated in. In our marching band, we take water breaks about every hour or so, when I would always reapply, and I still managed second-degree burns. I did not know it was physically possible to blister from a sunburn, but it is (I personally thought that my legs were infected with the bubonic plague).

Everyone has a nice outlook on life so far. A lot of people are in strong spirits. One night, I had a political debate with a friend who's polar opposite me politically (conservative Christian while I'm...not), but it was so civil! We loved talking for hours on end, and we critiqued each others parties, but never got mad at each other- even when talking about sensitive issues like abortion, gay marriage, and separation of church in state. Back home, these civil political debates did not happen in my circle of friends- but this is one of the many reasons why I chose Louisiana- to be around people who are different, but still have my oasis in the city of New Orleans.

One minor thing I noticed that's different about New Orleans is how everyone drives. I've never driven here, but am fluent in my comfort zones of Mass and NH (okay, I avoid 128). Here, the cars don't always stop for pedestrians like you can trust them to do in Boston, but everyone drives a lot slower. It's an interesting concept.

I miss everyone so much, and I can't wait to come home to Fitchburg with a host of new ideas in how to revitalize the city.

Love always,
May

Part One: Prepping for Departure

Last night, one of my best friends (and Fitchburg native) asked me to document my "Exodus" of Fitchburg- what it is like to leave the city you were born in and the city you love. I am so connected with this city (see my half-asleep, grammatically incorrect ode to Fitchburg in my other blog, Estrogenet, here), and this is going to be a difficult journey, but one that I look forward to.

From my birth on December 16th, 1989, to today, August 14th, 2008, when people ask me where I lived, I said "Fitchburg", very proudly (even though I kind of live in Townsend). That's almost nineteen years of being a girl in the 'Burg. I've seen a lot of changes as I've grown up here, and I feel very connected to this city.

Tomorrow, in the wee hours of the morning, I will get dropped off by teary-eyed parents at Logan Airport. I feel like I'm being sent off into the world, pushed out of my comfort zone. I am so lucky to have three solid deep friendships there, and many other acquaintances with the potential for becoming deep, so I have a safety net. I will live in New Orleans, but my home will be Fitchburg. That will always be where I'm from.

Last night, I called my fellow Tulanian and Dallas native friend crying. I told him all about Fitchburg's problems and that I didn't feel ready to leave. I hadn't finished my work here- I felt like I was quitting. I had earlier expressed this "I'm not ready" feeling to the friend that convinced me to start this chronology. They both told me that I am moving onto another adventure, and Fitchburg will always be here for me. I can always come back. I don't want to become Fitchburg's prodigal son that comes back once a year, but eventually, I want to spend more time here. It's hard to be away from the city I grew up in, but I need to open a window somewhere else. Experiencing another developing city will help me come back and let Fitchburg develop. So many positive changes have happened this year, and I look forward to reading the Sentinel online (unless they deliver to NOLA? Just kidding) and finding out what's new. Keeping in touch with my Charter folks and seeing how the school I have been involved with since it had dirt floors and had another year to open its doors for the first time.

Leaving Fitchburg will be hard, but I can't wait to come home with a new level of experience under my belt.

<3may