...right in the middle of a million-dollar neighborhood.  There maybe strict street parking rules and sound ordinances, but there will still be flipcup in our dining room.

First night in, the five of us piled into a cab and went down to Bourbon Street.  First stop: Pat O'Briens for Hurricanes (basically punch and a lot of rum in a big plastic cup that you can walk out with).  Other stops included the Cat's Meow (ridiculous karaoke bar) and a third place that had no electricity except for the arcade games (I found a Photo Hunt place!)

Sunday was all setting up my room.  We went to buy a mattress, but they couldn't deliver it until Thursday.  I was sleeping on a squishy air mattress the night before, so it was kind of imperative that I got the bed sooner.  We ended up borrowing Karen's Ford Explorer to pick it up from a warehouse out by the airport.  We thought the guy at the warehouse had tied it on pretty securely, but as soon as I got on the onramp to I-10, we realized it was slipping and turning and we had NO idea what to do.  I hopped on the highway with my hazard lights on anyway, because I didn't know any other way to get home.  There was some honking and crazy gesturing from other people on the road, and we pulled over a few times to fix it.  At one point, a nice guy in a pick up pulled over to help us with more rope he happened to have in his truck.  People are so friendly in the South.  We went really slow and eventually made it back.  (That's me standing on the side of I-10.)

Monday, my sister and I went down to the French Quarter to walk around, but it was so hot and humid we kept stopping in at bars - the Famous Door, which had a lame band at 4pm and Pat O'Briens again, where we chatted with Josh the bartender who was native to New Orleans but had a Brooklyn accent.  That night we went to Bourbon House for dinner with the rest of the clan.  I tried the alligator soup, which was surprisingly quite tasty.  After dinner, we met up with other MD/MPH students at Bruno's up near the Tulane undergrad campus.

It's been thunderstorming at least once a day since I've arrived, but duration and time of day always varies.  Today was garbage day, and this morning the torrential rain had knocked over our trashcan.  Karen and Dustyn and I watched from our enclosed balcony until we noticed the the water at the curb rising and the lid of our trash can floating away.  While Dustyn went to move the cars onto the driveway, I put on my galoshes and went running out to retrieve the lid of the trashcan.  By the time I got out there, it was gone.  Running along the sidewalk, I found it about 50 feet away - it had floated under the minivans and SUVs down the street and was stuck in front of the bumper of a red Saab.

I've been to Target everyday I've been here.  It's the only place I know how to get to.

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