TAKING TIME OFF!!!

It is the best when I am able to take a break from it all and go to...say...Mardi Gras!!!


In Louisiana everyone gets an entire week off to celebrate what is meant a religious preparation for Easter. So, yes, I too took an week off from school, right before midterms to go back to New Orleans!!!


OMG...to get away from WMU and Kzoo with all of its snow was the greatest. Since I am so used to the highways, the two and a half hour drive to fly out of Chicago did not bother me one bit. Arriving at the airport, the trip started out right as I saw two guys I went to high school with in Vallejo, California - such a small world. It was too funny - they were actually trying to holla at me, and then did a double take and they said "don't I know you?" LOL


Upon boarding the plane and taking off, the drinks were pouring! So many people were ordering and the flight attendants were bringing the alcoholic beverages like folks were asking for coke and water, LOL. Setting foot in New Orleans, OMG, you could smell the liquor in baggage claim - I had not even mad it out of the airport yet!


Yes, the week was off to a great start. I ate good, went to parades, saw old faces, and of course partied hard (I saw a guy that I went to elementary/church with in Oakland, California chilling at one of the parades)! The sun shone so bright that I forgot all about the freezing snow that was falling in Kalamazoo and I tanned beautifully. And even though I was back in the NO once again, I still experienced some FIRSTS!

Mardi Gras is so much fun, I am not even going to try to explain everything there is to do...you guys go and experience for yourselves!


The day before it was time to head back to Kzoo :( I spent the whole day sitting in the sun! I guess I was trying to soak up as many rays as possible LOL. Actually, I was reading a book for class by the pool. I got teased so bad! Folks said, "look at you Esther, how are you going to study after partying the entire week?!" But yall know I don't pay folks too much mind. We laughed I kept reading.


At the end of Mardi Gras (hated to see the festivities end), I flew back and spent the night in Chicago. To close out my vacation, I went out to eat, met some guys, and went shopping. School mates called to say 'be careful' and that there was a terrible snow storm in Kzoo. I clearly did not heed the word because I did not leave Chi until around 6:00 pm. Sure enough, driving into Kzoo was so bad I considered pulling off the highway and getting another hotel room. But, I decided against that. I figured, as long as I could see cars in front of me, I would be alright. Needless to say, I made it back safely - thank goodness.


I got back to my Kzoo home on Sunday and my midterm was that very week - covering the entire book that I had read in one day! Got an "A" on the exam too!