Saint Louis Cathedral, Jackson Square, French Quarter, New Orleans

Licking my fingers after delicious beignets at Cafe du Monde

Rebecca and I on the roof of one of the houses at the Habitat work site!

After three days of hard but rewarding work, the Berklee Crew has nothing but shining smiles on their faces and are still going strong in The Big Easy. It has been such an incredible experience in New Orleans over the course of the past week. Local attractions, serious Berklee bonding, and “sweat equity” has taken up most of our time and it has been an excellent experience so far, through and through.

Of the ten of us on the trip this year, only a couple have spent significant time in the city by the muddy Mississippi. From the get-go, on Monday, our eyes have been wide open, trying to understand and explore this new, tropical climate and the history and beauty that goes along with our surroundings. We happened to run into a rock star (Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl), took multiple trips through the colorful French Quarter, heard some authentic Jazz music at The Spotted Cat Music Club, saw the beauty of the Garden district, ate some absolutely incredible meals (including beignets from Cafe Du Monde, Cajun Pasta and Gumbo from Coops (my fav), and some delicious wine and cheese from Bacchanals), and spent the majority of our daylight hours learning and helping one another in the common goal of building four houses in East New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity.

With two more days left in NOLA, I am looking forward to continuing our excellent construction progress, having more southern-style food (that is good enough “to write home about”), and am secretly hoping one of the future homeowners comes to our work site to see the smiles on the faces of the volunteers who are help making a dream of theirs a reality. It has been a great opportunity to be a part of this trip and am grateful to be a part of such a fun and talented group of people. Go Berklee, Go Habitat for Humanity, and GO NOLA!

Steve

#BerkleeNOLA