NEW ORLEANS - This past weekend, eight students with Troy University’s department of Art and Design traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana to experience the rich art and music scene.
Chaperoned by department of Art and Design assistant professors Will Jacks and Thiffany Belda, students explored various museums, art bazaars and local stores during their three-day trip.
Thankfully, I was one of those students and was able to experience New Orleans once again for the my last school trip of my college career.
The new experiences started only an hour away from Troy, where the students made their first stop at Conecuh Sausage, a general market with a giant statue of a pig in front.
On a whim, I tried some of their hickory sausage as an introduction to the meat (yes, my family is very annoyed at the fact it took this long for me to actually try sausage) and grabbed some Cajun pasta with it for the five-hour drive ahead there.
Finally arriving at our hostel, the Quisby, students loaded up their luggage into their rooms (I somewhat unfortunately got a top bunk in my group’s room) and headed back downstairs to drive to Frenchman Street.
From there, five others and I debated our options for dining, eventually landing on a fancy spot: Marigny Brasserie. If you find yourself on Frenchman and can afford an almost $20 chicken sandwich, I couldn’t recommend it enough. If someone does end up going, please tell me what the crawfish beignets tasted like;, it’s been days, and I still wish I tried it.
We explored the nighttime art fair – Frenchman Art Bazaar, filled with art of all types: paintings, coasters, jewelry, crystals and, even a fully illustrated book written by one of the artists.
I ended up purchasing a medium-sized painting from local artist Gavi Kaplan, titled "Get Off My Lawn.”
To cap off the night, the students sat and ate at the famous Café Du Monde, known for its beignets and café au lait. I and the students I was sharing a room with had two plates of beignets all to ourselves, leaving for the hostel with powdered sugar covering our shirts.
After a night inside the hostel, students got up bright and early to visit the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the Contemporary Arts Center, where students got to explore two three-story buildings filled to the brim with art of different mediums, time periods and messages.
From there, students were allowed to explore the French quarter. Starting out the exploration, Jacks led a group of students to a familiar restaurant, Clover Grill. After mulling over breakfast and burger options, I opted for a combination of the two: a cheeseburger with hashbrowns, bacon and an over-hard egg.
Next, the group went to view artwork and antiques at MS Rau, where some of the items on sale were too expensive to even touch (which I mean that both metaphorically and literally.) There were pieces by Picasso, Monet and Warhol among the many fine art items.
I believe the most expensive item I saw was a painting worth more than one million dollars – surprisingly it wasn’t the Picasso, which ran a bit under that. One item that caught my attention was a Double DeLuxe Violano Virtuoso. This $248,500 almost one-of-a-kind item included three automated instruments – two violins and a 44-key piano – that could be played with no trouble at all.
That was our last official stop of the day, and the group headed back to our hostel to prepare and rest up for the last day.
On our last day ewe checked out of our hostel, loaded the bags into the van and headed off towards the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Students were able to view photography, classical, contemporary and more inside the walls of the museum. Outside, Jacks and Belda led the group through the museum’s sculpture garden looking at over 90 different sculptures that took up the landscape.
Our last stop in New Orleans was the French Market, where students could purchase mementos of their time. By this point I had already bought some cool items, so I opted to buy some food to tide me over during the drive home.
During the five-hour drive home, I contemplated that this was my last trip during my college career. I never traveled abroad, and yet I was so happy with what I have been able to see and do during my time here.
So let this be a lesson: you don’t have to study abroad to experience new things and widen your horizons. Of course, if it’s in your budget, seeing the world is always recommended.
If flying across the globe isn’t in your budget like it is with mine, however, look into seeing what you can learn from right outside your backdoor (or rather 4-5 hours from your backdoor). You might just be amazed atnd how much more you can find.
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