Day 1 - Travel

"Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts." - William Shakespeare

Day 1 of our ARTreach journey began with a group supershuttle to LaGuardia Airport bright and early Saturday morning -- 4:25 am to be exact. In the midst of rubbing the sleepy sand out of our eyes, we grabbed our bags and each other from the Meredith Willson Residence Hall and hauled into the van. Upon arriving at the airport, we made our way through security and snatched some warm breakfasts within the terminal. At 6:45 am, we were on our way to our short layover location: Dallas, Texas. In Dallas, we found no shortage of Chick-fil-A, cowboy hats, and southern ladies en route to the Rock n' Roll marathon in New Orleans. A few hours later, and we were flying directly to NOLA! Sabrina and Rebecca picked up the rental vans, and treated us all to beignets, cafe au lait and tea at Morning Call cafe by New Orleans' City Park. Our bodies a little less sore, our tummies a little more full, we drove to our new YRNO home base for the week, assembled our belongings, and took stock of supplies in the house. We split into three groups each lead by a team leader, and determined the groceries we would need for our dinner nights, breakfasts, and lunches for the upcoming week. Having known little of the macrocosm that is New Orleans's Walmart, the team newcomers mustered up the strength needed to conquer the many aisles of produce, clothing, furniture, TVs, and quite literally every other tangible item of the 21st century before 5:00 pm. Team 1 (Team Angela!), decided Night 1 would be Taco Night, and despite some unexpected obstacles -- glass shattering *shudder* -- a delicious dinner of homemade guacamole, salsa, chips, salad, pizzas, and Sebastian's famous PB bowl + ice cream dessert was accomplished. We ended the day on a reflective note by Team Leader Jasminn's prompting, gathered for a team meeting, and shared our highs and lows, peaks and pits, roses and thorns of the day. Cheers to our Very First Day in NOLA! Stay tuned for more.

Michelle Geffner
BM Vocal Performance '19
1st year NOLA team member