Tuesday, March 21
April 11, 2023
On Tuesday morning, students were awakened at 6 a.m. to get through one more day at New Orleans before heading back home. The buses departed from the hotel to go to Mardi Gras World, where students received a tour of the warehouse, saw a 15-minute video about what Mardi Gras is, and lastly, enjoyed a local favorite dessert called Gambino’s King Cake. On the tour, students got to see behind the scenes of how the parade is formed and, of course, checked out the gift shop.
After the tour, students headed to the bus and back to the French Quarter where students spent the next couple hours touring more parts of New Orleans including the Colonnade French Market and Farmers and Flea Market. The markets had over 200 crafts, clothing and food vendors that students could explore. Between 1:45 p.m. and 4 p.m., the students were split into two groups to tour the New Orleans Jazz Museum (one group at 1:45 p.m. and the second group at 2:45 p.m.). In the museum, students saw a live small jazz performance and viewed the jazz history and culture. At 4:30 p.m., the groups met up outside of the museum to secure spots for the weekly performances by the dynamic jazz musicians. Luckily, the weather was very nice so students sat in the grass and relaxed.
As the music came to an end, the students loaded back onto buses to go have dinner at Mulate’s. At Mulate’s, the students had a taste of Cajun music along with a private buffet consisting of jambalaya, fried shrimp, alfredo pasta, chicken tenders, and much more. To create more lasting memories on the trip, students gathered around the band and danced to all the music being played. As this was the last stop in New Orleans, students made the most of it.
After dinner concluded, the students got back on the bus one more time to finally head home after a few days of fun. The bus made two stops along the way back for breakfast and lunch. On the itinerary, the estimated back of arrival at Berlin was 6:30 p.m., but luckily, the bus was an hour ahead.
