|
Evacuating New Orleans
"She admits that although she doesn't have her belongings, she considers herself extremely lucky."
Listen
to this Commentary!
By Julie Civiello
In September, Julia Takada was excited be back in New Orleans for her second year of college at Tulane University. She was ready to hit the jazz clubs of Bourbon Street and the entire French quarter, and continue making a home for herself in the Crescent City.
Then, Hurricane Katrina hit.
JULIA (on tape)
So we got up Saturday morning, and packed all our stuff. I grabbed my laptop and a few changes of clothes.
JULIE
Believe it or not, Katrina wasn’t the first hurricane Julia’s had to deal with.
JULIA (on tape)
This happened our freshman year too. There was Ivan, and everybody had to evacuate. And school was cancelled for about ten days or a week maybe.
JULIE
Now Julia is going to school at Boston University and she knows she’ll be there a while. She says being at a new school, where she is surrounded by strangers for classmates, makes her feel like a freshman all over again. At her apartment, she has a green T-shirt pinned to the wall with big white letters spelling out TULANE. She misses Tulane a lot.
JULIA (on tape)
It's completely different, It's a lot smaller than BU, I mean BU is huge. There are a lot more people in my classes. They're set up a lot differently. It's not bad really, but it's just different. It is hard to adjust.
JULIE
Academics is one thing, but Julia says the most difficult transition for her is social. She managed to get an apartment with some Tulane friends, but even so, meeting new people hasn’t been easy.
JULIA (on tape)
I mean there are a lot of kids from Tulane here and we hang out with them. But I don't have the energy or the drive to meet people from BU. I don't know, I am not having as much fun here.
JULIE
Julia is itching to get back to New Orleans, where she can devote some time to restoring parts of the city. She admits that although she doesn't have her belongings, she considers herself extremely lucky.
JULIA (on tape)
I don't have any personal belongings at all. That doesn't happen to people very often. But at the same time, it's important for people to realize that I got the good end of it. My house is not gone, I still have a life.
JULIE
It’s a different life than the one she was expecting. But even if her sophomore year hasn’t turned out to be quite what she was hoping for, Julia says she’s picking up the pieces and doing just fine.
|
|
