Homecoming and Going Home!

Since I last posted a lot has happened! First of all we had Homecoming! This year, Tulane was celebrated its 175th aniversary. Although there were not alums present from that first graduating class, there were some alums here for 25 and 30 year reunions! One of my good friends Rachel is the daughter of two Tulane alums. Both of them came to visit her and to celebrate their 30 year reunion. I was excited to meet them, however they were so busy celebrating with their friends that I didn't get to see them, let alone Rachel!
Both of my parents came in for the weekend. They arrived Friday night and left Monday morning. On Saturday, we actually had an unlucky mishap when my mom tripped over an uneven sidewalk in the park while on her morning run! In an attempt to save her I-Phone as she fell, she ended up cutting her lip and needing stitches. Luckily for us - there is a state of the art hospital only 7 minutes away! We got her there very quickly and she was as good as new in an hour. We didn't let this mishap ruin the weekend in the slightest. At around noon, my parents and I went to the Homecoming Tailgate. My sorority set up a tent where we have food and drinks for the parents. People played music and celebrated Tulane! All of the tents are set up on the platforms outside of the Superdome. It is tons of fun and goes on for about 4-5 hours.
Have you ever heard of the games bags? Or maybe you know it as cornhole? Well I had never heard of it before I came to school in New Orleans. Apparently it is both popular in the South and the Midwest. My Italian family and I prefer to play bocci. Anyway, to play the game you throw bean bags (which are actually filled with corn kernels) onto a slanted board with a hole in the middle. If the bag lands on the board you get 1 point and if it goes into the hole you get 3. My dad had never played before so this was a first for him. He caught on pretty quickly and although we lost the first game, we came back and won the second! I was pretty proud of us.
For the rest of the weekend my family and I did fun New Orleans things, and got to go to a great dinner at a restaurant called Coquette on Magazine St. My roomates and their parents joined us. It was really fun. On Sunday my dad helped me do some handy work around the house and put up some shelves in my room. Isn't that what Dad's are for??



The following weekend was Tulane's first ever fall break! Luckily for me, it coincided with my Uncle's Wedding in Massachusetts. I flew home on Thursday and came back to NOLA on Sunday. On Friday night I went into NYC and spent some time with my brother (who now lives there) and some friends from Tulane who now work there. It was nice to seem them and I had a great time. On Saturday we drove up to MA for the wedding. It was great to see my family and my cousins who I haven't seen in a long time since I spent my summer here. The wedding was at an airforce base and after the wedding we went to a real USO club! Only specific guests and miltary members are allowed on the base so we felt pretty cool. That Sunday I watched as my beloved NY Giants lost their first game of the season =( and then took a 3 hour flight back.

All in all it was a great two weekends! I will post an update after Halloween. I still can't decide what I am going to be but hopefully it all works out!

Talk to you soon!
Kelly

What a Month!

Hi All!
This past month has been chock full! In the third week of September my mommy came to visit! It was her birthday so she came down to stay with me. She has a best friend that lives in Alabama who drove in for the weekend. On the Saturday night she was here we went to Harrah's to see a comedy show. One of my mom's friends who lives in New Orleans, James Cusimano, was actually one of the comics in the show! He was opening for Jodi Borello who was the main act. James did a great job and we were all really proud of him. The main comedian, Jodi was hysterical. The main focus of her stand up was jokes about New Orleans, because she is a local comedian. Although I am from Connecticut, I realized how much I am now a psuedo-local after living here for a little over 3 years. I was laughing at all of her jokes meant for the locals and my mom kept looking over at me and asking me "what is she talking about?". She loved the show anyway! After the show I decided to take my hand at gambling… but I am not brave enough so I just played the Penny slots! I actually won 7 dollars though!! I was very proud of myself and had a lot of fun. If I had played for 5 more minutes I would have gotten a free buffet!



The following weekend I saw ANOTHER comedy show! This time however it was a good friend of mine ding an open mic night at a local comedy club 5 blocks from my house. I was so nervous for him that I couldn’t look at him for half the time. But he did a really great job!! Almost his entire fraternity came to support him and I brought my roommates. It was a great time and he is thinking about doing it again. Maybe next time I will feel less nervous and I can watch the entire thing!

The following night I went to a date party with my friend and it was Jimmy Buffet themed, Margarita Ville! It was tons of fun and they had a great band that played all night. We had a blast. My sorority also had a date party the following weekend. Seniors got to bring two dates so my friends and I brought a huge group of our friends from other sororities and some boys too.

This semester I have a new goal, to stop eating boot pizza at night! For those of you who don’t know, there is a eatery called the Dough Bowl literally 20 feet from the edge of campus. Right where I walk past on my way home if I have been out at. They make delicious, mouth-watering pizza, that all Tulane students love. Even my best friend Brook who visited for a weekend will text me once and a while and tell me that she misses the pizza. The line is always at least 10 people long every night. I have been very weak when it comes to walking past and not buying a slice. My new goal is going to be walk buy and not buy a slice! This weekend will be an easy pass because I am going home for fall break. My uncle is getting married! So my challenge really starts next week… I”ll let you know how it goes.

My honors thesis has been going well too! I have been meeting once a week with my advisor and we have a really good grasp of what we will be researching. We have created the first part of the study and now I have to just work on the main experiment. My advisor and I have planned to submit the final research proposal to the IRB (Institution Review Board) in November and then I will be ready to run my study for the Spring semester. At our last meeting she told me that if the study results are significant we will submit it for publishing. It will so exciting as an undergraduate to have my research published in a Peer Reviewed Psychological Journal! Hopefully it will all go well.

Have a good weekend!
Kelly