It’s been a while, and much has happened – my apologies. The biggest and most interesting thing I’ve been up to was my trip to New Orleans with my father. As most of you probably know, I will be going to Tulane Law School this August. Considering that I applied to the school site unseen, I was a bit nervous about going down to New Orleans, what would it be like? To answer that question my father and I took a few days earlier this month to have a look for ourselves. Admitting that we were indeed tourists, we decided to just enjoy that status and try and get an overview of the city. In addition to a a van tour which took us all around (including the lower 9th ward,) we took a riverboat cruise and tried out many of the fine dining establishments the city has to offer. We also stayed in style, at the Le Pavillion hotel, which boasted a rooftop pool and spa! See a few photos in the gallery (Under the Maine category)

I became particularly fond of the St. Charles streetcar, which had had service to Uptown (the wealthy part of town where Tulane is located) restored just a week or so before we arrived. The streetcar is a real classic, slow and creaky, but charming. The line begins at the edge of the French Quarter, goes through the business district and then through the garden district to uptown. Around 2000 St. Charles, as my father pointed out, the houses start to get very fancy. Tulane Law itself is just a short walk from the trolley and is situated in a beautiful part of the University campus. Although the building was rather quiet when we arrived, we were able to speak with a contact from admissions, view the stunning law library and of course stop by the bookstore. Having gotten this small overview, I feel much more relaxed about going to NOLA – in fact, my only fear now is the plethora of distractions the city will offer…

In other news, JT came up to visit for new years. We went to one of my favorite restaurants in Boston (an ITALIAN one – can you believe?) my favorite cocktail bar (Flash’s) and then stopped by a party that my sister and some of here friends were at in a fancy South End condo. So as to not get stuck in Boston, JT and I had to cab it back to north station and jump on the train just seconds before it departed! All in all a fun time.

While back in town I was also able to catch up with some old friends and sleep in, both activities which I value highly 😉 I recently had my first ski of the season at Lost Valley, a local place, and I found a new coffee shop in Lewiston (at which I currently sit.) What’s on the agenda? At the end of the month I’ll be joining my colleagues at a Campus Compact conference in Austin, TX, and I’m looking forward to some visits by friends – skiing anyone?