October: Weekly routine, LA Trip, and Halloween

So I'm past the halfway point of this exchange, it's pretty crazy to think of all that's happened and how fast it's going. The last few months have been amazing! I've built this little life for myself here which has been an experience in itself.

Weekly Routine, An insight into what an average week looks like in New Orleans:

- On Mondays and Tuesdays, I have class from 9:30-4:45 with lunch in between. We generally eat at Tulane University as they have a good selection of food. Then if I'm feeling it, a gym session in evening.

- Wednesday and Thursday classes are also 9:30-4:45 but afterward at night we generally head to a local pub, either Brunos or TJ quills, which are popular places for the students around here. Then we usually end up at the Boot or F&M to finish the night off.

- On Fridays I have no classes and enjoy the sleep in, do a quick gym session then get a bit of homework done before the weekend. In the evening we head over to The Fly, a part of Audabon park that meets the Mississippi River. A lot of students come here to watch the sunset, it's a really beautiful time and everyone is chilling in the heat of the even sun.

- The rest of the weekend consists of either exploring New Orleans, tasting the local cuisine (fave is crocodile sausages), party on bourbon st., thrift shopping and watching a bit of jazz music.

Los Angeles:

For fall break, Hannah, Lotte, Guillaume and I decided to head to Los Angeles! Our flight was scheduled early so we decided to not bother sleeping the night before and instead went to the Waffle House at 1 am for bacon and waffles. Best decision ever. We then headed off to the airport for our flight at 5 am. We arrived at LAX by 9 am and after dropping the bags off at our cute hostel in Venice beach we headed to get a feed. LA had a lot of organic and vegan restaurants on offer which was a nice contrast to the full foods you find in New Orleans. The first place we went to was Kreation Organics. The lady gave us water with chlorophyll drops in it which we drank with these sustainable metal straws. The food there was quite delicious and fresh! The rest of the day was spent chilling on the beach and exploring the bustling life of Venice beach. We went out to dinner at a fun Italian restaurant where they constantly restocked our garlic bread bowl and at one point they got the whole restaurant singing Italian songs! It was very fun!

The next morning we were woken up at 6 am a noisy techno music on repeat. Our hostel was located right in the center of the Venice beach buzz, which is ideal as everything is close by and it overlooks the beach, however, it meant every morning involved waking up this loud music. So we headed out early, hired bikes for the day, and set off to Santa Monica for a day of shopping and eating. We all came back with our bike baskets full of bags, a true shopping success. Once back we quickly grabbed leftover pasta from the night before and went to eat on the beach as the sun set. Was absolutely beautiful! The day finished off with a second dinner at In n Out Burger.

After being woken up by our new musical alarm system we set off to hike up to the Holly Wood sign. It was a beautiful day and a really lovely walk with incredible views of the huge city. Was a highlight of the trip for sure! Wow! We then had a stroll down the walk of fame, ate some good (healthy) food and headed back to rest at our hotel.

All in all, it was the "best weekend eveeerrrrr."

Halloween Week:

Since then I have been on a swamp tour, went out to a few new restaurants, and got to meet the boyfriends and best friends of Hannah and Lotte, to which the besties joined for Voodoo Fest! The festival was AMAZING! Had all my friends there and the music was explosive, I was literally buzzing! Kendrick Lamar was insane! The second he started playing it just got crazy! Was a very cool time. October finished off with Halloween. I was a ninja! We went to a house party where there was a few batmans, a vampire, a mermaid and a bunch more impressive outfits. Then headed to Frenchman and Bourbon st where there were even more crazy outfits. A very spooky night for sure.

That's all for now, Laura out.