Instead of going home or on vacation during the spring break of my freshmen year at Loyola University Chicago, I participated in an Alternative Break Immersion through Campus Ministry to New Orleans, Louisiana. The purpose of our trip was hurricane relief and bayou restoration on the Gulf. This trip was life-changing; the culture of southern Louisiana shocked me and the devastation its residents suffer through every hurricane season (and especially when Katrina and Rita hit in 2004) is unfathomable. My mind couldn't process al the facts and we performed some really amazing service like planting trees in a field next to a levvy, writing letters to Louisiana congressmen and women to pass legislation that will preserve the bayou, and even clearing debris in the middle of the 9th ward.

Every 45 minutes a football field of land is lost to the Gulf. Also, the least transient people in the United States live in southern Louisiana. This essentially means people don't move. Almost every family who resides in New Orleans and the especially the surrounding towns can trace back their family lines to at least 150 years in the same exact place. Land restoration is the most significant issue LA citizens are facing, and it was an honor to fight back the Gulf for a week as a New Orleans native.

Two other fun facts: first, our entire trip was made into a documentary. Two German film students made our trip their senior thesis. Second, we saw Brad Pitt in the 9th ward. He started a charity which builds floating houses for residents in the 9th ward and beyond and he was there surveying construction. We asked him to be part of the documentary, but he kindly refused.