Mind Your Manners, Bitches

...and always say please and thank you

NOLA

The trip I'm about to recap may have happened over a month ago, but that is 100% okay with me because the memories from that weekend are so vivid (well...the haziness and overall blur of Bourbon Street nights are vivid, as much as that sounds like a complete contradiction) that it feels like it was just yesterday I was stumbling tanked through the Philadelphia airport shouting at DAllan to buy me a water...that I promptly chugged in four seconds flat.

It's hard not to fall in love with New Orleans (or in New Orleans - ha!)...so much charm, beautiful weather, gorgeous architecture, steady flows of alcohol, top notch cover bands, the works. We were technically sent there to represent SJU at the American Marketing Association's Intercollegiate Conference, but regardless of obligations, this annual shitshow is a continuous rager, and one of my best memories of the past four years of college.

When we arrived, it was pretty much Katrina part two-ing outside (Too soon? Ups!). It was such a bummer, especially because last year the weather was 80+ degrees and sunny. Paradise. But that was irrelevant because it was still 80+ degrees, and the rain didn't stop us ladiez from boozing it up at the ripe hour of 2pm. First stop: Pat O'Brien's for authentic hurricanes and good ole cajun food. The best motherfucking shrimp and grits. For seriously.

Graceful traveling just ain't happening. Fresh off the plane look - sexy.

Once we were sufficiently tipsy enough to confront our overly enthusiastic fellow conference-goers, we picked up some necessities for later that night (read: cheap vodka and pretzels), and crashed on the super comfy beds until it was time to go to the opening ceremony. Blah blah blah that shit was boring. We didn't go out that night, partly due to the hurricane-like weather conditions and partly due to traveling sucking ass. But we made up for it the next two nights, boy did we ever. We pretended it was my bachelorette party. I'm pretty sure I don't need to say anything more than that...

Party hardy dudes.

No one really cares about the marketing conference, right? Good, we can skip that. Except for the fact that I fell in love with Michael McCullough of the Miami Heat, and Nate Riggs is still a big creeper. We ate po-boys, ohmygod so good. I got crawfish, so authentic of me. Megan and Molly got catfish, whootys love bottom feeders! That shit is so delicious. And so were the bottles of hot sauce and ketchup that we stole, and the tall boy Nattys we snagged at Walgreen's for $2. Perfection. We wined and dined at Emeril's, where we indulged in some supa swanky famous banana cream pie (YUM) on DAllan's tab. And of course we got beignets...at Cafe Du Monde...where i met a couple from Buffalo. So typical.

In a nutshell, Krazy Korner is the greatest bar on the face of the earth, and the absolute highlight of every New Orleans trip. The greatest gem of Bourbon Street. I left my heart in KK, where the beers are 3-for-1, One Night Stand plays the greatest hits, the creepers are plentiful, and the entire place is crawling with filth. Needless to say, our feet were black every night when we got back to the hotel. But it was work every god damn second.

Let us please take a moment of silence to appreciate it's beauty.

So pretty much I love New Orleans and no matter when I get the chance to go back it won't be soon enough. I met a great group of girls who I normally would never have encountered on campus, we spoke at one of the workshops at the conference like total BOSSES, ate like queens, partied like rockstars (or complete maniacs, your choice), and ignored the body's necessity for sleep. One of the best weekends of college, hands down. Thanks DAllan, for being a true peach and making NOLA perfect once again. Love you, you sexy sexy man.