In my last post, I wrote about the time commitment and the 80 hours a week that we put in as MBA1s. As we chugged through the first semester, I kept reminding myself of the light at the end of the tunnel: the one-month break between exams and the start of the spring semester! Some of us are staying in New Orleans, some taking advantage of the extra time to travel, and some heading “home” for some serious r&r. As for me, I am staying at my parents home outside Nashville for a few weeks before spending a week in Panama with a friend. A reward for making it through the (supposedly) toughest semester of b-school.
To follow up on Louis’ last post about how he gets to school, I thought I could write about my living situation, which is quite different than most folks in our class. I live in the Faubourg Marigny, a neighborhood recently voted a top 10 neighborhood by the American Planning Association. It is located down river (farther from campus) from the French Quarter. When I moved to New Orleans, my close friends, who already resided in New Orleans, insisted that this neighborhood be at the top of our move-to list. While I was a little nervous at first to be such a hike from school (20 minutes by car, 35 minutes by bike), it turns out that the distance has some advantages. On days with long breaks in between classes, I didn’t have the luxury to head home and take a nap. It only made sense for me to stay at school and “take care of business”. Whether this meant studying, paying bills, or internship searching – I was forced to be productive and focused in the middle day. This semi-forced structure to my day enabled me to have free time in the evening to enjoy my new neighborhood and city. In short, I am definitely happy with my decision. The two main downsides to not living Uptown (near campus) are having a longer commute and missing out on some of the MBA social activities. However, sometimes social activities come to me as that Frenchmen Street, a main drag in New Orleans nightlife, is only blocks from my apartment.
If you have more specific questions about where you should live when you move to New Orleans, I’d be happy to try and help.
-Sarah, sgaddis@tulane.edu
p.s. the picture above is of my apartment. Not a lot to look at from the front – but you should see inside!!