Butler Introduction

This past week has been absolutely insane. Finally getting to college has been so great and amazing. This is the third time I’ve lived away from home for an extended period of time, and I’m so excited to just live on my own again. This past summer and two summers before that, I lived in Germany for a month with an exchange partner, and those times there were some of the best times of my life so far. So I’m beyond excited to get to live away from home again, and this time, it’s going to be even more freeing. My mom came down with me to get me all settled in here at Loyola, and even though she was here for a whole week, she didn’t think a week was long enough. She’s going miss me a lot, but I think she’ll be okay. To my mom’s joy, I came down here to Loyola with a great friend of mine, and it has really helped me transition into college life quite nicely. We’ve met a bunch of great people this past week, and it feels like a bit of home has come with me here.

Every day since I’ve gotten to Loyola, I’ve done something, and I’ve been very active meeting new people. Here in New Orleans, every person I’ve met and talked to has been nothing but nice and friendly towards me. That was a real culture shock to me. I’m from a small suburb right outside of Philadelphia, and the one thing that I’ve noticed about back home is that no one is friendly towards one another there. It’s a very nice and refreshing change of pace that I’ve welcomed with open arms.

This is the first time I’ve ever been to New Orleans, and I’m really glad that I made the choice to come down here. I love the whole atmosphere and the whole culture surrounding the city, and I can’t wait to go out and see everything New Orleans and Loyola has to offer. So far, I’ve been to the French Quarter, a cemetery, and I tried alligator for the first time. That alligator may have been the spiciest thing that I’ve ever had. All in all, this past week has been crazy, amazing, and wonderful. I can already tell that I’m going to love every second of being here at Loyola and living in New Orleans.