Sunday

We rolled up to the busses in Chicago at a very early hour of the morning , tired, bleary eyed and ready to change the world! We were prepared for a very long 15 hour journey
through 5 states. We took off from Illinois, and Illinois seemed to go on for ever and ever. I had not understood what people meant by the great plains, but when we had driven for like 5 hours with
nothing but fields and grass and farms as far as the eye could see it started to seem more real.

We then hit Missouri where there was slightly more to see outside with trees and some rolling hills. It was then on into Tennessee where we stopped at Graceland and saw Elvis's
house, his plane and the heartbreak hotel. It was pretty Kitschy and a little OTT but worth stopping for dinner when it was only half a mile off our route.By this stage it was 7.30 and we still had a
good 6 hours to go so we had to pick up the pace. So down through Arkansas, Mississipi and then into Louisiana at a fair clip, in the dark trying to get a few hours sleep.

We finally arrived into New Orleans at just after 1am having had to have our 1am curfew extended so we could get in a little late. We were staying in a homeless shelter and
luckily for us there was not enough room in the girls dorm for us so they put mattresses down on an upstairs floor for us on the later bus. It turned out that the dorm had bunk beds with another
mattress on the floor under neath them to allow for 3 people to sleep in each bunk. It also was very very warm in there so we got the better end of the deal.

Monday

After 4 hours of sleep we were back up again trying to get 40 women through 3 shower stalls before breakfast. Our breakfast time was 6.30 because they feed the homeless at 7.30
and have to have time to cook for them. We were a little exhausted at this point but excited about what exactly we would be getting up to.

At 9am those of us in the legal group rolled out to shell plaza which is the tallest building in New Orleans. We were working in the offices of a law firm who had donated a
conference room for the use of the group we are working with, the Pro Bono Project. When we met up with the other volunteers it was very easy to tell who had flown down and spent the night in a hotel
where they were allowed to use hairdryers as they looked so well groomed, while we were looking a little rumpled!!

But we were in a small conference room with really comfy chairs, on the 44th floor with a great view out over the city. We were working on simple divorces. We had 4
cases each to work through, and right from the beginning we had to contact the clients and discuss the details of their cases. Some of them were really lovely and just so glad to hear that some
people were taking an interest in their lives and trying to sort out their issues. It was very straight forward work, just processing and organizing the files. Some people were a little irate that it
had taken so long for people to get back to them, but with such a small staff, supplemented by volunteers and 600 cases to get through it has been a little tough for them to be processed.

There was a big football game on this evening and so the city was jam packed with LSU and Ohio state university football supporters. Therefore the law office closed at 3pm so we
had an early finish which was great. We were able to walk back to the hostel through the insane tail gaters and then Jennifer and I headed down to Bourbon street which was absolute madness! The
street was so packed we could barely move and we felt so out of place we had to buy a Hurricane and start drinking. A Hurricane is very potent but we drank and we walked through the pirate pub and
down to the squareand on to the Mississippi. It was so lovely and balmy and warm that in jeans and t-shirts we were perfectly happy. Mardi Gras started yesterday and so there were beads everywhere
and music and fun. It was a great afternoon, even if the crowds were a little over whelming.

We had dinner and reflection time back in the hostel before we headed back out for the evening. This time it was a little quieter as the game had started and so everyone had
piled into the bars or the superdome and were off the streets. We went to a 24 hr café for beignets which are deep fried dough with lots and lots of sugar - they were fantastic and we all
ended up covered in sugar. By 9pm the streets were getting a little less jovial, very messy and a lot of very drunk people were wondering about so we headed back to the hostel for chilling, relaxing
and sleeping because it was a 6.30 start again.