Ambivalent Dad taking D for Crawfest/tours--suggestions!!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
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<p>I've been on this forum on and off for the past year or so, was very excited that my D was accepted, made the Honors program, got a nice scholarship (not the CSS but alas) and was extremely excited to return to visit the city, and finally see the school on 4/19-22. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen family issues, it is looking like I may not be able to make the trip down with my D and hubby. I'm supremely bummed about this, as is my D who knows her dad isn't all that excited about Tulane for her (for legit and perceived reasons). </p>

<p>PLEASE help me plan some things for them to do together that will truly show NOLA and Tulane in the best possible light since I won't be there in person to close the sale. Neither one is a huge partier, music less important to dad than to me and D. </p>

<p>Some "must sees" and anything that could hook a relatively unemotional type guy would be greatly appreciated. I know there's lists of hundreds of things to do, and if I were there, we'd hit lots of them. But these have to be easy and pretty laser-focused. Thanks in advance for your help!</p>

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<p>I just came back yesterday from NOLA. Last year, our college counselor highly advised my s to consider Tulane. I wasn’t very enthusiastic for probably similiar reasons to your hubby. We visited and loved the school and the city. S was accepted received the Presdiential scholarship and the Dean’s. We then visited a second time during an honors weekend. Again, we truly loved it. My husband came the second time. At the last second S chose a different school but Tulane has always been near and dear to us. So now D is in high school and I decided to take her and show her around.</p>

<p>Here’s our itinerary:
We arrived late Thrusday so we settled in at the Riverside Hilton. (Great location)
and that night did a Ghost tour
ate dinner at the Gumbo Pot- had gumbo and po-boys
Friday: Took a City/Cemetery Tour (Cajun Encounters)
then took the St. Charles street car to Tulane and toured the campus.
ate dinner at the Marketplace- had Catfish (It was Good Firday so we couldnt eat meat)
had Beingets at Cafe Du Munde *******A must eat place
Saturday: We did the plantation tours- Oak Alley and Laura Plantations (Cajun Encounters)
ate dinner at Huck Finns- had fried alligator, jambalaya, crawfish etoufee, red beans and rice
Sunday- Swamp Airboat tour- yes a 14 foot alligator came right up to the boat and the captain fed him a piece of raw chicken. Amazaing!!!
Went to Oak St. by Tulane to eat dinner but everything was closed for Easter, so we ate at Camelia’s Grill</p>

<p>I would highly recommend any or all of the tours that we did. They were fun and interesting. We left feeling very knowledgeable and educated on NOLA history. In between eating and tours we walked a lot and really got to know the ins and outs of the city. The French Marketplace is a fun place to visit too. We ate Snowballs there and they had the best Pina Colada’s. D had a virgin colada. </p>

<p>Good luck I hope your husband enjoys his trip and changes his mind about NOLA!!!</p>

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<p>Great recommendations Dungareedoll. Sounds like you had a blast, again! You will get one of those kids to Tulane yet.</p>

<p>I would only add that if sujormik’s husband is concerned about the academics at Tulane, I strongly recommend making an appointment with the department chair of whatever area the D is considering, or even the Dean of that school. They are all really nice and enthusiastic people, and would be happy to talk with them if they are in town at that time, I am sure.</p>

<p>As far as off campus things, you covered a lot of ground, and they could also make sure they walk through Audubon Park and check out Magazine Street. And of course make sure they ride the streetcar from Tulane to downtown and back, even if they don’t do the Cemetery Tour.</p>

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<p>The city bike tour Confederacy of Cruisers is fun and interesting. [New</a> Orleans Bike Tours Confederacy of Cruisers](<a href=“http://confederacyofcruisers.com/]New”>http://confederacyofcruisers.com/)</p>

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<p>FYI we were going to do the bike tour but your D has to be 18 years old. Hence we couldn’t do it.</p>

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<p>The World War II museum is also awesome, even if you are not a history buff.</p>

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<p>We also enjoyed the segway tour and the zoo</p>

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<p>You guys on this forum are just the best! Still hoping to make the trip (won’t know for sure til Wednesday, can you say stressful?!?!?) but will definitely share this info with them. We have some appointments on Friday, doing the destination tulane on Saturday, so mainly have time Friday afternoon and Sunday. I’m the foodie LOL.</p>

<p>fallenchemist, the academics aren’t my husband’s main concern at all. D is interested in neuroscience/psych, and he just thinks Boston is the center of the universe for the sciences. On paper (not literally, but with all the sessions we’ve attended in town here) Tulane is perfect. He insists he’s open-minded, will let you all know what she decides next week!!</p>

<p>Hoping the late decision-making doesn’t hurt her housing/class options! </p>

<p>Again, thanks all.</p>

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<p>It won’t affect her housing choices at all. And I believe that since she is invited to the Honors Program that she can talk to someone and get clearance for early registration even if she is unable to attend either of the Honors Weekends. You should check into that.</p>

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<p>Good luck with your choices sujormik! Hopefully hubby will be impressed. I remember meeting you at the Tulane event and glad to see it is still on the radar for you. We were scheduled to visit this weekend as well, but DS decided on a different school. Just seeing the list of things to do over the weekend are giving me a “What if…” moment.</p>

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<p>Good luck!!! I can’t wait to hear what DH thinks. Have a great time and I will keep my fingers crossed that you can go too.</p>

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<p>Hi y’all (is that a clue? LOLOL), just wanted to touch base here and tell you (a) I was able to go visit Tulane with my hubby and D this past weekend and (b) she absolutely LOVED it!!</p>

<p>Will definitely report more on the weekend and the overall feeling we got about the campus, right now I’m trying to stay cool because she’s really trying to make a rational decision about Tulane vs Northeastern. I will be back! Thanks again to everyone for all your help, suggestions and support!</p>

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<p>^^sujormik: was wondering where y’all were in the process!! Let us know…</p>

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<p>Congrats, sujormik, on a great gisit. Keep us posted!</p>

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<p>Thats the best news!!! I’m so glad you were able to make the trip too. Let us know what you did and how DH responded…</p>

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<p>Regarding Confederacy of Cruisers Bike Tour, we took our 15 year old on it last year (loved it) . I wonder if they had liability issues with kids on the bikes.</p>

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<p>Don’t want to beat a dead horse but figured I’d write a bit more detailed review since I really appreciated the ones I read in the past. As always, your mileage may vary, this is just our weekend.</p>

<p>Friday dawned sunny and warm, we stayed in the Warehouse District and took the streetcar down (up?) St Charles to campus where my D sat in on a class at 9. Campus was pretty quiet for 9 a.m., but by the time the 10:00 classes began there were lots of students making their way to their buildings. We met at PJs on Willow & McAlister with a delightful, articulate and very enthusiastic honors senior who had JUST turned in her thesis an hour earlier. She was waiting to hear her status for a Fulbright and other than that bit of stress, was in a terrific mood! After a good hour of chatting at PJs I was starving (you may see a pattern develop here) so we asked if she’d be willing to join us for lunch and keep on talking…I think she would’ve said yes regardless of the place, but the Camellia Grill as our destination didn’t hurt! (Was talking to a gentleman seated next to me, well first I was ogling his chili omelet, then he heard something my husband said and asked if we were from Chicago…turns out he’s a BS/MS alum and is super involved in the Tulane alumni club here in Chi. This is relevant later!!) </p>

<p>What a lovely girl this tour guide was. We were incredibly lucky to have met her. And a plus: her boyfriend works at Butler, the honors dorm, and he was available to give us a short tour. As a result we did not go see Sharp/Monroe on Saturday but since Butler would be where D would live, didn’t feel like we missed much. Just found everyone extremely helpful, pleasant, eager to please.</p>

<p>We went to Magazine Street and did some boutique shopping, walked a LOT and just really enjoyed the summery day. While on the streetcar back toward downtown I struck up a conversation with a guy who had been on line in front of me at a store, he ended up joining us for dinner at Felix’s in the French Quarter. Great oysters and homemade cocktail sauce, the rest of the food honestly was meh. I’m the foodie in the family but if I make plans the rest of them harass me for being rigid so we left most everything to chance. This gives me the ability to point out the weak meal links next time, so there’s always a sliver lining.</p>

<p>Went on the Haunted History walking tour later that night, it was fun though our guide wasn’t as awesome as the one Dungareedoll had last year!! Decided we had to hit cafe dumonde, and it was everything we’d hoped for. Yummy. I wanted to go back twice more but was vetoed. sigh</p>

<p>Saturday we had to be on campus at 8 (!!!) for the start of Destination Tulane. The admissions staff was fantastic…after we mentioned my D’s major they pointed us to another staffer who’d had that major, and she must’ve talked with my D for a half hour. sent her some links to pages, just extremely engaging and enthusiastic. The speaker Saturday morning was President Scott Cowen!!! He is a dynamic speaker, I do love listening to people who talk in paragraphs. But I digress. He spoke for at least a half hour, I was highly impressed by that, ESPECIALLY since this wasn’t even an honors weekend. Among the staff we talked to throughout the day on Saturday was another person who is moving to Chicago soon with her hubby, we discovered that she knows the Camellia Grill guy and he’d helped her with some job contacts or apartments or something like that. Tulane connections at work!</p>

<p>We did the tour of campus, great rec center! Dining hall was not impressive after having visited a half dozen or so over the past year. Not large, not exciting selection, soup was supposed to be o ut in “9 minutes” and still wasn’t there when we left an hour later. Just sayin. It was crawfest so despite massive amounts of rain (yes, it poured the first half of the day, then was extremely damp/muddy later) we had a lot of fun. Got our trays of the shellfish and sidled up to a table to start the process. Some girls came over and shared our table, they were quite friendly/engaging also. Lot of sorority talk from them, interesting after not hearing anything about it. Did some walking around Uptown, had dinner and then went back to hotel with a migraine-y kid. One night of the French Quarter was plenty.</p>

<p>Sunday we had our best meal of the weekend, a breakfast sandwich at Cochon Butcher! Seriously, I have been thinking about that meal!! We went on an airboat ride of the swamps, met a few kids for dinner, revisited the Quarter and also walked through the Riverwalk mall. Just a terrific vacation (!) and she fell in love with Tulane.</p>

<p>So now my darling D must decide (soon!!!) between Tulane and Northeastern. Like comparing oranges and apples…both are good, just tough to choose which one you want! I don’t think she can make a bad choice, and I have some reasons for believing NE would be a better place for HER, but I can see great opportunities at Tulane as well. Long as she makes her choice then doesn’t look back, we’ll be fine.</p>

<p>Thanks again to everyone who helped us on this journey.</p>

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<p>Wow!! sounds like you got a good dose of NOLA. Did you like the swamp boat tour? Regardless, I’m glad you got to go and shame of the family for not letting you got back to Cafe Du Monde. D and I couldn’t get enough of that place.</p>

<p>As for your D she can’t go wrong regardless of which school she chooses. NE is a great school too. Good Luck and let us know where she decides to go.</p>

<p>P.S. Did you use the coupons?</p>

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<p>We DID use the coupons, thank you! Everything was fun except the food at Felix (other than the great oysters) was so-so. :-)</p>

<p>I have been leaning more toward NE in my estimation of what I think she’d like best and where she’d thrive, but I don’t think we can afford to make a trip tomorrow to do one last on-campus experience LOL!</p>

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<p>Hmm… I never went to Felix and I’m not crazy about oysters so I’ll scratch that from my list.</p>