Undergraduate Blog / Defining Your Babson

“Let’s all sing happy birthday to josh, he’s turning 12 today…” New Orleans Day 1!

This post was written by undergraduate students Marissa Ferber ’09 and Melissa Diranian ’11

Greetings from Bon Jovi Boulevard!

Yesterday we met bright and early at 7:15am to get ready for our flight to Louisiana. More importantly, it was Josh “fearless leader” Stevenson’s birthday! In the spirit of humiliation, we announced this not only in the airport, complete with cake and Happy Birthday plates, but also on BOTH of our flights.

During flight one, it was suggested to the flight attendant that she call out Josh’s birthday “however you want, just make it really uncomfortable and embarrassing for him.” So 15 minutes into the trip, the woman on the intercom announced that Josh was sitting in seat 7A and that he was generous enough to buy everyone on the plane their complimentary drinks.

Flight two, the flight attendant announced over the intercom that Josh was turning 12, and that we should all tell him happy birthday…everyone around us started “aww”ing until they saw Josh and realized he was 25.

After a Cajun dinner in New Orleans, we spent the night running around Bourbon Street. We’ve never seen anything so ridiculous—the whole street was covered with people, and there were Mardi Gras beads stuck in half the trees and lampposts. Out of all of the Mardi Gras and New Orleans-esque bars and clubs, we ended up a western-inspired “saloon,” complete with a mechanical bull. Shin Shin started us off on the bull, but the real winner of the night was Dan Brown, showing off his Iowa bullriding skills. The group doesn’t feel comfortable mentioning the people on the bull that were not with us…but if you ask, we might show you the pictures.

After a…creative night’s sleep in our Habitat “house”, we started work in 2 different groups. The first (thank goodness) got to paint, and primered the entire house. The second group got to lie on their backs half the day underneath the house installing insulation. We were very happy to be part of the first group, and Melissa’s entire arms and face got covered in primer. We think she may be banned from tomorrow’s painting.

After the greatest field trip ever to Wal-Mart, we are almost out the door to dinner.

In your face, El Salvador.

Love, Marissa and Melissa