Visiting Tulane University senior Sage Middleton admits that her fellow Green Waves lacked school spirit before Hurricane Katrina.
“Everyone was about New Orleans, not Tulane,” Middleton said.
Even though the hurricane tore apart the historic streets of the Big Easy, it united the city’s students, instilling in them the school spirit they once lacked.
As the chaotic fall semester winds down, visiting students reflect on their time at the University and count down the days until they will return to their home universities.
Visiting Tulane senior Vishnu Cuddapah said he and his friends knew they had become a part of the University when they knew how to say “Dalrymple.”
“I used to say dairy maple,” said Faheem Iqbal, a visiting student from Loyola University.
This lighthearted feeling was much different from Cuddapah’s first day at the University when only one thing came to mind.
“This town is not New Orleans,” Cuddapah said.
Cuddapah said his first weeks at the University were filled with uncertainty.
“You don’t know where you’re living,” Cuddapah said. “You don’t know if you’re going to enroll in time.”
But Cuddapah said he soon got used to LSU.
“It’s still college. You realize that it’s not that different from what you’re used to,” Cuddapah said. “I’m doing the same stupid things I always do, but now I’m doing them at LSU.”
Iqbal found comfort at the University.
“It’s a support group,” Iqbal said. “You get through it eventually.”
The students said one thing in particular helped make them, as outsiders, feel welcome – LSU football.
Middleton said the football “craze” was much different from Tulane’s.
“I knew it was there,” Middleton said. “I just didn’t know it was there that much.”
It took Iqbal some time to get used to the football mania also.
“I tried to get my laundry washed on a Saturday,” Iqbal joked. “That didn’t work.”
Visiting students expect to face another uncertain semester next spring.
Cuddapah said he is antsy to go back to his home university but nervous to see what he will face.
“New Orleans East is just not going to be there,” Cuddapah said. “Not only infrastructure but the culture.”
Visiting Tulane senior Sanmati Rao said she gets anxious when she sees fellow Tulane students walking around campus but is happy to move back.
“You’re reminded that you’re going back soon,” Rao said.
Rao said returning to Tulane will be an adjustment for everyone.
“We’ll have to reorient freshman, make them feel like they belong at Tulane,” Rao said. “Their first memory was moving their boxes in and having to evacuate the city.”
Middleton said she is one of many who took Tulane for granted but that will change.
“I’m going to appreciate my last semester a lot more,” Middleton said. “It’s just like you treat anything you almost lose.”
Cuddapah said though he might miss his late night runs to Louie’s, he cannot wait to get back home.
“Right after I finish my exam,” Cuddapah said. “I’m heading back.”