The Big Easy (Music, Treme, and Pharmacy Museum)

I'm happy to say I have had another great day in New Orleans! The day started out with another great breakfast here at the hotel. Shortly after that we were able to go a tour all about music. I really enjoyed this tour because we were able to walk around the city while listening to the different kinds of jazz music. Throughout my time spent in the city, jazz music has been the genre that I have heard the most out of any. While walking through the streets today, I was able to hear multiple jazz musicians play their music while walking by different bars. I think music is so important to this city because the people of New Orleans express their culture and tell stories through their music. Music is also another way for families to connect with each other and pass down musical talents from generation to generation. I think New Orleans is also especially important to American music because New Orleans was the birth place of jazz and since then jazz has migrated throughout America. I wish I could take all of you reading this back to New Orleans with me just to experience the rhythm and blues that New Orleans has to offer.

Today we were also able to visit the Treme neighborhood. I found this neighborhood very interesting because of the various colors that were painted on the houses. These colors were pinks, yellows, and greens and it seemed to me as though these colors added some light to a neighborhood that didn’t always have the best of times upon them. The fact that I found most interesting about the Treme neighborhood was that it is the oldest neighborhood was African American descent. It was really neat to be a part of this and to be able to listen to all the culture our tour guide explained to us.

Lastly, we visited a pharmacy museum today. I really loved this not only because of my love for medicine, but also because of the history that was explained throughout this tour. The pharmacy museum really taught me that Western medicine truly has come a long way. My favorite part of the pharmacy museum was the different saws that were shown to us that the physician’s would use back in the day. Our tour guide explained that these saws were typically purchased from a local hardware store and were used to saw off many limbs (very gory I know).  This really made me realize how lucky we are to be living in a time where medicine is practiced with a sterile technique! New Orleans is especially important to pharmaceutical history because it is the place that is home to the first licensed pharmacist as well. After all our tours were done for the day we were able to go to a wonderful Christmas concert. This concert had beautiful music and it was a great joy to be able to spend some time with many others listening to Christmas music. Thank goodness I will be home in time for Christmas!

Until next time,

Hannah