University of Virginia, New Orleans Journals\r\n\r\nWednesday, January 11 , 2006\r\n\r\nLindsay McCook, School of Architecture\r\n\r\nThis trip has been nothing short of amazing. Every day I’ve \r\n\r\nbeen fortunate enough to do something different, and yesterday \r\n\r\nI helped at Xavier University. Justin and I helped a man named \r\n\r\nJoe work on the auxiliary convent. He has already gutted the \r\n\r\ndownstairs and is reworking the insulation, sealing the wood, \r\n\r\nand doing general brunt work. Joel and Madeleine sealed the \r\n\r\nwood yesterday, Joe continued to put up tar paper, and we \r\n\r\nwere given a different assignment. Our work consisted of \r\n\r\ncleaning the exterior of the house.\r\n\r\nDuring our drives around New Orleans I had wondered just how \r\n\r\nthey would go about removing all the watermarks on the exterior \r\n\r\nof all the buildings to erase evidence of the flooding. Now I \r\n\r\nknow -- it’s simply elbow grease and a lot of bleach. We worked \r\n\r\nall day there, and returned to Xavier Prep early in the afternoon \r\n\r\nfor our “shower appointment” at Country Day. The other groups \r\n\r\ncleaned trophies, went to the unveiling of the new city plan, and \r\n\r\nhelped with demolition. They finished the house we had started \r\n\r\ntwo days ago, but when they went to the second home, they \r\n\r\nwere unable to do anything because it was structurally \r\n\r\nunsound.\r\n\r\nLast night was our free evening and a lot of people went into the \r\n\r\nFrench Quarter to have dinner. For most of us, it was the first \r\n\r\ntime on the trip and in our lives that we’d seen the area. I loved \r\n\r\nit. Being an architectural history major and seeing one of the \r\n\r\nmost historic districts in the country was wonderful.\r\n\r\nI really only have good things to say about the people we’re \r\n\r\nhere with and the things we’re doing. Although most of the time \r\n\r\nit’s overwhelming and emotionally hard to grasp, the work we’re \r\n\r\ndoing is making a difference in at least a few lives. You’ve got \r\n\r\nto start somewhere, right?\r\n Original URL: \r\n\r\nhttp://www.virginia.edu/topnews/releases2006/NewOrleansJourn\r\n\r\nal10.html