Of course when Katrina was on her way, my family, like many others, thought we would just have to get out of our homes just for a couple of days. So the day before the hurricane, we went to stay at the New Orleans Convention Center where only essential employees, like my father, were allowed to bring their families. \r\n\r\nWhen we first settled down at the Convention Center, things were going smoothly. Families had their own sections in enormous ballrooms and the chefs were cooking all the food that were encased in room sized freezers. The only downfalls were that we couldn\'t shower everyday, and a couple of things went missing. The next day was when Katrina made her way into the city. It was actually pretty amazing to stya in the Convention Center during the hurricane because we were able to watch from the 2nd story level through huge 20 foot windows, as the wind flew everything around the city. The eye of the hurricane was very close to us, but we were safe inside. After the hurricane passed, things began to go wrong. There were leaks in the ceilings so several families had to be moved from ballroom to ballroom. Luckily, there were plenty enough ballrooms to go around. The toillets in the bathrooms were getting stopped up which let out a horrible stench, the power went out which meant no a/c, and there were people lining up in crowds outside of the C.C. begging to be let in. Then there was looting from the Wal-mart further down Tchopitoulas. We left the next day.\r\n\r\nWe headed for Breaux Bridge, which is a little outside of Lafeyette. There we embraced about 6 members of our family outide of a Walgreens and started heading towards a place in the town where my Uncle\'s friend allowed us to stay. It was an old business, with bedrooms and a/c and a full bathroom. We couldn\'t stay for more than a week or so, so we somehow my mom found a family who was willing to let dislocated Katrina victims stay in their home. They were in Baton Rouge, of all places. It seemed to be the most congested city because of Katrina. We were welcomed into this stranger\'s home with open arms. They fed us, bought us clothes, and even brought me, my brother and sister to the local high school, Mckinley. We all were attentively paying attention to the news to see if we could get any information about our area and if they were letting people back in New Orleans. Even though we hadn\'t heard too much about them letting people back into the city, we headed home anyway. \r\n\r\nMy dad, who is retired from the National Guard, of course knew one of the army men on duty, who let us back into the city. We had no idea if our home would even be there, but we were optimistic and hopeful and to our amazement, it was in good shape, comparatively.We lived, and still live in our lower Gentilly home which, luckily, recieved minimal roof damaged. As a result of living on the Gentilly Ridge, we didn\'t recieve any flood damage to our house, but about a foot and a half to our garage A few of our neighbors who had never evcactuated greeted us and we all helped eachother out in all kinds of ways. A neighbor who we didn\'t exactly know too well, gave us a generator so we had electricty! \r\n\r\nAfter the few months of living back home, things were coming back to life. People were moving back home, some businesses opening up again, and my high school, Ben Franklin, did the best it could to open up again by January, which was a success. We \'re back and proud to call it home. Never again I hope any person should have to go through all of the confusion, loss, and destruction this force of nature has caused us.