Our drive from the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to our vacation home Sol et Terre in Grand Isle started off on an interesting note with our first stop being a Popeyes drive thru for some “authentic” Louisiana fried chicken. We were the last two cars to make it to the order window before closing, and they were unfortunately out of almost everything. To say the least, our first meal in a state known for its rich cuisine and culture was disappointing. The failed Popeyes outing was followed by a mad dash to the supermarket, where we purchased a variety of frozen foods and ramen. Again, not exactly the most ideal menu. Finally, after an hour and a half of driving, we reached Grand Isle (in complete darkness without the beautiful view of driving across the water, of course). Despite our bumpy start to the trip, we all still felt quite optimistic about bookpacking and were excited to get to know each other. During our first night at Sol et Terre, we stayed up late drinking and chatting. A true bonding moment, and one that was very reminiscent of the little soirees in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, which takes place on Grand Isle and which we read during our three-day stay.
The next day, we discovered the beauty of Jo Bob’s Gas & Grill, a fast-food restaurant and gas station hybrid that quickly became our saving grace providing us with coffee before morning seminars, some of the most buttery and soft biscuits we’d ever had, and $5 jambalaya. Later that morning, we ventured down to the beach with The Awakening in hand, ready to read about Edna Pontellier and her journey as she attempted to gain control over her life. The first reading session didn’t last too long as Edna ventures down to the beach and takes a dip in the gulf in the earlier parts of the book. And in true bookpacking fashion, we paused and ventured into the water to truly grasp Edna’s feelings in that moment. We perched upon rocks, enjoyed each other’s company, and observed dolphins swimming by. It was a truly wonderful moment that introduced us to the beauty of bookpacking and being immersed in the world you are reading about. For me, this was reiterated when I was sitting in a rocking chair after our beach outing reading Edna’s description of the beach and the horizon, and I was able to look out the window in front of me and see that exact same view. It was surreal.
“Edna Pontellier, casting her eyes about, had finally kept them at rest upon the sea. The day was clear and carried the gaze out as far as the blue sky went; there were a few white clouds suspended idly over the horizon.”
As we approached evening on our first full day in Grand Isle, I took a nap. This might not seem like a big deal, but napping is an extremely rare occurrence in my regular life. With my usual hectic schedule, it is not easy to make time for daily naps. Being out in Grand Isle though, it was almost impossible not to close my eyes and take a moment to rest. And it was something I desperately needed after 15 jam-packed days leading up to our departure from Los Angeles. Before arriving at LAX for our Maymester, I attended a three-day music festival in the desert, went on a five-day family vacation to Hawaii, completed my final exams, planned and hosted a brunch for 130 guests, moved out of my sorority house, read our first book, A Confederacy of Dunces, and packed for our three-and-a-half-week trip to Louisiana. I was exhausted, and that nap was cathartic. The lethargic tone that weaves throughout The Awakening had bled into our real lives. As I said during one of our afternoon seminars, “they sleep a lot in this book” and we did too.
The longer we stayed in Grand Isle, the more we assimilated to the French/Creole way of life exhibited in The Awakening by the likes of Léonce Pontellier, Madame Ratignolle, and Robert. In the novel, Edna’s British American upbringing makes it difficult for her to fit in with and relate to her Creole counterparts and their looser lifestyle. As the book progresses, Edna starts to adopt the carefree attitude of her friends, letting go of society’s conventions and rules. Similarly, we started our trip worrying about objectives, rushing from one place to the next trying to beat the sunset. However, as we settled at Sol et Terre, we started to let go of our stresses, not to the same extremes as Edna, but we did it, nonetheless. I stopped worrying about what was happening far away at home in Los Angeles. I barely thought about my final exams or grades. In the French way, I put my phone down, stayed in the moment, and just appreciated the people around me and the gorgeous beach scenery before me.
There’s a great sense of relief when you isolate yourself from your world and the problems that go along with it. Everything that seemed like such a big deal before just bleeds away. The still waters of Grand Isle pulled Edna in and awoke her from the drab cycle of life she was in. Those same waters helped me find my inner calm. I spent our days at Grand Isle reflecting and identifying negative aspects in my life that I wanted to purge myself of. I also thought about what I wanted to gain from the rest of our trip: a better understanding of our country’s history, an appreciate for cultures outside of my own, and a special bond and friendship with the others on the trip. If there’s one thing to take away from The Awakening and Grand Isle, it’s that death and destruction are inevitable. Edna ended her own life at the mere age of 29. We saw dead catfish and baby sharks on the shores of the gulf. We came across property that was completely wiped out by Hurricane Ida last year. Places we wanted to visit were either eradicated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the hurricane or in the process of being rebuilt. We watched Deepwater Horizon and learned about the absolute devastation that oil spill wreaked on the gulf, the wildlife, and the economy. We visited the Grand Isle cemetery and examined the raised tombs. Our lives can be flipped upside down in an instant. We need to spend more time appreciating what we have and the loved ones in our lives. Personally, I need to stop thinking about what comes next and focus on what’s happening right now. As they say in Louisiana, laissez les bon temps rouler.