This was an account of my Katrina experience that I posted for an online humanities course I'm taking...

Hello everybody, My name is Jessica. I am 22 years old. This is my third semester at Delgado. I am currently a general studies major but am planning on switching to an arts major because that it where my heart truly is. I just have to say that it is so nice to read all of your messages and learn a little about everyone. This is such a hard time and it feels good to hear from people who understand what it's like. I moved to New Orleans in 1997. Before then I lived in Orlando, New York, and Boston. My parents are very involved in theater so their line of work caused us to move around a lot when I was a kid. However, I grew very fond of the city so this has been quite hard. The weekend before Katrina hit I was visiting a friend in Mississippi. I wanted to get back into the city to be with my family when I saw how bad it looked, but I couldn't even get back in. I was forced to evacuate to Houston with my boyfriend (a 20 hour road trip that should have taken 6!!!) and lost contact with my family for about 3 days after the storm. It was horrible because all I was seeing were these awful news reports and pictures and I had no way of getting in touch with anyone. Luckily, my family was alright. We were living in Metairie, right by the lake, so the house flooded and we lost pretty much everything.It's okay, though. I'm just happy everyone is alright. I stayed with friends in Houston for a while until Hurricane Rita came along. I wasn't about to fool with that so I left before the storm hit and headed for Florida where I met up with the rest of my family. Then OFCOURSE hurricane Wilma came here on Monday so we headed north. I am now back in Orlando and really hoping that these damn hurricanes stop following me!!!!!!!! Anyways sorry this turned out longer than I meant, but I am really excited about this class and meeting all of you. I hope that all of you and your families are well.