I was 16 during Katrina. I went where my parents went. My mom decided that she wanted to ride out the storm in a hotel room downtown. Being a Cat 3 did not raise much of an alarm to us. The weekend was filled with constant worrying. The tv was fixed on the news channel 24 hours a day. On Sunday morning, my mom turned on the tv and saw that Katrina was a Cat 5 and Nagin was issuing a mandatory evac of New Orleans. That was the deciding factor.\r\n\r\nMy parents quickly packed their bags and we sent out on the road at around 11. Since we thought that we were only going to be away from the house for only a few days, we only had about 3 days of clothes. I had brought my Playstation 2 with me hoping that I would get to play it in the hotel room.\r\n\r\nAll of out memories and personal items were sitting at home. Left behind.\r\n\r\nOnce we set on the road we had no idea where we were going. Once We decided to leave, the frantic calls went out to people we know and the process of mapping out where everyone was took place. The only luck we had was with a friend of mine. During the constantly bad cell phone reception, I managed to gather that my friend and his family were on the way to shreveport. We did not know if they even had a place to stay, but this seemed like a good idea. So we set out on a road trip to nowhere. That nowhere being out of the city. Just out. Does not matter where as long as it is not around the city.\r\n \r\n\r\nThe road trip was uneventful. Constant traffic for hours and hours. We made our way up I-55 to Jackson and from there I-20 to Shreveport. During the ride, my dad got in contact with a former insurance client who lived there. They were watching the news with awe as an entire metro area was leaving at once. He said that it was ok that we stay with him and his wife. It was around 12:30 Monday morning when we arrived at his house. We were starving, tired, and worried. They had dinner ready for us when were got there.\r\n\r\nI dont remember all the details for the next few days I do remember watching the news (we had no internet) and staring in utter disbelief. I was watching my city fill up with water. I cannot describe the emotions that ran through my body the next few days or the exact sequence of events. I think I was still in shock. I was only 16 years old and my entire life was being thrown into disarray. \r\n\r\nI do remember running into a friend from school at the mall. He and I were not that close but it was so comforting to see a friendly face.\r\n\r\nAfter a week, we moved to Houston because of my mom\'s work. We were moved to a hotel where several of her coworkers were also staying there. We exchanges stories and stayed there for about a week.\r\n\r\nWe were then moved to an apartment in mid-town and I was enrolled school at St. Thomas High School. The people there were extremely friendly and were giving us free stuff. I felt like I was a refugee fleeing from a war.\r\n\r\nWhen news of Rita heading towards Houston and the process of evacuating yet again. It just never seemed to end. We evacuated back to Shreveport and then to Dallas because of my Dad\'s work. We went back to Houston after the danger had passed. \r\n\r\nSoon after that my High School was reopening. I was attending Archbishop Rummel High School and they were opening up along with a transition school. Unfortunately, my parents could not move back because of their work. I was allowed to stay with one of my friends for the next few weeks.\r\n\r\nI was like returning to a war zone. Everyone experiences things differently. Its hard for people to understand what we went through. I never lost anything but I still suffered nonetheless.\r\n