Host: Michael J. Malinowski
City/Town: Baton Rouge
State: Louisiana Zip code: 70808
What places have I seen?
I have visited the campus of Louisiana State University (LSU). Specifically, I visited Tiger Stadium, the LSU football stadium that seats about 100,000 people for every home game and is called “Death Valley.” I also visited Mike the Tiger, a Bengal-Siberian mix tiger, LSU’s mascot and the only living tiger on a college campus. I also visited the LSU Law Center where my host works, and he showed me some of Louisiana’s beautiful live oaks, Spanish Moss and magnolia trees.
What is the weather like?
Today, the later fall, winter, and spring are days in the 70s/60s and nights in the 60s/50s with lots of sunshine during the day. The late springs, summers, and early fall get very hot and humid, but with lots of sunshine—and there is air conditioning everywhere. The only truly bad weather comes very sporadically—most notably hurricanes (e.g., Katrina), but Baton Rouge very seldom gets hit hard by those. New Orleans, right on the coast where the Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mexico, is much more vulnerable.
Other information:
Louisiana is a land of non-stop festivals, food, art, and music. There are major festivals and Louisiana events throughout the state all year long—sometimes two a month. Some of the major ones are Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, and French Quarter Fest, all of which are in New Orleans. However, fall football season at LSU routinely draws more than 250,000 people to Baton Rouge for home games, and they come from all over the country.
Louisiana is truly a place of cultural diversity, most notably Cajun (from Acadia, like many Canadians), Creole (from the Mediterranean), African American, French and Spanish. These cultures are kept strong because they have city bases—e.g., Lafayette Louisiana identifies as the center for Cajun culture while New Orleans does the same for Creole. Many people speak French, and French sayings are used all the time. Music, like food, is a major priority for people in Louisiana, and culture also is kept strong through both. Living and visiting Louisiana is like travelling to many places all over the world, but while here in just one American state.
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