Grand Finale in New Orleans...

Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, Louisiana

When I last left you on Wednesday, I was in search of some more wholesome fun in New Orleans that didn't involve Bourbon Street.....the company gave us a half day to attend one of several tours they were offering that ranged from city tours, air boat tours of alligator infested swamps, to an afternoon playing golf.  I wanted something that was unique to the region that I couldn't get back home.  While going into swamps seemed adventurous, it was a little too much nature for me.  So, I decided on a tour of the Oak Alley Plantation.  First, the 1hr plus bus ride to get out to the plantation site was pretty interesting.....At the risk of sounding like an "East Coast snob," to say that people in rural Louisiana live a different pace of life from the Northeast would be an understatement.  There were so many neighborhoods along the Mississippi River consisting of small "match box" like houses with tin roofs on tiny quiet streets that seem more like pedestrian-only alleys.  I can't even imagine how far away is the closest Target or Wal-Mart, but I digress......The long bus ride was well worth the breathtaking view of the quarter-mile long Alley of Oaks when you finally pull up to the plantation.....The front doors of the main house open up to the picture-perfect view of all the 300 year-old Virginia Live Oak trees.  While this isn't the mansion that Gone With the Wind was filmed at, there have been several other films shot at this site.  The plantation was a great way for me to learn about some Southern history and culture along the Mississippi River....

Alley of Oaks

"Carnival"

Later that same evening, the company had yet another surprise in store for us.  We were instructed to meet in the hotel lobby promptly to walk over to wherever we were having dinner, but we would be bused back (which I found weird to walk there, but take buses back).  Turns out they hired a legit marching band with carnival characters and police detail to block off the streets for us (all 650 Merck Millipore employees) to parade from our hotel to dinner -- we're talking about Canal Street (a major artery) in the middle of rush hour traffic!

Police blocking traffic for our parade
(No, not me getting arrested, hehe)

I feel so short...

Metropolitan Night Club

Dinner ended up being at "The Metropolitan" nightclub which they rented out for the evening just for us.  Never seen so many of my colleagues from all over the world dance together like that before.....Those sales guys sure know how to party!  I just hope no one's camera snapped a picture of me out there on the dance floor and puts it in some slide deck for some future presentation, j/k!  No one wanted the evening to end....

Closing Ceremony

Thursday wrapped-up a week-long of meetings and poster sessions.  The closing ceremony and dinner kicked-off an evening of jazz that New Orleans is so well-known for.


After one more stroll on Bourbon Street, it was time to say "good-bye" to the Big Easy.  All-and-all, I was most surprised at how much fun I had in New Orleans -- I really didn't have high expectations for the city based on all I had heard and seen on TV, and I can confirm a lot of that is exaggerated.  While the city isn't for everyone, one can't dispute that New Orleans is definitely unique and has a lot to offer if you're looking for something new and different to experience for a place to visit -- you just have to keep an open mind!

Jazz Band

From all the photos and stories posted on my blog, I know most of you are thinking, did I get any work done on this "business" trip?  As cliche as it sounds, it was definitely an exhausting week of work hard and play hard and multi-tasking.  I'm so looking forward to a tranquil weekend at home to recover.  Nonetheless, I did have as much fun as all the photos indicate, which goes hand-and-hand with a major take-away for me this past week -- while 650 employees were invited to attend our GSM, many more colleagues could not participate.  All week, it never left my mind at how privileged I am in so many ways to be given the opportunity to work for such a cool company and surrounded by amazing colleagues.  And, given some of the sights in New Orleans, I'm even more fortunate to have grown up in Boston and be raised by parents and surrounded by family & friends that equipped me to seize on such an opportunity in my career....This week was really a reminder for me not to take things for granted and how lucky I am in so many ways and to just soak it all up while I can...


Until my next destination (already scheduled for ~2 weeks from now), I leave you with my favorite drink from the past week...Cheers!

Pat O'Brien's on Bourbon St has the best "Hurricane"
(and it's one of the better, non-sleezy, bars)

Exhausted, but a lot of Fun!

Since my first post, it's been a jammed pack two days of meetings and activities here in New Orleans.  I can't believe it's only Wednesday, and I've got another two days left!  I'm exhausted, but have had a lot of fun!  Each day's routine has been round-the-clock meetings from 8am-5pm, then aperitifs, then dinner, and then more drinking...every evening doesn't get me back into my room until well past 1am, just to repeat it the next day.....Below are some snapshots to hopefully give you a taste of the past 48 hours for me in The Big Easy...

Beignets



No trip to New Orleans can be considered complete without a visit to Cafe Du Monde for the best beignets -- so good....made sure to ask for a Cafe Du Monde employee hat to bring home with me, too!



Masquerade Ball





Cafe Du Monde

With New Orleans, comes mystique, so a masquerade ball was the perfect theme for our sales awards dinner and ceremony....While everyone was polished and proper for the formal dinner, you know everyone couldn't wait to get to the post-dinner activities...Although I was exhausted and considered just calling it an early night for me, as any good group of colleagues would do, my team managed to peer pressure me into going to Bourbon Street for the third night in a row to do this at a place called "Bourbon Cowboy".............





Yep folks, that's me on a mechanical bull!  I actually did better than what the pictures would seem to suggest......After all that physical activity, we were starving!  Lots of drinking holes on Bourbon Street, but hard to find a place that we felt would be safe enough to get food and not get Hepatitis or something.  Finally found a place that seemed descent enough (relatively speaking), and cheese fries, nachos, and chicken fingers really hit the spot.  Though, at that point, I'm sure we were all so hungry that just about anything would have tasted good! 

So far, I've been to Bourbon Street every night that I've been in New Orleans, and I think I'm starting to get used to all the craziness and sleeze....nothing on the street seems to fazes me at this point, not even this sign (left) posted outside a club....And with that, I leave you with a flavor of Bourbon Street, until my next post...I'm hoping today brings some more wholesome type of fun, at least during the daylight hours...



Live from the Big Easy!

My first trip and post comes to you live from New Orleans!  I'm here for a week-long sales meeting for work, with 650+ of my colleagues from around the world.  Other than the scenes I saw on TV from Hurricane Katrina, and hearing friends and colleagues describe this city as "dirty" and "sleezy," I really don't know much about New Orleans and this "bubble girl" was a bit nervous about coming here...But, day one in the Big Easy was actually not as sleezy as I had expected and was pleasantly surprised and charmed by the "southern hospitality," that is, until I got to Bourbon Street -- more on that later...

My day started at 5:30am in Boston and arrived in NOLA at 2:30pm central time, and my first mission after checking into the Marriott:  Harrah's casino!  I did a paper in business school on Harrah's (got an A on the paper), which is known for its friendly atmosphere and I got to experience that friendliness at their Las Vegas location, so I had to check it out in New Orleans, too.  Sure enough, it lived up to the billing.  Got in a few rounds of my favorite game, "Let It Ride."  Although my wallet didn't make out so well, if I had to lose money, it was still fun playing at a table with friendly dealers and locals, as well as folks from Texas....I made sure to leave with the famous Harrah's "Total Rewards" loyalty card for next time...

Next up was dinner with some of my colleagues and exploring the French Quarter, which is literally around the corner from my hotel on Canal Street.  Most of the tiny streets in the French Quarter were surprisingly empty for a Sunday evening, so it was hard to find a good place to eat, because so many were empty and you didn't know if that was because it's just a quiet Sunday evening or because it isn't a really good place to eat at.  Plus, some of my colleagues don't enjoy seafood, so it was hard to find a place to accomodate everyone's taste.  After a lot of walking, we finally landed at Emeril Lagasse's "NOLA" restaurant.  It's one of the more upscale restaurants in the area and the service was impecable, and the wait staff really pays attention to the details.  While I could have gone for seafood, I was pretty famished after a long travel day, and decided on their Hickory Smoked Duck soaked in whiskey (can't go wrong when they have whiskey as an ingredient!).  The dish did not disappoint, and was delicious!  Would definitely recommend Emeril's NOLA if you're ever down here...However, dinner did end a little awkwardly when I asked the busboy where the ladies room was and he held his arm out and said, "may I?" and I was totally thrown off...I was like, "what!?"  He reiterated with his arm out again to indicate that I needed to put my arm around his, for him to walk me to the ladies room arm-and-arm.  At that point, I needed to pee so badly that I just needed this guy to show me where the ladies room was, so I was like "what the heck, when in New Orleans, just do as New Orleanans..."  And, of course I knew I would get so much grief from my colleagues once I returned to the table and they delivered all the jokes you can imagine after seeing that scene play out....From one colleague, "were you going to the ladies' room or walking down the aisle?"  And, just in case any of you have your heads in the gutter as some of my colleagues did, no, he did not try to go into the ladies room with me.... Anyhow, this was taking "southern hospitality" a bit far...



 

Bead Tossers

After dinner, it was time to venture out for a stroll on the infamous Bourbon Street.  Sure enough, the street lives up to the "sleeze" and corruption that I had heard about.  The street was sticky beneath my shoes and had a stench that my colleague claims to be of urine and vomit, so I was constantly dodging any questionable puddles as I was walking...I'm glad I was with two male colleagues, because I don't think I would have felt safe otherwise.  But, you can't say you've been to New Orleans until you've visited the nightlife on Bourbon Street, so I'm glad to have gotten that checked off.  Though, the whole time I was on Bourbon Street, I was thinking to myself, "why would the company select this place to hold our sales meeting? Surely, no good can come out of this..."  Just glad I didn't see anyone I recognize from work walking out of one of these joints below -- I have never seen so many strip clubs on a single street and it pretty much sums up Bourbon Street:

It was weird when I bumped into a soft-spoken colleague from Japan, who tapped my shoulder to say, "hello," and it was a bit comical to address him as "Imada San, how are you?" and bowing to him as a show of courtesy for his culture in the backdrop of Bourbon Street and all its craziness.....Welcome to America!

So, considering the shadiness on Bourbon Street, going to Harrah's is

actually a pretty wholesome activity for New Orleans.  All and all, I had a very long, but very eventful and successful first day in New Orleans, and hopefully you've enjoyed my first post enough to come back for my next blog.....

It's a busy first day of meetings tomorrow and not sure if I'll have an opportunity to sneak out to play and explore some more, but stay tuned for more later on this week!