Day 12 – Culture of Louisiana

We ended our 2nd week in Louisiana with a full day of exploring the culture here. We started with a visit at the LSU Center for River Studies which is located on the Baton Rouge Water Campus near the banks of the Mississippi River. It houses one of the world’s largest movable bed physical models – the Lower Mississippi River Physical Model.

One big issue in Louisiana is that the wetlands are disappearing at the perilous rate of 24 square miles per year – that’s equal to a football field every 38 minutes. The Water Campus center wants to rise awareness and educate about problems like rising seas and the disappearance of protective wetlands.

After a short lunch break we had a tour of Baton Rouge, visiting the old and new State Capitol. People in Louisiana are very friendly and fun. Our guide in the capitol truly lived this South State spirit and gave us a great tour, spreading in fun facts from time to time.

Fun Fact 1:

From 1888 to 1892 Louisiana had a governor called Francis T. Nicholls. He had lost his left eye and arm during the civil war. For his election campaign he used the slogan “Vote for the right” and “Vote for what is left of me”.

Fun Fact 2:

The ceilings in the capitol are made from sugar cane. Most of the people think it’s made from carpet.

Fun Fact 3:

During a planned bombing attack against the Capitol a pencil was catapulted up into the ceiling where it remains until today. The ceiling is the only thing that was not replaced after the bombing and shall remind everybody of what had happened.

After the tour we went up all the way to the 27th floor of the tower and enjoyed the great view.

The complete our cultural day we all got together in the evening to eat some craw fish on campus. Schöne Grüße an Kersten!