So while my friends are eating for sport in the dining Mecca that is New Orleans, I am playing the game up here in Natchitoches, Louisiana, Land of the Free and Home of the Meat Pie. For three weeks this summer, I'm working at the ADVANCE Program for Young Scholars, an intensive camp for gifted high school students. The cafeteria we use here definitely leaves something to be desired, as the tried and true staples of my diet are "foods that look like macaroni and cheese but apparently aren't." So, throughout this summer, I'll be corresponding from here.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. In the two days prior to my arrival at staff training for ADVANCE, I went to Shreveport with my parents. There's not a lot to do in Shreveport, so I found myself spending a lot of time at the Boardwalk, an outdoor outlet mall in Bossier City. While there, my mom and I took on a perennial favorite: Fuddruckers. We both ate turkey burgers, which were...okay. They were overspiced, most likely to combat the blandness of turkey. Having not been since I was in elementary school, I was pleasantly surprised by the toppings bar, but it was not enough to overcome the bizarreness of the meat. It was also extremely overpriced...maybe 10 dollars for the burger combo, something I was pressured into buying by the cashier.

I know that Fuddruckers isn't exactly fine dining, but it was a disappointment for a hamburger. I'm hoping that my time in the foreign land of northwest Louisiana will reap more positive food experiences.

Though I have no pictures of my cafeteria food thus far, gross highlights include a mucousy pistachio pudding covered in graham cracker droppings and particularly runny powdered eggs.