New Orleans? More like New Friends-eans...

I don't have many good friends.  My best friend for over a year willfully distanced herself from me, lying the whole way, and the best friend I ever had came back in and then left my life, and both happened around the same tame about a year and a half ago.  My best friend for years had drifted out of my life and recently moved out of state without saying goodbye, and still owes me quite a bit of money.  I deal with anxiety and have little in the form of a social life, and a lot of times I'm pretty sure that nobody really likes me, that they simply tolerate me, and will ditch me at the drop of a hat, or really at the drop of anything.  So, this trip was both a exciting, and a little bit intimidating, thinking that I may end up as a loner.  Luckily, this didn't happen.  I made multiple new friends on this trip, and became better friends with a handful of people.  I was included, and allowed myself to be.  One person in particular I became extra close to.  I knew of her, but we'd never met, let alone talked, and I can't recall if we'd even spoken on the trip until the night on Frenchman Street.  With so many people leaving early that night, she and I ended up pairing up and had a long conversation while listening to music.  After that night, with the ice clearly broken, we began talking regularly, and I invited her to go shopping with me the following day.  We didn't end up going, but instead ended up going out to Bourbon Street and having a blast.  I helped her back to the hotel and took care of her until I put her to bed.  We ended up together with other people or paired up most of the rest of our time away from Illinois, continuing to get to know each other better, and even ended up getting tarot readings done together on the last day.  On the bus home we argued and laughed like we'd known each other far longer than we have.  There's still fear that something will go wrong and this too will die, but I am very grateful for the opportunity to make new friends and build the relationships.  Honestly, this probably ended up being my favorite part of the trip for me, because I do appreciate my friends and to make memories with them, more than the surroundings and context of the memories.