| NEWS
| SEPTEMBER 27, 2005
Change of Plans
Tulane student adjusts to UTA
but longs for New Orleans home
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| The Shorthorn: Michelle Proksell |
| Architecture junior Greg Hayslett
chose to transfer to UTA from Tulane University
after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans four weeks ago.
Hayslett says he likes the architecture program here but
still plans to return to Louisiana at the end of the semester. |
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By Alyssa
Fry
Contributor to The Shorthorn
For Hurricane Katrina evacuee Greg Hayslett, the welcomed transfer
to UTA was appreciated, but it doesn’t compare to home.
The architecture junior, originally from Dallas, started classes
here two weeks ago from Tulane University in New Orleans, after
realizing the effects of Katrina would dwell longer than anticipated.
This was when he applied at UTA and began the task of catching up
academically while adjusting socially.
“Everybody’s nice, and they’re willing to be my
friend, but I still feel like an outsider,” he said. “A
social life is definitely one of the things I miss the most.”
Hayslett was the vice president for his fraternity, Zeta Psi, and
lived in the fraternity house for two years.
The week of the storm, an alumnus of the fraternity visited and
offered to help them with maintenance on the house. On the way to
Home Depot for supplies, Hayslett said, they heard on the radio
the storm was more severe than predicted, and they bought plywood
instead.
When the storm arrived, only three other fraternity members were
available to help board up the house, and they treated it as a party.
“We drank, of course,” he said. “We didn’t
expect anything bad to happen. We joked about it being so bad that
we wouldn’t be able to come back.”
Hayslett left New Orleans at 3 a.m. Aug. 28, the day before Katrina
hit, which provided for overall clear highways to Texas, he said.
Having previously evacuated several times for other storms, he assumed
this time would be a weekend with friends in Arlington. He first
went to Mansfield with a friend from his fraternity at Tulane but
soon had to make new plans.
“We packed for a three- or four-day trip,” Hayslett
said.
After about a week, they realized their stay would be a little more
permanent and headed back home: Hayslett to Arlington and his friend
to Virginia.
“That first week felt like a month,” he said. “Time
moves very slow when you don’t know what’s going to
happen.”
Hayslett said the most frustrating thing about his situation now
is hearing different things about the damage from people who have
not seen it first-hand.
“It’s always an uncle’s cousin’s friend,”
he said. “I’d rather know if my place is just completely
ravaged. Knowing is better than not knowing.”
Another cause of frustration for Hayslett is the reversal from being
independent to relying on everyone he met here for basic necessities.
After staying with his parents for a week and a half, both parties
agreed he would be happier in his own place, so he moved into Centennial
Court apartments.
He said he’s still dependent because he doesn’t have
a job but that, for now, he’s trying to catch up in his classes
— some of which he is not sure will even transfer back to
Tulane.
Hayslett said he has no intention of staying at UTA once Tulane
is reopened and said he doesn’t know of any other displaced
students who don’t want to return.
Though he can sympathize with people who may not see any sense in
going back to New Orleans, he said he cannot imagine not going back.
“I’ll always be a Texan,” he said. “But
that’s home.”
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