NEW ORLEANS Without postal service in New Orleans, University students who attended Mardi Gras had to wait until they returned home to rave about the sunny skies, seafood, and endless partying. The restaurants and shopping in New Orleans remained open for tourists, but municipal services such as the postal service, the judicial system and the police department were temporarily thrown to the curb as Bourbon Street at the hub of the French Quarter controlled millions of party-goers.

"Bourbon Street was definitely the worst (or best) place for finding crazy people," LSA senior Laura Shapiro said about her Spring Break at Mardi Gras with five friends from the University.

A wide range of entertainment from live jazz and blues to karaoke and strip shows on Bourbon Street offered visitors the opportunity for something to do at almost every hour of the day. Many of the establishments were open 24 hours a day.

At night, cars were banned from the streets as mobs of revelers overwhelmed the streets with the drone of conversations between good friends, new acquaintances and bead negotiators.

"Beads are the currency of choice," a New Orleans resident said.

Although many Mardi Gras enthusiasts were without clothes, very few were without beads. A 40-something man was wearing a g-string without pants. Right next to him stood a 20-something woman who had turned in her T-shirt for a chest painting. Despite the wacky fashion sense in New Orleans, beads were the perfect fit for all present.

In the early 1980s, the bead craze started in the French Quarter as women bared their breasts in exchange for beads, and now the exchange has expanded to full frontal nudity. Today, the exchange of beads signifies an understood bargain that permits men and women to ask each other favors of their choice in exchange for the colorful dangles.

"I would have to say I think we stayed away from the really crazy stuff, but it was interesting to see girls flashing for beads while 10 guys stood around her taking pictures and video-taping!" Shapiro said.

"I think my favorite thing about Mardi Gras was the fact that we got to walk around covered in tacky looking beads while feeling really cool about it!" Shapiro said.

Aside from the ever-present beads, there is no presiding theme for Mardi Gras, but each individual parade depicts a specific subject. The parade floats then support the krewe"s theme for the year. A krewe is the generic term for all Carnival organizations in New Orleans, first used by the Mistick Krewe of Comus which coined the word in 1857 to give its club"s name an Old English flavor.

The themes created by more than 2,100 Mardi Gras parades staged in New Orleans since 1857 have ranged from absurd to the uplifting in nature. Among some of the more popular subjects have been stories, legends, geography, famous people, entertainment and mythology and literature.

Lundi Gras precedes Mardi Gras as the eighth annual Orpheus parade entertained adoring crowds and showered groping hands with beads. The parade"s founder, singer Harry Connick Jr. led a host of celebrities including Whoopi Goldberg as well as nearly 1,200 male and female members.

Regardless of who rules the city, New Orleans is always known as "The Crescent City" because of its shape: The snug curve along the banks of the Mississippi River shapes a city that Mardi Gras temporarily bends of out shape.

The New Orleans Department of Sanitation quantifies the amount of fun had in the Crescent City during the Carnival celebration that extended from Jan. 6 to the actual day of Mardi Gras on Feb. 27. According to deputy director Lisa Maack, 1,450 tons of garbage was hauled off city streets during last year"s celebration. The 2001 Mardi Gras celebration was expected to set a record for the amount of garbage.