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EDITOR'S NOTE: Cajun by culture and Iranian by blood, Hessam Parzivand is a resident of Lafayette recently graduated from LSU in management. He has embarked on a five-month journey through the Middle East to seek out relatives and to gain an understanding of his cultural roots. Parzivand agreed to share his experiences with 225 readers through this blog.

I pause just for a second or two before taking my last step onto the plane. It isn't because I am afraid of flying. It's because I know this will be the last step I take on the solid ground of my country, and I won’t see my hometown of Lafayette for the next five months. My emotions about this trip have fluctuated between fear, anxiety, and excitement, and sometimes an odd concoction of the three. I've never left South Louisiana for this long. My final destination is the tiny kingdom of Qatar, located on the Arabian Peninsula.

I've chosen to take this trip for many reasons. The most important reason is to get to know my extended family. I am an only child who, besides my parents, has no other relatives in the United States. I have taken trips to the Middle East in the past, but their brevity prevented me from forming a deep bond with my family beyond those that are inherent in the common blood I share with them. The other big reason for the trip is to gain a true understanding of the culture of the Middle East.

It may be hard to believe, but I am not very culturally Middle-Eastern despite the fact that both of my parents are Iranian. Anybody who meets me can tell I am an American, but my different look frequently leads people to ask where I'm from. My response is that I was born in New Iberia. I've actually lived all my life in South Louisiana, most recently in Baton Rouge, where I graduated from LSU.

My lifetime in Louisiana leads me to feel as Cajun as I am American. How Cajun? My last meals in Louisiana were boiled crawfish and a shrimp po-boy. Still, I am a special type of Cajun. I am an Iranian Cajun. What I hope to see and learn over the next few months is how this mostly Cajun culture complements, and clashes, with that of the Middle East.

I’ll be in touch.