The school week went by uneventfully - as in nothing fun was done Monday through Friday. On the contrary, I had three quizzes, a lab procedure test, and a crazy lab to do this week. So by Friday I was ready to listen to some tasteless Rebecca Black (for those of you who have ever encountered this and are interested, go here).
So the roommates and I went to the huge shopping center Ala Moana after we were all done with classes. It was pretty impressive. There are three floors, I believe, and countless shops. You could probably spend an entire day there if you're a hardcore shopper.
Then we went to the beach for about a minute because we were all worn out from shopping. We climbed back on the bus and met some fellow students on the journey back. They were pretty cool and we spend the rest of the night hanging out with them and going between dorms trying to find something to do.
Saturday was the first home football game of the season! It's a little different than football at Illinois because 1) the tickets are FREE and 2) Aloha Stadium (where they play) isn't on campus. There were shuttles that could take students that didn't have a car. Or option number two was to take the city bus and ride that for an hour. And of course my group chose option #2. But it wasn't terribly bad.
We got to the stadium a little over two hours before kickoff, thinking we would tailgate with the other students. Would have been perfect if we had found the student section right away. The parking lot was enormous. But we eventually found them. What a crazy bunch. This guy offered us free margaritas. He was making them in plain sight in the bed of his truck. It was legit and they were super tasty. We thanked him and went on our way.
We then met up with the kids we met on Friday, and had a merry time before we went into the stadium. When we went to check our bags, though, they wouldn't let Kelsey in with her water bottle even though it was empty. Her having paid good money for the water bottle and obviously not wanting to throw it away, we found some kids that had drove here and asked to put it in there. She got the kid's phone number to track it down after the game. But the guys ended up being pretty cool about it. They were in the army. More on them in a bit.
It was hot as hell in the stadium. The game started at four, and the sun was right on our side of the stadium. We were absolutely toasting in there. It was miserable. But I was excited to see some football and tried not to think about every square inch of my body that was sweating.
By halftime we were winning and we got up to walk around a bit. We ran into the army guys that had Kelsey's water bottle and hung out with them for the rest of the game. Hawaii ended up winning the game (and I was surprised 'cause I heard that we suck as a football team). We left with the army guys to go get Kelsey's water bottle. They were headed up to the north shore because that's where they lived, and they invited us to go to a bar there for a little while. Figuring what the hell, we tagged along. After the 50-minute drive up to the north shore, I was exhausted. We didn't stay at the bar for long and went back to the one guy's apartment and put a movie in (something with Will Ferrell).
Before we finished the movie, I proclaimed that I was exhausted and the nice gentlemen offered to drive us back to campus. Thank God, because I was feeling slightly vulnerable that we would have been stuck there overnight without a way to get back home because our lack of mode of transportation. That was a bit creepy.
I will be all right with my life if I never see or hear from them again.
Sunday was a great day as well. Janelle had found out about a program without our dorm that would take us to the beach and we could go surfing for like $7. Apparently, though, nobody else knew about this program so it was just me, Janelle, and Kelsey with the two RA's that were putting on the program. So we went to Waikiki beach and rented boards and paddled out, but the waves weren't that good and there were a ton of people. Rob and Ryan (the RA's) caught a few, but I was never facing the right way or someone else had caught the wave right before me so I didn't technically surf. I stood up for a second on a weak wave but that was as exciting as that got. But I'll definitely be doing it again before the semester is over.
After that, we all walked around Waikiki for a bit, nothing super interesting became of that. We tried to find this event called Floatopia, which I guess is like a drinking fest in the water and a lot of people show up to it, but we weren't at the right beach.
So we came back to campus and went to a women's volleyball game which was super fun! Hawaii played UCLA and it was supposed to be one of the really good games of the season because I guess we are really good at volleyball and UCLA was going to be one of our best competition, which they were. We lost in 4 sets but the match was really fun to watch. It made me miss volleyball so much!! That was the grand finale for Sunday.
Today (Monday) was a fantastically eventful day as well. The roommates and I were thinking about going to the North Shore for the day but that's like a 3.5 hour bus ride and we'd have to wake up at six in the morning to catch the bus and I was not having that. So instead Rob and Ryan said they'd come with us to Manoa Falls. There was a group of about six of us, and it was a really fun hike. I'd recommend that over Diamond Head, although the hike itself was a little rough at times because the trail was rocks and uneven and the ground was wet from the rain. At the end of the hike though was a waterfall which I'm just realizing now I had never seen one before today so that was pretty neat.
On our way back was another trail that deviated from the original and we decided to check that out. Best decision of the day. We found these giant trees that had really hard and sturdy vines or something grown alongside them. So we spent an hour and just climbed these gargantuan trees. Geek moment but I felt like I was in a combination of the movies Avatar and Fern Gully. It was almost like rock climbing so I was real pumped about that.
When we got back from that we went to this little restaurant called the Rainbow Drive-In, which was all right. It had native Hawaiian dishes and was tasty. I got some chicken thing (real specific, I know).
So now I'm in my room blogging about the past week instead of attempting to get some reading done for my classes =/ I'm here in Hawaii to go to school, right? Eh.
Maybe.
Aloha!
P.S. I'll post pictures as soon as I get them. My camera conveniently died right as we got to the waterfall today at Manoa Falls so I will be stealing pictures from my friends. Enter creepy methodical plan laugh.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Habitat for Humanity/ Diamond Head Hike
Saturday turned out to be pretty awesome. Kelsey was going to volunteer at Habitat for Humanity. She had done projects for them in the past. I had always wanted to, so I signed up the day before and we both trekked out to the build site Saturday morning at 8 am. I have no building experience whatsoever, but the other people there were really nice and were patient (Thank God!)
We worked 8 hours and had about a half hour lunch in the middle. Most of the day Kelsey and I were painting boards that were going to turn into the front and back porch. But we also nailed some wood to other wood (I don't really know the terminology used for carpentry).
I didn't know how Habitat for Humanity worked before the build, so Kelsey explained that the person/family whose house is being build helps build the house along side us, and then after that house is complete, said person/family helps Habitat build for the next family in need. I thought that was pretty awesome.
We got to know a little about the man we were building for. Turns out he is an army veteran and went to Vietnam and did all that jazz. He talked to us a lot about music and how he plays the bass guitar and how many songs he knows how to play because he buys the sheet music for them. He also mentioned how the seventies were awesome and he went to a lot of concerts on the beach here in Hawaii and all the drugs that were there and everything, which I found to be humerous.
I also got to know a little about myself, and no matter how much hand-eye coordination needed to be a skilled athlete, I cannot hammer a nail into wood to save my life. It's tougher than it looks. Men just whack the damn thing like three times and the nail is in all snug and pretty-looking. If I managed to hammer the nail into the wood (and that didn't happen a lot because I always managed to bend the nail and mess everything up), it would end up looking all crappy like a blind ape went at it. Good thing my major is animal sciences, and not skilled carpentry/craftsmanship.
After volunteering for Habitat, all my roommates, some kids from the ASH program, and myself just hung out for the rest of the night.
My father scared the absolute $#!% out of my that night. He called at about 10:30 my time, which would have been 3:30 in the morning back home. I thought someone had died or some other tragic event just happened. I freaked out too much to answer the phone, and waited until he left a voicemail. When I listened to it, he said he was just calling since he was at work (working midnights) and thought the time difference would make things easier just to talk and catch up.
Welp, Dad, you scared the absolute piss out of me, so thanks for that.
Love you.
I called him back and we chatted for a bit until things got busy then he left me to the rest of my night, which was pretty uneventful but fun all the same.
Sunday (today) we met up with the other kids in our program to hike up Diamond Head, a famous climb in Oahu that has an amazing view at the top. It was crazy cool. I would recommend hiking it. It wasn't as high and didn't take as long as I thought it would, and it cost like $5 a car to do it. It was an actual path that had guardrails and whatnot, and parts were going up stairs, through a cave, and a sprial staircase. After realizing just how out of shape I was from climbing those effing stairs, I was at the top with a fabulous view and breeze. It makes you realize just how beautiful Hawaii actually is.
The rest of the day I lounged around, nothing special. Caught up on some homework (or started to), then wrote thigs blog. Should probably be reading for my microbiology class right now. I guess I'll end this post.
Aloha!
We worked 8 hours and had about a half hour lunch in the middle. Most of the day Kelsey and I were painting boards that were going to turn into the front and back porch. But we also nailed some wood to other wood (I don't really know the terminology used for carpentry).
I didn't know how Habitat for Humanity worked before the build, so Kelsey explained that the person/family whose house is being build helps build the house along side us, and then after that house is complete, said person/family helps Habitat build for the next family in need. I thought that was pretty awesome.
We got to know a little about the man we were building for. Turns out he is an army veteran and went to Vietnam and did all that jazz. He talked to us a lot about music and how he plays the bass guitar and how many songs he knows how to play because he buys the sheet music for them. He also mentioned how the seventies were awesome and he went to a lot of concerts on the beach here in Hawaii and all the drugs that were there and everything, which I found to be humerous.
I also got to know a little about myself, and no matter how much hand-eye coordination needed to be a skilled athlete, I cannot hammer a nail into wood to save my life. It's tougher than it looks. Men just whack the damn thing like three times and the nail is in all snug and pretty-looking. If I managed to hammer the nail into the wood (and that didn't happen a lot because I always managed to bend the nail and mess everything up), it would end up looking all crappy like a blind ape went at it. Good thing my major is animal sciences, and not skilled carpentry/craftsmanship.
After volunteering for Habitat, all my roommates, some kids from the ASH program, and myself just hung out for the rest of the night.
My father scared the absolute $#!% out of my that night. He called at about 10:30 my time, which would have been 3:30 in the morning back home. I thought someone had died or some other tragic event just happened. I freaked out too much to answer the phone, and waited until he left a voicemail. When I listened to it, he said he was just calling since he was at work (working midnights) and thought the time difference would make things easier just to talk and catch up.
Welp, Dad, you scared the absolute piss out of me, so thanks for that.
Love you.
I called him back and we chatted for a bit until things got busy then he left me to the rest of my night, which was pretty uneventful but fun all the same.
Sunday (today) we met up with the other kids in our program to hike up Diamond Head, a famous climb in Oahu that has an amazing view at the top. It was crazy cool. I would recommend hiking it. It wasn't as high and didn't take as long as I thought it would, and it cost like $5 a car to do it. It was an actual path that had guardrails and whatnot, and parts were going up stairs, through a cave, and a sprial staircase. After realizing just how out of shape I was from climbing those effing stairs, I was at the top with a fabulous view and breeze. It makes you realize just how beautiful Hawaii actually is.
The rest of the day I lounged around, nothing special. Caught up on some homework (or started to), then wrote thigs blog. Should probably be reading for my microbiology class right now. I guess I'll end this post.
Aloha!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
First Week of Classes
My first weekend in Hawaii went by in a flash. Shane and his roommates are super nice and told us like everything there is to do on the island (which is a lot). We went to the beach and downtown Honolulu and had a good time.
I met my roommates and they're all really nice! We've done a bunch of stuff together and want to do a lot more! I'm sharing my room with Kelsey, and Janelle and Esther are in the other room in our apartment.
As for our apartment.... I don't know what to say about that. It's not like Bromley Hall at Illinois, that's for sure. It's an older building and everything's not perfect, but I don't plan on spending that much time in here anyway.
Sunday, we had our orientation for our ASH program. Our director, Anna, is really nice. I think she'll work out well. We met the other students in the program, and then we went on a tour of the island with this crazy tour guide lady who told a few good jokes. We saw different beaches, coves, a cemetery, a great reef for snorkling, and learned a lot about the island in general.
Fun fact: Did you know there are no bilboards on the island? They were all taken down a long time ago because they wanted everyone to look at the beautiful view instead of the ads.
Also: There are no seagulls on the island, either. The water is too warm for them.
Monday was my first day of class. Syllabus day - my favorite day of the year! I don't think HAW 100 will be what I was originally expecting. I thought it was going t obe more of a language course to get me around the island, but it might turn out to be more about the island in general and it's culture and history, which will be interesting all the same.
MICR 130 might be my hardest class of the semester, going off my first impression. The professor only took 5 minutes of the class to explain the syllabus and that this course was going to go at a pretty decent speed. I don't think he was kidding. At least he doesn't have an accent.
ANSC 200 might be my favorite class. The professor is pretty cool. We watched a youtube video of a kitten frightened by two apples the first day. It was adorable.
I went to the gym that day. It may have been the dumbest place to ever come to existence and still be a place of business. The only perk about the place was that students got in free. First of all, you walk in and it's like a little dump. The gym at the Community Center in Geneseo was 10x better. Even the basement of Bromley hall blew it out of the water.
It was janky too. There were like 20 small lockers, all without locks, and the employees make you put your bags in there. There are also signs saying that the gym is not responsible for lost or stolen items. Great, right?
Second of all, you need to bring your own towel. We went to sign in and the guy asked to see our towels. Kelsey and I looked at eachother like wtf. Apparently, if you don't have a towel, you can't work out. But there was a promotion going on and we signed up and receieved a free towel. I think they do that because 1) who the hell brings their own towel without prior knowledge and 2) he didn't want to send us back home sullen, downtrodden, and bad-mouthing the gym. Which I'm doing anyways. Sucks to suck.
Third of all, you couldn't use the cardio machines without signing up to use them at the front desk. If I was on the treadmill and wanted to transfer to the empty stationary bike right beside me, I had to make a detour to the front desk so they could check me into the machine. And here's the kicker: you can only be on the cardio machine for 1/2 hour. Max.
I also heard through the grapevine that cut-off t-shirts are not allowed. Pardon my language, but that's the douche-iest place ever.
Tuesday (or Syllabus Day Part II) was decent. I only had two classes, so I thought I was going to get done super early. It felt a little longer than I thought it would, considering both classes are longer than an hour. But I still got done before noon.
I was the first of my roommates to get done with class, so I basically lounged around and waited til they got out of class. Then we went to the beach for a solid twenty minutes. I'm really starting to dislike the bus system around here. We went back and ate dinner, and then strolled around campus and towards downtown Honolulu just for something to do. Kelsey introduced me to Mochi, a Japanese (I believe) dessert consisting of a ball of tasteless dough with ice cream in the middle. It was heavenly. It combined two of my favorite things of food: ice cream and the texture of bread. Deliciousness all up in my mouth. Then we came back and hit the sack.
Wednesday wasn't too bad. In two of my classes it was like student introduction day, AKA lame icebreakers from middle school to ease the tension. Nobody wants to do them, but we'd rather do them instead of homework so I'm not complaining.
I don't really want to talk about school-related stories on this blog because, let's be honest, who even wants to hear about them? We all go to school, and school is school whether you're in Illinois or Hawaii. Unless I have something truly amusing to say about school, I'm going to use this blog to pretend like I don't go to school.
But I wouldn't pass up saying that right now U of I is being dearly missed.
After class Wednesday I ran around town by myself doing some errands. I stopped at the humane society because it's really close to my building and I wanted to look around and stuff. I asked about volunteer opportunities assisting with surgeries or even walking the dogs or something. They seemed super nice there and in need of volunteers, so I hope I get a call back!
Then I went to a publishing place to pick up a book I needed for one of my classes. Found it easily and life was good.
Right by the publishing place was a little market which was perfect because I needed to fill out a paper for one of my classes on prices of animal meats and their byproducts. I didn't find absolutely everything, but most of it I did. When I needed to know where something was, I conveniently asked the cute employee. Bonus.
Thursday was great. I got out of class before noon so my roommate Esther and I went to the beach for a few hours. I was even productive and took some notes for my bio lab. Studying and sunbathing you could call it.
Or learned and burned.
Friday was the best day on the island yet. All of my roommates were out of class relatively early, so we navigated to Hanauma Bay which is famous for its reefs and sea life. We bought snorkeling gear and spent like an hour and a half searching the reefs. We found all kinds of fish, some were huge and were colored like a rainbow. It was amazing. But no turtles =[ Then we hung out on the beach for a while. I even opted to be buried in the sand, just for funsies.
On the walk back to the bus stop, I found a coconut hanging out on the side of the road. Another fun fact: Did you know you can mail coconuts? Like straight-up write the address right on the coconut and ship it away. Parents: you shall be receiving my fine find once I figure out where a post office is.
We came back and there was a bunch of stuff we could do, including a foam party somewhere, we were were kind of exhausted so we all just ordered pizza and hung out, planning the rest of the weekend.
Post on that soon!!
Aloha!
I met my roommates and they're all really nice! We've done a bunch of stuff together and want to do a lot more! I'm sharing my room with Kelsey, and Janelle and Esther are in the other room in our apartment.
As for our apartment.... I don't know what to say about that. It's not like Bromley Hall at Illinois, that's for sure. It's an older building and everything's not perfect, but I don't plan on spending that much time in here anyway.
Sunday, we had our orientation for our ASH program. Our director, Anna, is really nice. I think she'll work out well. We met the other students in the program, and then we went on a tour of the island with this crazy tour guide lady who told a few good jokes. We saw different beaches, coves, a cemetery, a great reef for snorkling, and learned a lot about the island in general.
Fun fact: Did you know there are no bilboards on the island? They were all taken down a long time ago because they wanted everyone to look at the beautiful view instead of the ads.
Also: There are no seagulls on the island, either. The water is too warm for them.
Monday was my first day of class. Syllabus day - my favorite day of the year! I don't think HAW 100 will be what I was originally expecting. I thought it was going t obe more of a language course to get me around the island, but it might turn out to be more about the island in general and it's culture and history, which will be interesting all the same.
MICR 130 might be my hardest class of the semester, going off my first impression. The professor only took 5 minutes of the class to explain the syllabus and that this course was going to go at a pretty decent speed. I don't think he was kidding. At least he doesn't have an accent.
ANSC 200 might be my favorite class. The professor is pretty cool. We watched a youtube video of a kitten frightened by two apples the first day. It was adorable.
I went to the gym that day. It may have been the dumbest place to ever come to existence and still be a place of business. The only perk about the place was that students got in free. First of all, you walk in and it's like a little dump. The gym at the Community Center in Geneseo was 10x better. Even the basement of Bromley hall blew it out of the water.
It was janky too. There were like 20 small lockers, all without locks, and the employees make you put your bags in there. There are also signs saying that the gym is not responsible for lost or stolen items. Great, right?
Second of all, you need to bring your own towel. We went to sign in and the guy asked to see our towels. Kelsey and I looked at eachother like wtf. Apparently, if you don't have a towel, you can't work out. But there was a promotion going on and we signed up and receieved a free towel. I think they do that because 1) who the hell brings their own towel without prior knowledge and 2) he didn't want to send us back home sullen, downtrodden, and bad-mouthing the gym. Which I'm doing anyways. Sucks to suck.
Third of all, you couldn't use the cardio machines without signing up to use them at the front desk. If I was on the treadmill and wanted to transfer to the empty stationary bike right beside me, I had to make a detour to the front desk so they could check me into the machine. And here's the kicker: you can only be on the cardio machine for 1/2 hour. Max.
I also heard through the grapevine that cut-off t-shirts are not allowed. Pardon my language, but that's the douche-iest place ever.
Tuesday (or Syllabus Day Part II) was decent. I only had two classes, so I thought I was going to get done super early. It felt a little longer than I thought it would, considering both classes are longer than an hour. But I still got done before noon.
I was the first of my roommates to get done with class, so I basically lounged around and waited til they got out of class. Then we went to the beach for a solid twenty minutes. I'm really starting to dislike the bus system around here. We went back and ate dinner, and then strolled around campus and towards downtown Honolulu just for something to do. Kelsey introduced me to Mochi, a Japanese (I believe) dessert consisting of a ball of tasteless dough with ice cream in the middle. It was heavenly. It combined two of my favorite things of food: ice cream and the texture of bread. Deliciousness all up in my mouth. Then we came back and hit the sack.
Wednesday wasn't too bad. In two of my classes it was like student introduction day, AKA lame icebreakers from middle school to ease the tension. Nobody wants to do them, but we'd rather do them instead of homework so I'm not complaining.
I don't really want to talk about school-related stories on this blog because, let's be honest, who even wants to hear about them? We all go to school, and school is school whether you're in Illinois or Hawaii. Unless I have something truly amusing to say about school, I'm going to use this blog to pretend like I don't go to school.
But I wouldn't pass up saying that right now U of I is being dearly missed.
After class Wednesday I ran around town by myself doing some errands. I stopped at the humane society because it's really close to my building and I wanted to look around and stuff. I asked about volunteer opportunities assisting with surgeries or even walking the dogs or something. They seemed super nice there and in need of volunteers, so I hope I get a call back!
Then I went to a publishing place to pick up a book I needed for one of my classes. Found it easily and life was good.
Right by the publishing place was a little market which was perfect because I needed to fill out a paper for one of my classes on prices of animal meats and their byproducts. I didn't find absolutely everything, but most of it I did. When I needed to know where something was, I conveniently asked the cute employee. Bonus.
Thursday was great. I got out of class before noon so my roommate Esther and I went to the beach for a few hours. I was even productive and took some notes for my bio lab. Studying and sunbathing you could call it.
Or learned and burned.
Friday was the best day on the island yet. All of my roommates were out of class relatively early, so we navigated to Hanauma Bay which is famous for its reefs and sea life. We bought snorkeling gear and spent like an hour and a half searching the reefs. We found all kinds of fish, some were huge and were colored like a rainbow. It was amazing. But no turtles =[ Then we hung out on the beach for a while. I even opted to be buried in the sand, just for funsies.
On the walk back to the bus stop, I found a coconut hanging out on the side of the road. Another fun fact: Did you know you can mail coconuts? Like straight-up write the address right on the coconut and ship it away. Parents: you shall be receiving my fine find once I figure out where a post office is.
We came back and there was a bunch of stuff we could do, including a foam party somewhere, we were were kind of exhausted so we all just ordered pizza and hung out, planning the rest of the weekend.
Post on that soon!!
Aloha!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Upon Arrival
My mom, dad, and I left our house a little after five in the morning, just to give us ample time so I wouldn't freak out about being late. Our flight was at eleven so we made it in plenty of time. We waited for Tawni and her parents to get there, then we said our goodbyes at security, and left our parents for FOUR MONTHS. I was a little sad, but more wanting to make sure we found our gate and thinking about the long flight ahead of us. I didn't even cry when I left my parents. Sorry, guys =[
We got into Phoenix around 12:30-ish maybe. We had an hour before our next flight so we found our gate (rather easily) and got some food before we boarded.
So the flight was really long. Like REALLY long. It wasn't too bad going from O'Hare to Phoenix, but from there to Honolulu was incredibly long and would have been dull if it weren't for meeting a super nice girl in my program on the flight and befriending her and the two guys she sat next to. It was like a 6+ hour flight with not too much to do. Tawni couldn't even paint her nails. Sorry, flight attendant.
The flight was also really cold. I guess that's what I get for boarding wearing shorts and a tank top without a sweatshirt in my carry-on. That sucked a bit.
Flying over the ocean wasn't as bad or scary as I thought it was going to be. With my mind on the final destination slash my frostbitten toes I almost forgot about the vast water beneath us.
Arriving in Honolulu was really cool. One of the guys said the view wasn't going to be very spectacular - but he was wrong. You could see the mountains and the beaches and everything. Incredible.
We got there around 5:30-ish Hawaii time. Once we got off the airplane, there wasn't a lady in a hula skirt handing out leis to everyone like I sort of expected there to be. I saw a few people with leis but nobody passing them out, which was kind of lame.
The wonderful Shane met Tawni and I at baggage claim and drove us back to his house in Trixie the tahoe. He even brought both of us our very own leis! It was super cute. No matter where you drive on the island, you always get a beautiful view. Tawni and I were completely amazed at how gorgeous everything was. We stopped at the beach for a few minutes just because we could. I don't think going to the beach will ever get old.
We got to his house and met his roommates Nick and Zach. Then we went for a nice 2-mile night run just because. We came back and made spaghetti and had a nice family meal. We finally crashed around midnight (Hawaii time).
And that was day one. I can't wait to see what all these four months are going to bring.
Aloha!
We got into Phoenix around 12:30-ish maybe. We had an hour before our next flight so we found our gate (rather easily) and got some food before we boarded.
So the flight was really long. Like REALLY long. It wasn't too bad going from O'Hare to Phoenix, but from there to Honolulu was incredibly long and would have been dull if it weren't for meeting a super nice girl in my program on the flight and befriending her and the two guys she sat next to. It was like a 6+ hour flight with not too much to do. Tawni couldn't even paint her nails. Sorry, flight attendant.
The flight was also really cold. I guess that's what I get for boarding wearing shorts and a tank top without a sweatshirt in my carry-on. That sucked a bit.
Flying over the ocean wasn't as bad or scary as I thought it was going to be. With my mind on the final destination slash my frostbitten toes I almost forgot about the vast water beneath us.
Arriving in Honolulu was really cool. One of the guys said the view wasn't going to be very spectacular - but he was wrong. You could see the mountains and the beaches and everything. Incredible.
We got there around 5:30-ish Hawaii time. Once we got off the airplane, there wasn't a lady in a hula skirt handing out leis to everyone like I sort of expected there to be. I saw a few people with leis but nobody passing them out, which was kind of lame.
The wonderful Shane met Tawni and I at baggage claim and drove us back to his house in Trixie the tahoe. He even brought both of us our very own leis! It was super cute. No matter where you drive on the island, you always get a beautiful view. Tawni and I were completely amazed at how gorgeous everything was. We stopped at the beach for a few minutes just because we could. I don't think going to the beach will ever get old.
We got to his house and met his roommates Nick and Zach. Then we went for a nice 2-mile night run just because. We came back and made spaghetti and had a nice family meal. We finally crashed around midnight (Hawaii time).
And that was day one. I can't wait to see what all these four months are going to bring.
Aloha!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Last Night at Home
This is it. I'm all packed, bags in the car, the whole sha-bang. In less than 12 hours I will be on my way to the airport. I'm both thrilled and nervous. Mostly nervous for the flight. I don't like driving over bridges, so there's no way I'm going to handle flying over the ocean for 5+ hours well. Of course I'll miss my parents and everyone from home and school. But in a way it's kind of like the night before Christmas, and I feel like a little kid who still believes in Santa Claus.
Anyway. I should probably quadruple check everything and see if there's anything else left in my room to clean.
Wanna know how I packed? Course you do. Well here is the Before picture:
Notice the different bags everywhere, and especially the blank sheets of paper and red Sharpie in the bottom-right corner.
Let me just tell you that I am a fabulous packer. Between inheriting my mother's organizational traits and my father's anal traits, I had this down to a T. I had a pile for things that could not be a carry-on item, and then everything else. Then I separated every single thing that I was bringing to Hawaii into four bags. I bought vacuum bags, which were a lifesaver. If it hadn't have been for them, I'd be wasting more money to fly more bags to Honolulu.
Here come in my fantastical organization skills. I had my master list of everything I was bringing, and I color-coded each bag with a different colored pencil to cross off on my master list. I also wrote each item on different pieces of paper with the Sharpie for each bag. There's no way I forgot anything.
I probably just jinxed myself.
I may be a freak of nature.
Okay. So after getting everything out of my room, I went on a cleaning frenzy. I mean I cleaned out my closet washed my sheets, used Windex and Pledge, the whole nine yards. I vacuumed every visible square inch of carpet. I even cleaned out every single solitary hair out of my three brushes.
I really am a freak. Here's the After picture:
If I'm not yet mentally ready, at least my room and bags are.
Aloha =]
Anyway. I should probably quadruple check everything and see if there's anything else left in my room to clean.
Wanna know how I packed? Course you do. Well here is the Before picture:
Let me just tell you that I am a fabulous packer. Between inheriting my mother's organizational traits and my father's anal traits, I had this down to a T. I had a pile for things that could not be a carry-on item, and then everything else. Then I separated every single thing that I was bringing to Hawaii into four bags. I bought vacuum bags, which were a lifesaver. If it hadn't have been for them, I'd be wasting more money to fly more bags to Honolulu.
Here come in my fantastical organization skills. I had my master list of everything I was bringing, and I color-coded each bag with a different colored pencil to cross off on my master list. I also wrote each item on different pieces of paper with the Sharpie for each bag. There's no way I forgot anything.
I probably just jinxed myself.
I may be a freak of nature.
Okay. So after getting everything out of my room, I went on a cleaning frenzy. I mean I cleaned out my closet washed my sheets, used Windex and Pledge, the whole nine yards. I vacuumed every visible square inch of carpet. I even cleaned out every single solitary hair out of my three brushes.
I really am a freak. Here's the After picture:
Aloha =]
Monday, August 15, 2011
All registered!
And it wasn't even that complicated! Compared to registering at Illinois, at least. There was only one animal sciences class that was restricted and needed consent but I got that taken care of and I'm good to go! I'm taking 14 hours, which isn't bad, and everything's going to transfer back. This is what I'm taking:
ANSC 200 Humans, Animals, and Agriculture (3) (2 Lec, 1 3-hr Lab) Introduction to animal agriculture, animal science, and the use of animals by humans. Ethics and importance of human use of animals in agriculture are emphasized. DB
ANSC 446 Genes and Animal Biology (3) An understanding of animal biology at the level of genes and their regulations; emphasis on gene structure, recombinant DNA, transgenic animals and functional genomics being used for agricultural, nutritional and biomedical sciences. Open to nonmajors. A-F only. Pre: 301, BIOL 171 or ZOOL 101; or consent.
MICR 130 General Microbiology (3) Role of microorganisms; how they affect people, property, and the environment. A basic survey course covering broad aspects of biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, and physiology; host-parasite relationships, public health, bacterial, mycotic and viral diseases; epidemiology; ecology of soils and water; environmental pollution; food microbiology; industrial applications at an introductory level. Not open to those with credit in 351 or equivalent. DB
MICR 140L Microbiology Laboratory (2) (2 2-hr Lab) Primarily for students in nursing and dental hygiene. Pre: 130 (or concurrent). DY
HAW 100 Language in Hawai'i: A Survival Kit for Life in Hawai'i (3) Introduction to Hawaiian language and language related issues to enhance communicative experience in Hawai'i, including an examination of place names, pronunciation, common expressions, relation to Pidgin, Polynesian and Asian languages, political issues and intercultural conflict. DS
Now I guess I should drop my classes that I signed up to take at Illinois this fall. It's starting to sink in that I'm actually leaving and studying in Hawaii. Holy moses. Gotta pack!
Aloha!
ANSC 200 Humans, Animals, and Agriculture (3) (2 Lec, 1 3-hr Lab) Introduction to animal agriculture, animal science, and the use of animals by humans. Ethics and importance of human use of animals in agriculture are emphasized. DB
ANSC 446 Genes and Animal Biology (3) An understanding of animal biology at the level of genes and their regulations; emphasis on gene structure, recombinant DNA, transgenic animals and functional genomics being used for agricultural, nutritional and biomedical sciences. Open to nonmajors. A-F only. Pre: 301, BIOL 171 or ZOOL 101; or consent.
MICR 130 General Microbiology (3) Role of microorganisms; how they affect people, property, and the environment. A basic survey course covering broad aspects of biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, and physiology; host-parasite relationships, public health, bacterial, mycotic and viral diseases; epidemiology; ecology of soils and water; environmental pollution; food microbiology; industrial applications at an introductory level. Not open to those with credit in 351 or equivalent. DB
MICR 140L Microbiology Laboratory (2) (2 2-hr Lab) Primarily for students in nursing and dental hygiene. Pre: 130 (or concurrent). DY
HAW 100 Language in Hawai'i: A Survival Kit for Life in Hawai'i (3) Introduction to Hawaiian language and language related issues to enhance communicative experience in Hawai'i, including an examination of place names, pronunciation, common expressions, relation to Pidgin, Polynesian and Asian languages, political issues and intercultural conflict. DS
Now I guess I should drop my classes that I signed up to take at Illinois this fall. It's starting to sink in that I'm actually leaving and studying in Hawaii. Holy moses. Gotta pack!
Aloha!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Roommate Crisis
I may look back on this a few weeks from now and laugh at the silliness and level of which I'm currently freaking out at right now, but there's been a bit of a problem... Tawni and I are not roommates.
You'd think when you requested a person to be your roommate, they'd follow through with your desires. Guess not.
We perfectly coordinated our housing applications, and after an INTENSE session of freaking out when neither of us got the dorm we both applied for, we calmed down to see that we had both been put in the same building. If they put us both in the same building we're for sure roommates.
Sanity restored.
JUST KIDDING.
I looked this morning and saw that Tawni Lynn Ricketts is, in fact, NOT my roommate. You'd think Hawaii could it together and cooperate with roommate requests. Is it really that big of an issue? We're in the same building for Lord's Sake. If I wasn't about to be living in paradise, I'd be absolutely livid. Fortunately, one of the girls in my ASH program who I semi-know is one of my roommates, and that makes life a little better.
I believe there's a period of time where if students are unhappy with their living situations, they may request a room change. I feel this needs to be done, I was so stoked to actually be living with @ShakeUrTawnTawn. Let's make this happen.
Aloha. Grrrrrr.
You'd think when you requested a person to be your roommate, they'd follow through with your desires. Guess not.
We perfectly coordinated our housing applications, and after an INTENSE session of freaking out when neither of us got the dorm we both applied for, we calmed down to see that we had both been put in the same building. If they put us both in the same building we're for sure roommates.
Sanity restored.
JUST KIDDING.
I looked this morning and saw that Tawni Lynn Ricketts is, in fact, NOT my roommate. You'd think Hawaii could it together and cooperate with roommate requests. Is it really that big of an issue? We're in the same building for Lord's Sake. If I wasn't about to be living in paradise, I'd be absolutely livid. Fortunately, one of the girls in my ASH program who I semi-know is one of my roommates, and that makes life a little better.
I believe there's a period of time where if students are unhappy with their living situations, they may request a room change. I feel this needs to be done, I was so stoked to actually be living with @ShakeUrTawnTawn. Let's make this happen.
Aloha. Grrrrrr.
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