Weekend #5: One Month In!

Crazy to think that one month ago from yesterday, my flight landed in Honolulu and this crazy journey finally began.  I said goodbye to my parents at the airport and walked toward me gate.  I remember it like it was a few hours ago.  One whole month of paradise.  That's one month I've been away from all my family, friends, and home.  And my dog!



Presh.

Of course I miss everyone a tremendous amount.  I feel like I've been here forever but at the same time I don't think I've done enough island things to be here a month.  School and a lack of reliable transportation makes things a little difficult.  But I still have three months to go and lots to do!

Oh this weekend.... 'twas more eventful than last, to say the least.

Friday Kelsey and I went for a run from our apartment to Waikiki, a 3.3 mile trek.  It wasn't too bad and we made better time than if we had taken the bus.  So now I know that's an option if that amount of ambition ever swept me into my running shoes.  We collapsed into the waves of the ocean once we got there, and it was blissful.

Then we bused back, but not before looking into a tattoo parlor that has a really good reputation on the island (and the internet).  I think all of my roommates and I have shown interest in getting tattoos at the end of the semester which will be really cool if we got them at the same time.  I have wanted another tattoo for some time now.  Even before I even thought about coming to Hawaii for a semester I was wanting a traditional polynesian tattoo of a sea turtle with a hibiscus flower inside it.  Like this:

That's the general idea.  So I'm pretty stoked about that.  We might go make appointments sometime this week for the middle of December right before we leave.

Friday night all the roommates and a guy Blaine from our program went to this nightclub in downtown Waikiki called Zanzabar.  It's free for UHM students on Friday nights, so we figured we'd check it out.  It turned out to be really fun!  It reminded me of the clubs back on campus at Illinois.  We were there for about an hour and then got a cab back to campus for like $2 a person so that was a really good deal.

Saturday I had aquarium class in the morning.  I was so tired from the night before that I almost fell asleep.  Whoops!  When I got back I tried to get some studying done for an exam I had Monday, but I took a 2-hour nap instead =/

Later a big group of us went to the Rainbow Wahine volleyball game against Pepperdine.  After the game, the set of Hawaii 5-0 was there to tape a scene for the show, and they needed the crowd to stay for some of the shots.  The real team couldn't be on the show (probably NCAA rules or something), so they had a mock team come in to play.  They were definitely not as good.  It made me want to go out there and play.  I miss volleyball so much.

That night we went to Rob (one of the RA's) room and watched movies until literally 5:30 in the morning.  Then Janelle and I came back to the room and stayed up until 7.  We finally crashed and slept a few hours before going about our Sunday activities, which consisted of switching between studying and napping.

Altogether a successful weekend, and I can't wait for another great one next weekend!  Besides the fact that the lovely Kelsey will be gone on a geology trip to the Big Island to look at volcanoes.  What a rock geek.  But I love her.  Crazy week ahead of me; I have so much to do.  Better get started studying.... and stuff.

Aloha!

Hatin' on the Postal Service

Come on, mailmen (and/or mailadies).

Or the postal system in general.  Probably that more than the employees themselves.

I got a lovely letter from my grandparents a few weeks ago, and in the letter they wrote "enjoy the package we sent!".  I am assuming that they sent the letter and package at the same time.  Let me know if I am jumping to unrealistic conclusions.

Yes, I got this letter a good two weeks ago.
No, my package has not come in yet.

I am compulsively checking my mailbox at least four times a day, even though I know those lazy RA's don't sort the mail until 9 o'clock at night.

Not knowing what's in that package is driving me nuts.

But I think I may have an idea what it is.  Cereal.  Yum yum.  The grandparents asked if I needed anything, and that was my response.  I'm gonna be friggen pumped if I get oodles of cereal from them.  I could live off the stuff.

I also ordered a Vera Bradley item online a few weeks ago.  Probably a few days before I got the letter from my grandparents.  Of course this still has yet to come in as well.

Parents, take note.  I hope you already sent me my birthday gift so I'll receive it around my birthday, or at least before Halloween (hopefully).

Geez Louise.
Aloha =/

UPDATE: I was going to add more to this and post it later, but never got around to it.  Then of course on Friday both my packages came in.  Almost three weeks later.  And like I thought, cereal from the grandparents, along with a few boxes of granola bars.  You guys are the best =]  Although the package looked like it had been kicked to shit and beaten with a few Bludgers.  So I'm going to post this anyway, even though it seems a bit irrelevant now.

Why U of I Beats UHM

When it came to college searches and visits, I did not do a very thorough job.  I knew I wanted to go to school and become a veterinarian, so I only had one criteria for the schools I wanted to look at: Have veterinary schools (how appropriate).  Yeah, that sounds dumb having that as the sole foundation of the rest of my academic career, and when I think back to that time in my life I question what role my parents had in this.

I only applied to two schools: University of Illinois and Iowa State University.  Again, only because both of them had my graduate schools and they were the closest colleges to home.  I was accepted to both and visited both, but in the end I chose U of I because it wasn't in the middle of nowhere and reasonably close to my sister in Bloomington and my grandparents in Peoria.  Plus, Illinois is a huge school and I wanted to see all that was out there.

Best decision of my life.

I absolutely loved it there and had a great freshman year.  Made some really good friends, had really good professors, and had some really, really fun nights between the frat parties and bars.  It was almost lucky that my lack of research on schools paid off so well and I had the time of my life.

Coming to Hawaii, all I thought about was the amazing scenery and all the island adventures I was going to have.  Didn't really think about actually going to classes and dealing with this school for an entire semester.  I figured it couldn't  be that bad, and I'm not a very specific and picky person.  I'd be fine.

And I am fine.  Just not great.  Not like Illinois.  When I tell people I don't like the school here, they all ask me why as if there's no way that could possibly happen.  It's not that I hate UHM, it's just not Illinois.  Hawaii had some steep competition in the battle vs. Illinois over my love.

If Blogger would let me make two columns to easily compare and contrast the two schools life would be a little easier.  But of course nothing's easy, so I'm just going to bask in the glorious things I love about U of I first:

• Everything you could ever want or need is right on campus (Walgreens, grocery stores, etc)
• Three bookstores make for less crowded areas and timely check-out lines
• Greek system (preferrably the frats)
• The ARC! and CRCE.  Best workout facilities I've ever seen!
• Illini spirit and atmosphere at every sports event
• The bus system that takes you everywhere and comes every 10 minutes
• My major/professors are amazing, and my academic advisor is the best
• The Quad.  Perfect place to do your homework outside on a fantastic day
• Wi-Fi everywhere you go on campus (even in the dorms)
• Many bars to choose from, all 19+
• Library that is open 24/5 and the weekends

And now to this list of things that I dislike about UHM:

• Grocery stores, Walmart, etc. are so far away.  You need to dedicate an entire afternoon to go get groceries and toilet paper
• One bookstore.  I've waited in line for 20 minutes to buy a spiral
• Lack of Greek system.  And bars on campus.  To go out you need to catch a bus or take a cab to downtown Waikiki, pay $20 cover, and taxi your way back home at the end of the night.  Sketchy.  Still have not attempted that yet
• Awful "gym".  I complained about this in a previous post, but it's incredibly sad when you have to compare this tiny hole to the ARC.  I haven't gone back to those rusty machines since our first, momentary encounter.  It's not even open on the weekends.  WTF, right??
• No school spirit.  I don't know if UHM sucks at sports or what, but it seems like people have better places to be than at their school's sporting events.  There are no fun dances or cheers to do at football or volleyball games.  It makes me sad face
• Bus system isn't great for students.  I walk to all my classes, but when I need to take the bus, it's not just sharing it with the public.  I'm sharing it with tourists.  Lots of them.  Sometimes the buses are so full we can't get on and have to wait until the next one rolls around.  Which definitely isn't every ten minutes.  Their schedules are so bizarre and random.
• My major here absolutely sucks.  I've been talking to some kids in my classes and they are pissed at the program.  They even said in a few years, Animal Science probably won't even be a major offered at this school.  Plus my ANSC Genetics professor is absolutely awful and I want to strangly myself every day in his presence
• No quad.  Not a lot of places to just hang around on campus.  The one thing I will say I enjoy though is in the AgSci building there are a number of couches for students to lounge on.  I took full advantage and had myself a little nap today in between classes
• There isn't Wi-Fi everywhere.  A few buildings on campus have them, but it's a real guessing game.  And none of the dorms have it.  Thank the dear lord my ethernet cord is 25 feet long, or else it would be a bigger pain in the ass
• Library is lame.  One of them isn't open on the weekends, and they close super early.  What is with this place?

It might sound like I'm completely bashing on UHM and there's nothing positive to say about the place, but that's not necessarily true.  If it weren't for the beautiful weather and beach time, though, I'd be having some major issues.

So I can't wait until spring semester back at my home school!  I'm not quite counting down the weeks (*cough 14*) but I know once I'm back I'm going to be missing this beautiful island.

One thing's for sure though: I won't be missing the school.

Don't feel bad for me.  I'll survive the semester.  I'm living in paradise for crying out loud!

Aloha!

Welp I tried to upload a great video I recorded from an Illini volleyball game of the student section but it's taking forever so I give up.

First Week of Volunteer Training

I am officially a Waikiki Aquarium Docent Volunteer... trainee.  For those of you who, like me, didn't know what a docent is, it's like some sort of teacher.  They called people who taught classes at universities and stuff docents before they had professors.  Or something.

Anyway, a docent at the aquarium does the presentations for school groups that come in, kindergarten through sixth grade.  There's a 30-minute class-type session given by one docent, then the rest of the docents break the kids into small groups and take them on a tour of the aquarium for like 45 minutes.

First week of training went well.  All the other trainees are super nice, and everyone is there for a different reason.  I am one of the only students in the program.  A lot of people are retired and need something to do.  The first person I met, Krista, is a grad student and is really friendly.  She has her car with her and offered to drive me to class and stuff.  She's really awesome.  She surfs like every day of her life.  I'm jealous.

The first night was introduction to the aquarium and all that important stuff, and then we did the kindergarten presentation which was all about the different sea creatures and if they got oxygen from the air or water and if they were vertebrates or invertebrates.  I'll admit I was a bit rusty on this basic information.  Yikes.

Thursday was similar to Tuesday.  We learned the first grade presentations about how animals protect themselves.

Saturday was similar to Thursday which was similar to Tuesday (this could get real old real fast).  We learned the sixth grade presenations on coral and habitat conservation, which is a really big deal in Hawaii, considering that's tied into the tourism industry.

So now on top of my homework from school, I have to learn all this information about every animal and memorize seven different tours of the aquarium.  And I'm starting from scratch.  Like I'm baking a pie and all I have are apple tree seeds and wheat.

But it will definitely be worth it.

Aloha!

Weekend #4: Chill With a Side of Ambulance

Doesn't the title make you really want to read this going-to-be-boring post?

Thought so.

Friday the roommates and I went to the Waikiki Aquarium.  Ever since I started my volunteer training the roomies have wanted to check it out and I need to spend as much time there as possible considering I know absolutely nothing about sea life.  Came back, had dinner, made plans for the rest of the night.

Kelsey and I went to hang out with some newfound friends at their place.  That was fine, met some new people, all that fun jazz.  We were supposed to go downtown to get our dance on but we hit a roadblock: a drunken kid at the bus stop.  He was passed out in the grass next to the stop with his two "friends" trying to wake him up.  Notice the use of quotations.  They were on their way to go get tattoos and piercings (#1: classy, #2: not gonna happen).  This kid was gone.  I would have thought he was dead, had I not seen him breathing.  The one friend was freaking out and trying to slap him in the face to wake up.  I asked if they were going to be able to take him back to his place by themselves, to which they responded that they were still going to catch the bus.  And leave him there.

Que Kelsey to switch into RA mode.  She rolled the poor kid onto his side and we called campus security.  The bus came and all the kids that were waiting there (who could not have cared less about the poor guy) left.  The two friends of the kid surprisingly ended up staying.  Campus police came and assessed the situation before calling for an ambulance.  Nobody could get the kid to wake up for more than a few seconds before collapsing to the ground again.  An ambulance eventually got there and Drunkard and the Faux Friends left.

At that point Kelsey and I had given up on the night and retreated to our beds.

Saturday morning I had orientation for the aquarium until noon.  The roommates all had their own plans for the day, so I had the day to myself to lay out on the beach and get some homework done.  After an afternoon of peace and tanning (and perhaps a bit of academic success) I went home and waited for everyone to come back and tell stories about their days.  We're such a cute little family.

Then we stayed in the rest of the night and watched Mrs. Doubtfire.  'Cause that nanny is the shit.

Sunday (today) we went to Ala Moana to get our shop on.  We also made a trip to Walmart to finally get a bathmat after almost four weeks of a wet bathroom floor.  That's everything eventful that happened today.

Wow this post (ergo this weekend) was pretty uneventful.  But sometimes chill weekends are needed.  I'm saving up my energy for when my birthday's here in less than three weeks.  Wa-hoo!

Tomorrow I'm going to the post office to mail my coconut.  Live in anticipation for like three weeks, parents, 'cause it's not going to get there soon.

The postal system does a sucky job sending packages to the island.  I've been waiting about 3 weeks for several packages.  Lame.

Since this is such a boring post, enjoy this picture of a sea turtle that I Googled.

Aloha!

Food Smuggling

Every poor college kid who has ever lived in a dormitory setting and has had a meal plan knows what this post is about.  We have all done it.  Guilty.  Smuggling food out of the dining halls is the number one way to save money on campus.  It can be extremely easy to accomplish, or an impossible endeavor, depending how uptight the kitchen staff is.

Fortunately, the system here in Hawaii fails to prevent this common theft, and I swoop in and take full advantage.  I opted for 10 meals a week because I knew I had a "kitchen" in my apartment.  I figured I'd cook half the time slash make cheese sandwiches and eat cereal.  I was taken aback by a few realizations.

1) There's no suitable grocery store here within reasonable walking distance for remotely decent prices.  Walmart is a painful bus ride away, and anything close turns out to be Japanese or organic markets with ridiculous prices.  So I will not be buying groceries anytime soon (or often).

2) This is our kitchen:

Looking closer:

What the hell, right?  They didn't even bother fixing one of the broken stove-y things.

What's worse, if we played a game called 'What's Missing From My Kitchen?' you would be able to point out the lack of a microwave.  Who the hell doesn't put a microwave in a kitchen?!  It's one of the most idolized possessions of a hungry college student in the 21st century.

Harrumph.

The combination of these two disasters leaves me no choice but to smuggle food out of the dining hall.  In a mere three weeks' time, I have become a self-proclaimed professional.  I have a water bottle used for taking milk (sometimes chocolate).  This saves me eight dollars a gallon and does wonders in the morningtime when I need my cereal fix.  I also bought tupperware, just for the occasions when I need to take food out of the dining halls.  Last night, for instance, I took a quesadilla and french fries (I'm cultural) so I could eat lunch today.  Fo' free.

Mom and Dad would be so proud.

Aloha!

For my Major

I'm not sure if I mentioned this in another post before and I'm too lazy to go back and look if I have so I'll just say (maybe again) that I was thinking about volunteering at the Waikiki Aquarium while I'm here to get some experience with marine life and have a resume booster.  I think I've already decided I'm not so fond of marine life in general, but maybe working with them will make me feel a little more at ease around them.  Plus I don't want to give up the dream of becoming a dolphin trainer (which will actually never happen and I may have to make my peace with that at some point in my life).

But anyway.  My training program starts tomorrow!  Eek!  I'm actually really excited.  I am training to be a docent, which I'm not really sure what the word actually means, but I'd give presentations to little kids in a classroom-like setting and teach them all about sea life and the aquarium and yada yada yada.

But now I'm looking at the actual volunteer days and times, and I have class during every volunteer shift, which is bad news bears.  I looked to make sure I could make all the training days, but I hadn't looked that far ahead yet.  Whoops.  I'll figure everything out with my coordinator tomorrow at the first meeting.

On another note (which I already may have said as well), I found the Humane Society of Honolulu and it's actually really close to my building.  I signed up to volunteer there, but the soonest training day was like mid-November which is forever and a half away.  Then I looked at the surgical assitant volunteer days and they have billions (maybe I'm exaggerating) of open days.  So I emailed the volunteer lady asking if there was something I could do to start volunteering right away as opposed to waiting until November, and she said there was a program going on right now where they're microchipping all the animals and need help filing everything and doing clerical work and stuff like that, which I'm really excited about.  So hopefully that works out for me too.

It's not all about beaches and sunshine here in Hawaii, it's about work too!

I didn't want to post this in my week-long post because that was already too long so I just made it separate.  And that's why you get two posts on the same day.  And I'm going to bed now.

Aloha!