Pōkole ~ Short

Hey guys.

Today's post is going to be short and sweet because I've not done much at all today.

I haven't been feeling good all day long, so I had a lazy day. I watched a total of eight episodes of LOST throughout the entire day, and I am really enjoying it, especially seeing the sites that my mom and I visited, in the show! That is pretty cool :)

I also had a nice chat with my grandma who flies home from Florida to California in the morning, and I also cleaned up my room a bit and I am trying to put the final touches on it so that I can post pictures of it up on here for everyone interested back home to see!

Unfortunately, I think that it all I have to put into this post. I wanted to have a productive day today, but due to not feeling good, I wasn't up for doing much. So instead, I've decided to push that stuff back to tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be feeling better then because there are things that I need to get done such as laundry! Haha I'll talk to you all tomorrow.

Gooooooodniiiight!

ʻĒ ~ Different

Good morning!

Today I am going to be trying a new style of writing, instead of recapping my whole day at the end of the night, I am going to write about my day as it happens, so here we goooo!

8:04am
I am currently sitting in my 8:30 Biology lecture, waiting for the professor to arrive and for class to start. Getting up this morning was very hard because of my day yesterday, and my feet are still in a bit of pain, but it isn't unbearable. They just ache. Well, class is going to start soon so I'll talk to you during my next activity!

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9:39am
I'm out of class and have a two and a half hour break now, so I went to the bookstore and bought a lab manual that I needed for my Chemistry lab and I am now in line for some breakfast at Starbucks! Yum :)

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10:12am
Well, Starbucks did not have what I wanted, so I just got some tea from there and then came back to my room and had a tangerine and some Ritz crackers for breakfast and now I am sitting here and I am going to watch an episode of LOST before I have to leave for my next class around 12:00 which is Oceanography, yay! :)

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12:15pm
Goodness, the amount of money that college students (on budgets) are forced to pay is absolutely outrageous. I just watched a girl pay almost $900 for about 4 textbooks, and I just paid about $450 for three textbooks and my lab manual as well. Something needs to be done about textbook prices. It is ridiculous. I am not sitting in my Oceanography class waiting for it to start. Today we are discussing the history of Oceanography and the Polynesian voyaging today.

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1:45pm
I'm back in my room now, and I can easily say that Oceanography is turning out to be my favorite class this semester. We've only had three classes, and I love it! Right now I am getting some homework done before I have to go to the music building, because instead of practice today, we are taking a full band picture. And you know what that means? Lugging my heavy uniform aaaalllll the way there and back again! As if yesterday wasn't enough :( at least I'm getting my exercise in though, right?

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3:28pm
I have made it to the music building for our pictures. These uniforms are so hot🔥 I'm literally in an oven right now.

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4:53pm
Pictures are done and I am now getting ready to make the long walk back to my dorm yet again. This walk gets easier each day, but it is still a very long walk, and I'm already over it.

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7:10pm
It's been a while since I've talked to you, but after pictures, I walked back to the dorms with my new friend, Alyssa who lives a few doors down from me, and we were planning on going to this food truck event for dinner, but the theme was pork and neither of us were big on pork so we then decided to hop on the bus to Waikiki, and   We found this Hawaiian restaurant that looked good, so we went in but saw nothing that we wanted, and guess what I did. I left my nice, reusable water bottle in the restaurant :((( So in the past 24 hours, I have left both my favorite flip flops and my favorite water bottle in places I've been. Apparently, I need to keep track of my belongings better.
We then just walked along the touristy part of Waikiki where all of the restaurants and shops are and found this really popular place called Cheeseburger in Paradise. We are here now and it is so cool! And the food is reeeaaalllyyy good. Can ya guess what I got? Grilled Cheese ❤ and boy, is it good! The butter that is used to grill it is a pineapple butter, so it created this pineapple-y glaze on the outside of the bread. Yum!

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8:30pm
Hey, we are now waiting at the bus stop for the bus to come that takes us back to campus and just getting to know each other and see what it is like back home. 

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8:55pm
I'm back in my room, and I have it to myself for the weekend because my roommates boyfriend is visiting, so that's cool! This is going to be my first weekend in college, and it is a three day one, I have no clue what I'm going to do, except for homework....blahhh.

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9:28pm
I'm sitting in bed continuing my reading on the book Matched , and it is getting really good! :)

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11:43pm
Okay, well that's it for me everyone. I know that it is not even midnight yet, and here I am going to bed like the boring college student that I am, but this has been a long day and I'm tired. I hope you enjoyed this different type of writing style. I'm not sure what tomorrow's will be like, but I just wanted to try something new and different from what I've done these past two weeks. Again, hope you enjoyed and I'll talk to you later!

Kinipōpō peku ~ Football

Wow. My first college football game experience is over, and it sure was a long, and exhausting one.

I woke up at 6:00, because my roommate had track practice early this morning, and no matter how careful you are with the doors, they still pretty much slam shut, so that happened and I was up. I laid in bed just to rest though. Around 9:30, I got up and showered, and then I talked to my sister, brother, kitty, grandma and dad for a bit on FaceTime which brightened up my day :) I then had to leave my dorm around 11:20 to walk clear across campus to the music building, while lugging all my uniform, shako, and bag with everything else needed in it. Needless to say, I was already tired after this. The busses left the campus at 12:00, and we got to the stadium around 12:30.

It was then time to practice on the field for about two and a half hours and then walking outside to greet the football team as they arrived, and played some tunes. This is called the "Warrior Walk" and is fun :)
We finally had a break at 3:30 to eat dinner. Each section coordinated food to bring for themselves, and the flutes decided to get bentos. I didn't know what it was, but paid for it anyways. It ended up being rice with a ton of different meats on top, including chicken, hot dogs, beef a random egg with pink stuff on it....and spam.

Now, here in Hawaii, SPAM is considered a delicacy, and everyone eats it, I mean EVERYONE. So when I asked what this piece of weird square meat was, they all freaked out and ended up making me try it in front of them all to get my reaction. Now it is definitely not something that I would eat on an everyday basis, but it honestly wasn't the worst thing ever. The only problem is that it is suuuuppppeeerrrr salty and literally tasted like it was marinated in salt for about a week. Unfortunately, I didn't eat much of the food, and ended up throwing it away, but hey, I tried it! :)

Next it was time for pre-game which went well except for me missing the very first step off in the show...oops! After, we went into the stands and played, then did the half-time show and finished off the  game in the stands. It was a really good experience, the only problem is that we are not allowed to sit down in the stands, so my feet are raw and in so much pain right now :(  OH, and the fight between about 5 people right next to us that had to get broken up by the police, which didn't stop them, and resulted in the getting hand cuffed. Not something you see everyday.

***For those interested, here is a link to the video of our Chicago Halftime show, including Make Me Smile and 25 or 6 to 4!
UH Halftime Show - Chicago

Unfortunately, we did not win the game, USC won 30-13, but it was cool, I had a good time. On the bus back, I realized that I left my favorite flip flops at the stadium, and that was kind of depressing, but thankfully my mom left me her pair before she left, so I still have one!

The walk back to the dorms was quite awful, because of the pain, in my feet, but I am now laying in my bed and it definitely feels better. Hopefully the pain dies down tonight, because I have quite the walk ahead of me tomorrow, going from one end of the campus to another twice. I had to resort to eating a bowl of pretzels for dinner once I got back to my room and showered, since I hadn't eaten lunch today, my dinner kind of turned out to be a fail, and none of the dining halls are open at 10:15, which is when I was walking back, and I was feeling a bit weak from the day. 

I am now off to bed for some much needed sleep (at 12:18) after being gone from my room for eleven hours and having to get up and ready for an 8:30 Bio lecture in the morning! Goodnight, and thank you to my family back home for watching the game, even if the band wasn't shown much, if any. I love you and miss you all so much! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Paʻahana ~ Busy

Hello all!

Today was one of my busiest days since arriving to the island, and it was exhausting!

Alarm went off at 7:00 to get showered and ready for the day. First up was Biology from 8:30-9:20 which was fine, we talked about cells and the basics of Biology. I then had to call the advising office during my 10 minute break until my next class and was put on hold for a bit, once that was over with and the appointment was set up, I walked to my Biology Lab which was from 9:30-12:00, and due to my phone call, I ended up getting there right at 9:30 and was the last person in the room, without a seat, so I had to pull up a chair on the end of one of the lab tables. That was a really long and boooring two and a half hours because she literally talked on and on and on about little things that should only take 2 minutes to explain. 

Once we were let out, I had 30 minutes until my next class, so I walked to the campus center and got Subway, which I couldn't eat because the line was quite long and I had to get right to my next class. This class was Oceanography, which was really interesting today! We discussed the origins of the earth, and I know that I am really going to enjoy that class :)

After this, I had to make the 20 minute walk back to my dorm to pick up my things for band practice later on that night, so I got to my room, FINALLY ate my Subway for about 15 minutes, and then I was off on the 20 minute walk again to go to a meeting with my advisor in the building right next to the class I had just finished. That meeting was at 2:30 and went well. I learned a lot of really helpful, useful information about my gen. eds. and requirements for my major, and am all on track with my schedule. I then stopped at the bookstore really quick to pick up a few school supplies and was then off to band practice. Practice went from 3:45 to 6:00 and was tiring because we were really working hard the game tomorrow.

I just went back to my dorm to change a few minutes, and I am now sitting in the dining hall, like yesterday, eating and writing about my day. :) After this, I have a floor meeting tonight at 8:00, so I will have an update on this post after that is over. My first college game is tomorrow and I am super excited!! :) I have missed football games and cannot wait to get back into the swing of things, although marching in front of 30,000 people, and being nationally televised puts a bit of pressure on us to do well! Wow. It makes me happy that my family back home is going to get to watch me on TV, from so far away. :) 

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Okay guys, I am now back from my floor meeting and it was good. All of the people that showed up seem really nice, and I'm excited to get to know some of them :) Turns out I might have termites in my room...but we have confirmation that they are not bed bugs, like we first though. What a relief!! 

Good night, everyone. ❤

Koke ~ Early

I am writing this post a bit early tonight because I don't have much planned for the rest of the night to update you guys on besides doing homework. I am currently sitting in my dining hall, eating my first proper meal since lunch with my mom on Saturday, and it feels good to eat some real homemade food again :) I am eating a delicious grilled cheese, my favorite along with some pretzels and some raspberry lemonade. Today was a new string of classes that occur on Tuesdays and thursdays. These classes included a three hour Chemistry lab this morning at 9:00 (which only lasted about 30 minutes) and a Chemistry class after that at 12:00. Ironically, my roommate and I have both that lab and class together, so that was a cool discovery I had today :) Unfortunately those are boring old chem classes that are requirements for my major, so I'm not too thrilled about them, but I'll get by. My last class of the day was Hawaiian Studies which seems like it is going to be a really interesting class.

Today has been one tiring day from waking up early for class, eating breakfast at lunch time and not really eating a lunch, and I have also been aaaallllll over the campus trying to find/meet with my advisor and visiting different offices. So basically, I am pretty tired, and I just want to sleep forever! :) 

My day has finally settled down and I am now getting some food into me and then I will be back up in my dorm for the night working on some things online that need to be done and working on homework because I will not be the procrastinator that I was in High School!

Well, I'm back in my dorm now, so this is it for today, but stay tuned for tomorrow because it is going to be one hectic day with classes/meetings/practice back to back from 8:30 in the evening to 5:15 at night. I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Huahua ~ Productive

Yay! My first day of college is over with and my mom arrived back home safe and sound! 

I had a really nice and productive day overall :)

I didn't sleep too well last night only because I was paranoid that I'd sleep through my alarm and miss class, so I woke up quite a few times in the night. I finally got up at 6:45 and got ready. I was advised by an upperclassman in band to leave at 7:30 for an 8:30 class, and I'm not sure why, because I got to my class at 7:45 and had to wait until 8:15 for the doors to open, but it was okay, because there were others waiting before I got there. I did have a nice chat with my mom on the way to class, too.
That class was Biology. 
It seems like it'll be fine because it is an introduction class, and since I haven't taken Bio since freshman year of high school, my knowledge is a bit rusty.

I then went and picked up a breakfast sandwich and tea from Starbucks and went back to my dorm. I didn't do much, except research the book I needed, and watched the pilot of LOST because I have decided that I am going to watch it now after wanting to for a while and also after visiting some of the filming locations.

Next up was Oceanography with this awesome old & wise British professor. I can already tell that I am going to enjoy that class :)

That was it for classes today, but while I was out I went to the campus bookstore and purchased this iClicker thingy that I need for both classes, and possibly more, and I also went to the Student Services building to clear up some things and get information about others. 

I had a nice talk with my dad on the way back to my dorm about everything and he helped me get everything figured out since I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment. I had practice again today at 3:45, so that went well and then I was done for the day!

After coming back to my dorm and getting changed, I went to one of the nearby cafe's and picked up some dinner before coming back to my dorm for the night.

I had a little bit of a sad spell today between my two classes, but I'm alright. I think the homesickness mixed with the overwhelming aspect of college is getting to me, but I have felt fine since, and feel fine now :)

I know that some of you are still waiting for dorm pictures, but I am still getting it all set up and nice since I had no time to do that during move in week due to spending time with my mom and band camp, so stay tuned for that shortly! :)

Kaumaha ~ Sad

Today was a bit of a sad one.

I woke up and got ready for my mom's last day here in Hawaii. She had to check out of her room by 10:00, so we did and then we went to Walmart for some last minute shopping for my dorm room. We then came back to my room to put that stuff away, and as we were doing that, in walked my roommate and her parents! So, we have finally met and both her and her parents seem really nice :) We then went out and got some lunch at Subway which I barely ate because I haven't had much of an appetite today. It was then time to send my mom on her way. I did have my last day of band camp today, so we said our final, tearful and sad goodbyes and went our separate ways around 2:15 this afternoon. I was off to the field and her to the airport. I am feeling a bit down right now, but I know that it will get better with time. Tomorrow is my first day of college! Classes start and my first one is Biology at 8:30am...bleck.

Well, I am exhausted from the emotional roller coaster that has encompassed the day, so I am going to go ahead and get an early night. Hopefully I can sleep! I miss you all greatly, especially now that I am alone. Hope you all are well and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Kualoa ~ Long back

Just a warning, today was very eventful, so this is going to be one quite long and detailed post!

Saturday morning, alarms were set for 6:00am which was definitely difficult, and we were on the road by 6:30 across the island of Oahu to the East Shore where the Kualoa Ranch is located. As we were driving, we knew we'd have a great day, because out of the blue we saw the end of a rainbow!!

At the ranch, we had a full day of expeditions booked and were ready for some adventure! :) 

Our first expedition was a movie site tour. I had previously known that movies such as Jurrassic Park and Pearl Harbor, as well as shows such as LOST and Hawaii 5-O were filmed here on Oahu, but there are so many more films/tv series' filmed here as well! Movies like 50 First Dates, George of the Jungle, Godzilla, A Brady Bunch Special, and many more. And we got to visit where of these movies were filmed on this tour. 

Pearl Harbor

Jurassic Park!

Scenes from 50 First Dates were filmed along this road.

This is an original "Godzilla" footprint that used to be 6 feet deep.

You, Me and Dupree.

50 First Dates

Here is where scenes from Pearl Harbor were filmed, and also, on December 7, 1941, there was a boy scout troop camping on these hills, and they were just about the only ones who actually saw the Japanese planes fly through this exact valley on their way to Pearl Harbor. 

Mighty Joe Young

A poster from Jurassic Park.

The Cast of LOST...

...and Hawaii 5-0.

This is the submarine used in LOST.

Next up was a tour of the ancient fish pond and gardens on the ranch. We saw star fruit trees, guava trees, jack fruit trees, macadamia nut trees, cacao plants, coffee plants, tora plants, mango trees, red ginger and many more plants and flowers. Here are some pictures of what we saw

This is a guava that we got to pick!

Star Fruit

A Jack fruit tree...

And the actual Jack Fruit which when fully grown, weighs up to 80 pounds!

This is a macadamia nut that we got to crack open and eat! It was delicious :)

And here is a papaya tree.

We then went to the ancient fish pond which is 800 years old and 125 acres in size. There are many kinds of fish in here and we got to learn all about how the fish come in, how the water flow works and even got to go on a boat out onto the pond and get a closer look of the stone walls that surround the pond to preserve it.

Here is a Chinese racing boat, and you can see the huge fish pond in the background.

These are some of the predator fish in the pond such as the Jack Fish, which is the yellow-ish one in the middle and the barracuda on the top.

Also on the side of the pond, is a chapel that was actually one of the movie sites for the movie Soul Surfer!

Next up was lunch which was provided for us and was just a buffet style meal.

It was then time for our next excursion, which was an ATV tour!

Let me tell you, riding ATV's is one of the greatest things ever, but what made it even better is that we got to drive them UP the beautiful mountains and through the valleys. We couldn't take pictures while riding, but this is what we rode.

After that we went on a Jungle Expedition up the other side of the mountain range and through the jungle. We saw a few more filming sites of some of the same movies/shows and we even got to try a mountain apple!

They were definitely interesting, and not something I'd reach for, but they weren't too bad. They taste kind of like a mix between a watery pear and an apple.

This is the vehicle that we were on for this expedition, and this tour was one of the bumpiest this ever. There were no smooth parts, it was just constant bumps and flying out of the seat, but fun nonetheless :)

This concluded our day of four excursions, but there is also a petting zoo on the ranch so we went over there...

...and saw goats climbing and just chilling in the trees.

Big turtles.

And fat, sleeping pigs.

We also did some shopping at the gift shop for souvenirs, and it was then time to go. Today was a really fun one, and definitely a highlight of my mom's vacation here. On our way back to Honolulu, we passed the Stairway to Heaven again, which I talk about in yeaterday's post, and we actually saw people on it even though it was 3:45 in the afternoon! It is now an even bigger goal of mine to climb those steps one day.

We were very sweaty from the day, so we went back to where we were staying, showered and got freshened up, and then went back to Aulani for a nice dinner and evening.

We saw another beautiful, Hawaiian sunset.

A Koi fish pond

And even got to watch a Hawaiian music performance which was really cool.

That concludes our last full day together. I am so grateful to have had my mom on this trip with me, and will miss her presence greatly when she leaves tomorrow and I will be on my own. 

We had such a great day and I hope you enjoyed this post! :) Talk to you tomorrow.

Hoʻomanaʻo ~ To remember

I actually slept quite good last night! I woke up at 9:08am, and had to get ready for the day. First off, we drove up to Diamond Head, which is a volcanic crater on the edge of the island and drove into the crater and looked around for a bit.

We then began the drive to Pearl Harbor...buuuuttt, we missed the exit and got onto the wrong highway when trying to find another way to get there, resulting in us accidentally driving to the opposite side of the island and through mountains. So although we got lost and the driving didn't go as planned, the mountains were huge, and the views were beautiful!

We were in this valley with mountains towering over us, and at one point, I looked out my window, and right there on the side of the mountain in front of me were the Haiku Stairs a.k.a, Stairway to Heaven. If you don't already know, they are suuper steep steps along the mountain, 18 inches wide, and almost 4,000 steps total, straight up the mountain. It is something that since I first heard about, have been longing to climb. However due to liability issues, they have been closed to the public for almost 30 years, and to actually climb them, you have to sneak out there in the dead of night before the security guard shows up at 5:00am to ensure that you make it up and back without being caught. So that was a wonderful site to see, unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of them, but there are tons online like this one which shows the steps, but you can also see down the mountain to gauge the dizzying height of them.

Then we had another adventure trying to find a gas station, which here in Hawaii, are quite sparse, and then we were on our way to Pearl Harbor. We finally made it and let me tell you, it is amazing to stand there and think about and remember what happened. It really is unbelievable after learning and hearing about the events that took place in December of 1941 for years and years, to actually stand in the spot and see exactly where the ships and planes came from and where so many lives were taken. Most of what they have done to the site is really nice. There are memorials with the names of those who died, there are tributes to the survivors, there are museums and exhibits explaining everything and it is all really nice. Although we weren't able to go out to the USS Arizona Memorial due to the time of day and there being no tickets left, we did see it from shore, and it is so nice and simple, and is a beautiful way to commemorate the lives lost here.

We went aboard the Bowfin Submarine and got to tour it which was really interesting. 

Overall, it is one incredible place that you should all visit one day. Here are a few more pictures from Pearl Harbor to end of this post. Have a good day. :)