Hou Kau, Hou Hana hoʻopīhoihoi ~ New Semester, New Adventures

Hello!

Long time, no talk.

I do apologize for the lack of posts on here lately, but after the first few days of classes I came to the realization that posting every single night, while also keeping my grades up would not be possible. My classes this semester are much more work-oriented, so in order to stay on top of these things, it is important that I keep my main focus on that. I will admit that last semester, I was so set on making sure that I posted something every night, that I would put off studying just so that I could post something, and I let my grades slip because of that. I also felt as though the posts were getting very repetitive, and that it was boring to read.

I do not want that to happen again this semester.

So, I've decided that I'll post every Wednesday night. Those are the least busy days for me, and Thursdays are a later start in the morning, so it should work out great!

Let's see, since I last talked to you, some exciting things have happened!

First off, I'll go through some of the more basic things. 

My classes are great! Last semester I complained about almost all of the classes I was taking, but this semester, I thoroughly enjoy every single class I am in!

I have Philosophy, which is very interesting, and kind of like my TOK class in high school, but it is a very discussion-based class, which I sometimes have a hard time with because I am such a soft-spoken person. Psychology which is by far my favorite class, ever. I love everything about it; the professor is hilarious, which makes class enjoyable, and the content so far, even though it is only the basic stuff, is really interesting! English is fun! It is a small class and it is a very intimate setting, so we get to know each other well, and then there is band which I obviously enjoy! We are playing an array of challenging literature this semester, which is great. I do not enjoy playing music that doesn't challenge me. Astronomy is really cool, I've always been interested in space, so that is a really interesting class. And finally is Religion, which I enjoy as well! The professor has a bit of a dry sense of humor, but she seems cool. We actually had our first quiz on yesterday, and I got an A on it! :)

Since I last talked to you, I have also started working again! This was one of the best parts of last semester. I was genuinely excited to show up to work because I worked in the afternoons during the busy hours. However, this semester, I am only working in the nights, so it is very slow and I only have something to do occasionally. It is pretty boring, and it is definitely not my favorite part of the day. Oh well!

Now on to some super exciting things coming up for me!

We have not set the date yet, but in a few weekends, my friend Alyssa and I are going to be going skydiving! We have been planning this for a month or two, and a few of the initial dates that we were going to do it fell through, but it is for sure happening within the next month!! I cannot wait :)

Also, my most recent bit of huge news, I'M GOING TO PERU! I applied, and was accepted to be a part of an 8-day volunteer trip to Peru this Spring Break! It is going to be an absolutely incredible experience, and I'm so excited!

I have not been so excited for these two upcoming events as I have anything within the past 9 months, excluding going home over break, because I was ecstatic about that :)

I'm really looking forward to this semester. I've got great things ahead of me to look forward to, and I can just feel that this is going to be one great semester :)

I'm also looking forward to bringing you guys along with me, virtually! As I said, every Wednesday night, my time, there should be a new post, updating you on the past week. I will definitely be putting up individual posts each day of Peru, and a separate one for my Skydiving adventure, and other adventures I take, so keep your eyes peeled! ;)

Helene ! Greece

Wednesday is done! Check!

I had an early start to the day, but it ended up being really good in the end!

I had Philosophy this morning at 8:30, and we talked about Plato, Socrates and the Ancient Greek times.

Then I had Psychology, which I can already tell is going to be my favorite class this semester, without a doubt! :)

I had English next, and we just discussed our homework on this paper about writing drafts, pretty boring. It is a small class of about 20 kids, so it is really quiet.

My final class of the day was Band, we played the two pieces that we didn't get to on Monday, and one of them is a killer! The flutes have about 90 straight measures of intense double tonguing! Let's just say that my tongue felt like jello!

The only problem with my MWF classes, is that there is an hour between each of the four of them, so I am going to have to find something to do during all of those breaks, which hasn't been a problem yet.

And that was it!

I worked on some Philosophy and Psychology homework when I got back to my dorm and watched the newest episode of the Carrie Diaries. 

Now I've got to get some sleep! My body currently thinks that it is 3:00 in the morning due to this never ending jet-lag that will hopefully be gone after this weekend, so I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Goodnight :)

Mālani ~ Sketchy

Today was the second day of classes, meaning that I was introduced to two more of this semesters classes!

Due to jet lag, I was awake at 4:00 this morning, but was able to doze off a few times before getting up at 8:00.

My first class was Astronomy, which was really interesting! I think I am going to enjoy that class :)

Second up, in the same class room, right after Astronomy was Religion. The professor is this old lady, but she is really funny and that class sounds interesting too!

I am excited for both of these courses this semester.

After this, I had an hour and a half before my Psych 'lab', so I decided, which I was at that end of campus, why not just go and get my books now.

So that's what I did, and boy was it a depressing feeling seeing my total price for all of my books :(

Unfortunately, I cannot buy 3/4 of my large class books for cheap online somewhere because we are required to do online homework, which comes as a cod when you buy the textbook. So we were forced to pay the bookstores prices, which are ridiculous.

Oh well!

Then I bought a Naked juice smoothie and a cookie from the caf, since I hadn't eaten yet.

My Psych 'lab' was a 3:00, and it went well. There are only about 7 of us in there because there are 24 different sections of the lecture, all split up into smaller numbers of kids, so we lucked out with only a few of us.

The 'lab' is where we will take our quizzes and do/turn in homework, so it isn't the typical college lab where you do experiments and such.

All we did today was introduce ourselves, so we were literally in the classroom for 6 minutes.

So for English, we are required to pick up this manual thingy from this sketchy, off-campus building, in which an assignment is due in class tomorrow, so I went off to find that once I got out of Psych lab.

It took me a good 25 minutes to find the place because the professor gave us this awful map that took me to the wrong place. I eventually found it, but it ended up being in an elementary/high school place.

And that was it!

I came back and worked on some of the things due tomorrow, and then we had a scheduled fire drill at 7:15pm.

Now I'm just sitting here finishing up my Philosophy assignment for tomorrow, and listening to the Frozen soundtrack. It is perfection <3

Talk to you tomorrow!:)

Papa ~ Class

First day of the new semester is completed!

I had four classes today, all with an hour between each one. 

My day started out at 5:00am due to my body still being set on Florida time, so I had plenty of time to get ready. 

My first class was Philosophy! I was super excited about it, but during class he told us that he specializes in Chinese Philosophy, and that will be a large part of the course. I'm not very interested at all in Chinese Philosophy, but we'll see how it goes :)

I then went back to my dorm to change because it was way too hot outside for my cardigan. 

Next class was Psychology, which I am really looking forward to this semester! The professors seem nice and the course content looks really interesting. 

After this class, I went back to my room again to print out my music and get my flute for band later on. 

English was next, and that seems like a reaaallllyyy simple class. I've always loves writing, so I'll enjoy it :) Plus the teacher is a grad student, so she seems really chill. 

And finally was band. We played through two of the pieces today, and they are fun to play!

Then I was done for the day, so I've been watching some more Carrie Diaries. 

However, I'm already tired again, due to jet lab, and the early morning I had. 

So il talk to you tomorrow after my next day of classes! 

Night!!

Kua ~ Back

I'm back! Happy 2014! :)

I had a wonderful Winter Break. it was so wonderful to be home and get to spend time with family and friends again.

But now, I'm back in Hawaii, at school, ready for this new semester to begin.

I flew in on Saturday (yesterday for me), which was exhausting! It took a total of 21 hours from the time I left my house to when I got to my dorm. Crazy!!

Today I just spent the day relaxing and getting all of my classes set up, unpacking my luggage and getting my backpack all ready for my first class in the morning.

Apologies for the short post, but I'm exhausted right now. It is currently only 7:45pm, but my body is not adjusted yet, so it feels like it is 12:45am.

I'm going to try and get to bed soon, but there is currently a Toy Story marathon of all three movies going on down in the courtyard to welcome back the students. I'd love to go down and join in on the fun, but I'll probably fall asleep in the courtyard. That would make it difficult to get ready in the morning.

So, I'll let you know how tomorrow goes!

Goodnight! :)

Mokulele ~ Airplane

 12:28am: Well, seeing as it is already the 18^th, I guess I can start updating you!

The time is currently 12:27am, and I am wide awake in bed. I’ve been trying to fall asleep for almost two hours, and I simply cannot fall asleep. I’m not sure why, seeing as I was exhausted when I got into bed, but that is gone now.

Let’s hope that I can fall asleep soon!

~

6:42am: So I finally fell asleep, which is great, but I’ve just woken up, it is still dark outside, and I am, again, wide awake.

This tends to happen to me the night before something big/exciting/nervewracking. I am just so excited to be home, that I can’t sleep! Haha.

~

9:22am: Okay so it is a little bit later now, and I am sitting here studying for my final exam at 2:15. I feel very confident and prepared for this exam already, but I guess a little more studying can’t hurt!

~

1:15pm: I’m heading off to my exam now! I feel super confident about it and am actually excited to take an exam for once! Haha

First, I have to stop off at the bookstore and pick up a few little candies for my families stockings and I have to get cash out for the shuttle later.

~

2:45pm: The exam is over, and boy oh boy do I think I did awesome! There was only one question out of the 45 that I was unsure about and it was one of the short answer responses. I can’t wait to get my grade back :)

~

5:25pm: So I’m sitting outside of my dorm waiting, and the shuttle is late. Just my luck. They said it’d be here at 5:15, and it isn’t! 

~

5:31: Phew! The shuttle finally arrived and I am now off to the airport! Wooo!

~

6:20: The drive to the airport was not bad at all! There was hardly any traffic, and I had a fast driver so I got there in about 25 minutes!

I am not all through security, which also didn’t take long at all. The airport is pretty deserted right now, except for the people on my flight, so that is making things a lot less stressful!

So, I’m about to go pick up some water, and the last few presents on my list at the gift shop!

~

6:40: I’m at my gate and I couldn’t be more excited!
~
1:41am (PST): It’s been a little while, but we are about 2 and a half hours through the flight now, and it hasn’t been the smoothest plane I’ve been on.

The first hour was pretty rough, constant turbulence. It steadied out a bit, but it has yet to completely stop. As I type, the seatbelt sign has come on because we are going through another rough patch. The plane is moving up/down and side to side a lot! I kind of feel like I am on a roller coaster! I’ve had an awful experience with turbulence before, so this time it isn’t so bad, but it is probably the second worst. 

To pass the time on the flight so fat, I’ve read Insurgent, tried to sleep, but failed, and listened to music!

I am really hoping this flight goes by quickly!

Aaaand, the turbulance keeps growing. This is a bit nervewracking. 

9:56am: The times are probably all wrong due to me traveling through like three different time zones, but I believe this is Central time right now.

~

So since I last updated, the rest of the flight was fine, it continued to be quite rocky the rest of the way, and ended with a pretty rough landing. Also, I got really antsy toward the end because I had the window, and the lady next to me was sleeping, so I couldn’t get up to stretch or anything. It was not fun.

I got off in Dallas, and then found that my connecting flight’s gate had been changed from terminal A to terminal C, so I had to take the little tram over to terminal C.

So I got out at C, and walked all the way to the gates, only to find out that there are two sections of each terminal. The section that I got off at was gates 1-20, and my gate was 35, so I had to go back up to the tram and catch it again to go to the other side of the C terminal.

I finally got there with plenty of time to spare, so I called and talked to my dad :)

I’m now on the second flight and there is about one hour left of this flight. There has also been some slight off-and-on turbulence on this one as well, but not nearly as bad. There was only one really bad little section. 

The antsy-ness is still here and I cannot seem to sit still. My legs feel like they are really swollen, and my butt is numb, and my knees hurt and I’m just ready to be off. It is not comfortable at all :( 

Here are some pictures that I took throughout the two flights :)

Sunrise over Texas

Touched down in Dallas

I am so excited to be home :)

ʻŪlū ~ To Pack

Today went by very quickly!

I woke up this morning and did some last minute studying before my Chemistry final!

We headed off to the final, and it ended up being pretty hard.

It was a cumulative exam from the whole semester, so there was a lot of material on it.

I definitely don't think I failed it or anything, but I'm not sure I did as good as I needed to. We'll see when grades come out on Christmas!

After our exam, Amber and I went to go get some lunch, and then came back to our room.

Once I finished eating, I had to walk down to the Hawaiian Studies building to drop off my take home exam, and to also take a quiz.

I got a 14/15 on the quiz :)

After that, I was done for the night.

When I got back, Amber and I decided to do a very thorough cleaning of our room.

We had a giant garbage bag completely full by the end. Haha

We removed everything from under our beds, vacuumed the entire room, dusted, and packed!

I am all set to fly home tomorrow, and I couldn't be more excited!

Only one more final exam to go and I'll be free!!

I hope your day was fantastic!

I think I am going to do another one of those posts where I type it throughout the day with what is happening.

So, I'll talk to you tomorrow!
Goodnight!!