I am done with my first week of classes! The end of the week went by really fast, I am excited that time is actually moving at a regular pace now rather then feeling like the days are never-ending. I finally finalized my class schedule! I am officially taking Hawaiian Ethnozoology, Hawaiian language in Action, Hawaiian Ohana, and Physics with a lab. I am very excited about my classes seeing how last semester was horrible! For my Hawaiian classes we get to go classify different animal species in the water and go camping, and we also get to take many other field trips which I am excited about. I never realized that the Hawaiian language was a completely different language then ours, and we have learned quite a bit of history about that since I have gotten here. My vocabulary is slowly increasing the more I hear it, and hopefully soon enough I will be able to master the common words so I am not looking like I am completely lost here. On Friday I was able to lay by the pool for the afternoon. The pool is on campus and it is connected to the work out area. The entire building is called the student life center. I go and work out, lay by the pool and grab a mango strawberry smoothie on my way out, literally to die for and I feel as though that might become my new addiction here.
Saturday was our first NSE trip! We went to Hapuna Beach, the closest white sand beach to Hilo. It is about a 2 hours bus ride including a quick stop. It was beautiful, and they told us that it is actually rated as one of the top beaches in Hawaii. We left early in the morning and stayed on the beach all day, and I did go in the water! The waves there are perfect for boogie boarding, and at one end of the beach you can surf as well. The water is crystal clear, and it had a huge resort at one end of the beach that is a popular place to vacation. The drive there was really cool as well. It is crazy how in Hilo it can be completely raining all day but if you drive about 2 hours it is completely sunny. There was a point in our drive where we could see all 5 volcanos that are located on the Big Island. We also could see Maui! Maui is only 40 miles by water from the Big Island, and it was beautiful to look across the ocean and see the Mountain tops of Maui from where we were sitting.
On Sunday it was our friend Katy's Birthday! She turned the big 20 yesterday. She wanted to go to Akaka falls, so we made a nice trip up there for her Birthday! Akaka falls, a 422 feet tall waterfall is about 10 miles from Hilo. Anywhere you go on the island I have learned that you will experience your ears popping about 3 different times. The elevation here changes so much its crazy. The waterfall is beautiful, and the hike around it was a lot of fun as well. After our trip to Akaka falls we headed back to town to get some groceries for the birthday dinner. We made BLTHMOS...Bacon lettuce tomato hummus mayo onion and sprouts! Oh and avocado! The avocado here is so fresh its insane! So we piled high our sandwiches and had a nice little birthday party with some cake and ice cream. Our plan for today is to head to Richardson beach, so hopefully it warms up because right now it is pretty cloudy. Another thing I have learned here is the weather is completely unpredictable. One minute it is beautiful, and the next minute it is raining.
I think that is it for today, I miss everyone and hope all is well!
Aloha!
Brittany
Here are some pictures!
Akaka Falls
This is the view from Richardson Beach
Sea turtle!
This is my roomie Ashley and I at Hapuna Beach
Hapuna Beach
This is a view from our drive to Akaka falls
It looks beautiful. Wish I was there! Love the pictures and so does Bella. She thought the turtle was cool!
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