Its Finally Raining!!!

Aloha!

The rainiest city is finally raining! It has been a bit cloudy for the past few days, and it will usually rain throughout the night, but last night was not just rain! It was one of the loudest thunder storms I have ever heard! The rain was pouring and I felt like I was getting struck by lightening, it was literally lighting up the outside of my window. They told me that these pacific storms can get very intense, and I figured that out last night. I was seriously going to go crawl in my roommates bed at one point.

Lucky for us we got out of the rain yesterday and went to Kua Bay. I have to say we are very lucky that the school does these weekend trips around the island, especially since we do not have vehicles. Kua Bay is on the other side of the island, and It was breathtaking. It was a white sand beach, and had a lot of beautiful rocks in and out of the water. The ocean was crystal clear there. I have been noticing some things about where we go on these trips, and something I notice is that the Big Island is not filled with huge tourist resorts, spas, and condos. Having said that, it is understandable why many choose Kauai, Maui, or Honolulu to travel to. It honestly makes this island that much better to live on. Its not crowded, and it may seem like there is not as many great places to stay, and there is not as much beach time, but if you look a little closer there is so much to do on this island its endless. I am already freaking out that I am practically half way done with my exchange here and I feel like I haven't seen anything yet! We have been on weekends trips ever weekend and I still feel like I have so much more to see. It is an Island of adventure that is for sure.

After living here for a while I honestly forget that I live in Hawaii. It is kind of hard to explain, but I still am doing my everyday things so I don't actually feel like I am living on an island. When we go on these weekend trips it reminds me of how beautiful it is here and how lucky I am to be able to do this experience. It makes me want to see so much more of the world. Even though many say "my life is so rough in Hawaii" it is a completely different lifestyle/culture to experience which is the best part of being here. Don't get my wrong, I love love love my sun time! Coming here I didn't really realize I was going to be having culture differences throughout the mainland. NSE students are from everywhere here, and it is an amazing experience to be able to have friends from all over the mainland. We may all be different, but we are all here for the same reason, and that is to get out of our comfort zone and experience something different. I have friends from Maine, Louisiana, Jersey, New York, Iowa, Pennsylvania and even friends from Europe now that came here on exchange. I am so thankful that I have met so many amazing people here.

I also must say, even though Timmy did not fly over and surprise me on Valentines day, I did get the prettiest flowers I have ever seen sent to me, and I am not afraid to brag about it! We planned our trip to Kauai for when he will fly out to see me so I am getting very excited about that!  Everybody is starting to get visitors, I am excited to start meeting families and friends. I am taking another trip to Honolulu to see Ashley! She is flying out in less then two weeks, and I am meeting here in Honolulu. My roommate and another friend are flying out later that week to come stay with us. I am excited to see Ashley and see more of Honolulu.

I will post some pictures below of Kua Bay, and a few other randoms. I do have to say I miss everyone tons, but I do not wish I was home yet because before you know It I will be home and NO I still have no idea what I am going to do, and believe it or not my sister is the only one that calms me down. One would think she would be reminding me of my responsibilities for when I get home, but instead she reminds me to take life "one day at a time". :)

Take care everyone, and I don't feel bad for you because all I have been hearing is how wonderful winter has been! j/k, but seriously :)

Aloha!
Brittany

Brittany Ryan and I in front of one of the Mountains! 

Kua Bay

Britt Cubed* Brittany Ryan Brittany Alexander and Me. 

(its hard having 3 Brittanys and I Bri in the group)

We attempted to do some cheer leading moves, didn't work as well as we planned

A picture of me and two of my favorites :) Laura and Brittany (from Louisiana)

A night out for dinner at a Mexican Restaurant (Brittany and Kelsey)

More Kua Bay

so big and alive!

Green Sands Beach!

Aloha!

I would like to start out by saying Happy Birthday yesterday to my cousin Chloe!!!! Also, Happy Birthday to my other cousin Andrew!! Love you both!.

I have been pretty busy since I got home form Honolulu, school is going well and the weather is still beautiful. I know we are getting very spoiled by this no rain right now, but soon enough there will be a long streak of no sun so we have been enjoying it! I still can't believe that I am missing literally the best winter in the history of my life, but that's OK.

This past weekend we went to the Green Sands Beach, it is actually one of the two Green Sands beaches in the world, so it was really cool to see. We had to walk about 2 1/2 miles in to get to it, over lava rock and sand (literally felt like Indian Jones). The beach was beautiful, and the sand was the best sand I have ever laid on, way better then Waikiki (white sand beach).  Speaking of Waikiki, it is actually one of the number one white sand beaches in the world, but the sand is imported, so its not even really from Hawaii which is something I just found out in one of my classes. The hike into the beach was easy, we took a lot of pictures and just sort of took our time. The way out, not so much. After laying on the beach for the day I figured out the last thing you want to do is walk 2 1/2 miles back through sand literally blowing in your eyes the entire time. We all though we got a nice dark tan, turns out when we got to the van we were able to see what everyone looked like, and instead of being tan we were just covered in dirt, it was pretty funny. I had sand in my ears for about 3 days. I do have some good pictures of the beach and I will post them below.

Right next to the entrance of the walk to Green Sands beach there is a place called South Point, it is actually the southern most point in the United States. You can cliff jump there (don't worry mom I didn't) and it is a beautiful sight. We didn't actually check that out while we were there but we walked pass the area, I am hoping to take a trip there soon.

The past few days have been very Foggy, fog is coming from the Volcano that is erupting on the Big Island. Kilauea is the active Volcano on the southeast side of Mauna Loa, and you can actually go up to Volcano's national park to see the Caldera (center where fog expels from).  I haven't actually been to that park yet but we can make a trip up there one weekend. You can actually see the fog coming form the volcano and you literally can taste it in the air, it tastes like sulfur. They say that January and February are  really foggy because of the wind direction, so it should be getting better soon. There is also places you can go to see the lava flow, it is actually really amazing to be living on an island where you are literally living by the most active volcano in the world, and you are also living by the largest volcano in the world. We have been learning a lot about the 5 volcano's in class, so I will share more information about them as I learn more and read up on it. It is actually pretty confusing because they call some mountains, and others volcano's. The one we are actually living on right now is overdue for erupting, and yes I panicked when i heard this, but apparently the lava flows in the other direction of where we live when it erupts (this is where I really hope I can believe in scientists). They said we have nothing to worry about, probably because they don't want to scare us!

I will get some more information about it and hopefully post soon! Otherwise that is all I have for today! Enjoy some pictures and take care, miss you all!

Aloha!
Brittany

 I know it doesn't really look green here, but the sand is a green/silver color up close, it is kind of hard to see here.

We had to walk down this to get there, it is a little scary but they have  a pretty good path!

Pro Bowl Weekend!

Aloha!
Last week was one of the busiest weeks I have had here yet! I had my first few exams, of course all on the same day. They went...OK. The testing here is a lot different then back home so now I have a feel for how they quiz you and what to expect from here on out. This past week I also officially took a position for a job on campus where I proctor students with disabilities while they take exams. It is not many hours at all, and it is sort of an on-call first come first serve basis, but it is still something and hopefully I will be getting some hours in here shortly for some extra money which will be nice, seeing how my mango smoothies add up after a while :).

This past weekend me and 11 others decided to head out to Honolulu for the Pro Bowl game! It was tons of fun, Honolulu is A LOT different then Hilo. Very touristy, which was fun to be around for a while. We went to Waikiki Beach which was pretty nice. To be honest I was a little disappointed seeing how they consider it to be one of the most popular beaches in the world. Maybe because the beaches here are small and quiet, so the touristy feeling to me was a little annoying at times. The Pro Bowl block party the night before the game was really cool too. We walked around the streets and saw many vendors and ate some food and danced. I met a few famous football players, one from the jets and 2 from the dolphins..nobody I knew so nothing special. The best part of the night was someone from the NFL came up to me and asked me if I wanted free tickets!!!! I was the happiest camper on the block, I told him I needed 8 total for everyone. It was amazing. The tickets were normally around $85.00 so we saved a lot of money.

The day of the game I wore an LSU jersey, since a lot of the girls I hang out with go there it was the closest I could get to a Vikings jersey. I think there was maybe 3, or 4 other people (men over the age of 60) who also were representing the Vikings...so not many fans at all. It was a little disappointing...and I did get a few "really...the vikings???" looks...ha but it was still fun. The game was really cool to watch live, and the shows before and at half time were sweet.

My flight was at 5am on Monday morning so I was completely exhausted, and it took me a few days to get back in it again. I ended up going to the market today and finally knew what I was buying without being completely lost. I bought a lot of fresh vegetables, and I am officially in love with eggplant (I think I may have already pointed that out). If anyone has any good recipes (sister) please send them my way.

It finally rained for the first time! well during the day, which is crazy to think about seeing how that is all you hear about this city. This weekend we are taking a trip to the Green sand Beach, it is on the south part of the island. There are actually only 2 green sand beaches in the world, and one of them is located here! We are lucky that the school does weekend trips for us, especially NSE students because it gives us a chance to get to all of these places on the island since many of us don't have cars.

I am heading to bed, I hope all is well with everyone. Miss you all :)

Aloha!
Brittany