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

Kona Trip!

Aloha!
It is hard to believe that I am already on my 3rd week of school here. School has finally started to pick up and I actually had two quizzes today and I have an exam tomorrow. This past weekend we went on our first trip to Kona! Kona is on the other side of the island. We actually got to go on a submarine which was  a lot of fun. The submarine took us down about 100 ft, and we saw multiple types of fish as well as coral reefs and shipwrecks. I did however get a little sick, we had to take a boat out to the submarine, and going down in the submarine was a little freaky to me. I did survive and I am very glad I did it. The other part of the day we spent walking around the shops of Kona and we also ate at a restaurant on the ocean. I love that side of the island, it is the side where the white sand beaches are, and a lot of tourism.

This past week I also got to stay up in the Mountain. My friend Steph is renting a house up in the mountain and it is about 20 miles from my apartment so I went up with her for the night and she cooked me some delicious stir-fry and we watched some movies and hung out. She actually just bought a baby husky! The cutest puppy ever! So we have been busy playing with Boss (his name). Up on the mountain it is about 10 degrees cooler then where I am in town, so it did get pretty chilly up there.

I also for the first time had a very popular "southern meal". I have met some amazing people from Louisiana. They made Jumbalia, fancy green beans and some garlic bread. It was by far the best home cooked meal I have had yet!

Tonight we have our mixed plate dinner for NSE students. There is going to be free food and it is traditional meals of the hawaiian culture so I am excited to try some new foods.

I know this is a shorter post but I wanted to get some pictures up. I am heading to the pro bowl this upcoming weekend in Honolulu so I am sure I will have tons to write about next week! I am super excited to go, there is a big group of us flying there for the weekend.

Oh I forgot! I experienced my first earthquake! it was 5.0 and it was intense. It felt like someone was blowing my apartment down. There are actually earthquakes every 2 or 3 hours on the island that I am on but they are usually only 1.5 or 2.0 so you don't feel them hardly. This one was big!

I hope all is well with everyone! Miss you all
Aloha!
Brittany

Could not get over how big this Pea POD WAS!!!

Some great new friends at Kona

Bre and I going into the Submarine

Kava- it is a drink of the hawaiian culture that is said to relax you and help with anxiety, it is from the root of a plant. It is not the best tasting, but it was really cool!

the submarine

First Weekend in Hawaii!

Aloha!
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

Loco Moco and the Market!

Aloha!
Today was a very busy day! I had class this morning, and after class my roommate and I decided to walk downtown to the market to check things out. The market is open everyday but on Wednesdays and Saturdays is when most of the venders are there. I could not believe the things they had there! It was amazing, they had everything from clothing and jewelry to food and smoothies. I was so overwhelmed that I really didn't even buy anything (surprising I know). I wanted to buy every little hawaiian dress for Bella and Gracie but I did refrain myself..this time :). Downtown reminded me of South America, especially the market. Even though things were not as crazy as they were in Guyana, that is what I thought of. In fact a lot of this town reminds me of when I went to visit my sister in some aspects. After the market we walked back and I had another class, which I think will be one of my favorite classes. It is called Hawaiian Language in Action. The teacher is so awesome, and the class if filled with mostly NSE students that have no idea what is going on around us. We learned a chant today, and there was a really cool story behind it. It was about the volcano, and the goddess of fire, known as Pele (Pay-Lay) I plan on writing my next blog about some Interesting facts and history about Hilo so I will get more into that next time. Every time we leave that class we must hug the professor, everyone here is so warm-hearted and welcoming, which is not aways the case back home. If you get to know someone local, they really consider you part of their family, and want you to address them as uncle, auntie, brother, sister etc. I think it is amazing how family is such a big part of their life, and you can really tell how much love they have for their home and family by the way they act. It is hard for many of us to think about giving a kiss on the cheek as a hello back home, because if we were walking in Minneapolis and someone random did that it would be very socially awkward. Here it is what they do and you get used to it very fast. I could honestly go on and on about how caring everyone here is, and how much you actually feel like you are part of their family. They ask you your parents names, and what city you are from, even though they would never know where Ely, MN is, they are so interested in getting to know you personally rather then just another face from Minnesota.

I finally got to try their famous "loco-moco" It is quite delicious and inexpensive! It is rice, a meat patty, with a fried egg on top covered in gravy. It sounds a little weird but it was very good! It is quite the popular item here. It wasn't my favorite food yet though, I did have a type of eggplant chicken dish with rice from a small cafe near the food court and that has been my favorite so far. I have fallen in love with eggplant!

Today was the first day it rained! For being the rainiest city in the United States I would say not raining for a week is pretty good. To just give you an idea of how much it does actually rain here
Seattle gets 40 inches of rain a year, Hilo gets 135!!!! and the mountain top gets 320!! its insane, so when it rains it pours, but that is why everything is so lush green :) If you drive 2 hours to the other side of the island, they get 10 inches of rain per year, so by the time it crosses over the Mountain and Volcano top, it is all rained out.

Oh yeah, and I am a little out of luck for a while :( Mangos are not in season. I hear you can get them in Kona (other side of island) and I am heading there this weekend for a night so I am going to stock up!

We have some big trips planned for our long weekend! halfway through my first week of school here and still..."lovin every minute of it"-Nick!

Aloha!
Brittany

Aloha!

I am starting a blog to keep track of my journey here in Hawaii, this is my first blog so please don't make laugh at me! This will be nothing like my sisters, because she is actually good at things like this :)

We finally got Internet! I have only been here a week now, and I feel like I have so much to talk about its insane. Traveling here was.....long. When I got here it was like I was in a different country, I couldn't say ANYTHING! All of the street names looked like gibberish, and everything i tried to even pronounce was horrible. Good thing I had a nice taxi driver to help me, as well as laugh at me. I am staying in Tohbi Hale  for the semester. It is very nice and I get my own room which I am very excited about. My roommate is Ashley! She is great and we have a lot in common which is awesome. So far we have made multiple trips to target and wal-mart to try and buy some essential things we need, as well as try some new food. I haven't really tried the sushi yet...but soon I will. She loves it, and I am still a little up in the air about it. 

Even though getting settled into our new place took a lot of time/walking/taxi rides and organizing we still found time to make it to the beach. It has been beautiful weather here lately which is nice. The beaches around here are not the "white sand beaches" everyone thinks about when they think of Hawaii, instead they are black sand beaches. They are beautiful, and there are many many rocks as well, lava rocks..SHARP lava rocks. I will upload some pictures when I get a chance. We saw sea turtles at the beach, so that was really cool. Every night we have been here my roommate and I have been in bed at about 8pm...we are just exhausted and still getting used to the time change. Last night we stayed up until 11 though, so i think we are getting used to it. 

On Friday we had our NSE (national student exchange) orientation. We met many other NSE students and Zach, who is in charge of the program here and got to know a lot of people. Of course Minnesota won for who had the most students here for NSE. Zach gave us a lot of information regarding the culture, transportation, what to do and what not to do etc. I have been slowly learning some new words, I have a few down!

Aloha- hello, good-bye

Hale- house

Mahalo- thank you

Ohana- Family

When pronouncing words from here, your best bet is just to pronounce every vowel in the word. so, hale would be like (Hall-E).  You learn real fast if you are saying it wrong.

Everyone here has been amazingly nice, I started classes yesterday and my professors are extremely caring. They give out cell-phone numbers and would rather have you call them then e-mail them if you have any questions. They are so relaxed here, which makes it a lot less stressful. I feel like a 100 lb brick was lifted off my shoulders when I finally got settled down here, there is just so much less chaos, stress, and crabby people, I love it. 

A few more things I must add are, the Kona coffee is amazing, the pineapple is delicious, and I'm deathly afraid of the wild pigs and the sharks nobody told me about :). Zach told us if we are in the water and someone spots a shark to just slowly get out of the water...I highly doubt that if someone yells shark I will SLOWLY get out of the water...but of course it is extremely rare anyway...but still, it freaks me out. I am sure I will get over my little fears soon. 

I know this is kind of a lot of random information in one, so hopefully I can post more frequently now and not try to cram so much information into one post! I miss all my family and friends very much :)

Aloha!

Brittany