Hey everyone!

This post is coming at y'all a little later than I would have hoped, but I'm happy to say that I've finally found some time to upload a post about my weekend.

First, it's only appropriate that we begin with Tuesday of last week. Wait, what?

Well, to make sense of the rest of the week we should begin with Tuesday, as this was the day that Daniel and I officially became a couple.

Yes!! Tuesday evening, Daniel and I went to the beach and it was at the Kahala resorts where he asked if I wanted to be his girlfriend. Since I said yes, we ended up celebrating later that day and got dinner at Gen Korean Barbecue, a Korean restaurant inside of Ala Moana. This was on the 19th.

After that, Daniel and I have tried seeing each other as much as possible, but school and work have made it a little more difficult than we would like. However, we talked about spending the weekend in North Shore and around Kaneohe, and regardless of how often we could see each other during the week, the both of us were very excited for our weekend plans.

It began Friday night, when Daniel drove out to spend the night before our weekend. After he arrived, we packed our bags and then started the fun by getting dinner. I haven't had poke too much since coming back, but we decided on a place called Da Poke Company. It is, in short, amazing! The poke I got was the spicy ahi and Daniel ordered da works. Both are very good and you get a pretty good size portion for what you're paying. If you end up gong there, make one of your sides the potato salad! It's to die for.

After dinner the two of us went to target for a little bit before returning home. The plan, similar to the previous weekend, would be for him to spend the night Friday, wake up early Saturday to leave early morning, and spend the night at his place on Sunday.  

Thankfully all went according to plan, and by 8:30 Saturday we were out the door, bags packed and sunscreen applied, and on our way to our first destination: breakfast.

Breakfast was enjoyed at a little hole in the wall called Cafe Kaila. I've never had a frittata before but let me be the first to say they are amazing. They are how breakfast should taste! While I actually ordered the french toast (and Daniel- the frittata) I would say that overall the restaurant was a great way to start the day. After having finished we were off, and, needless to say, extremely excited for North Shore.

Our first official stop on our North Shore Road Trip was the quaint little town of Haleiwa. We spent a good portion of the morning window shopping and enjoying some shave ice from Matsumotos. 

After Haleiwa the two of us went to Sharks Cove, where we battled sharp rocks in an effort to reach the beach. Unfortunately this is more of a snorkeling spot, so we soon left this place and journeyed off to Turtle Bay.

While at Turtle Bay, Daniel and I tried to enjoy swimming, but soon after had to lay out as Daniel got stung by a sea urchin. While funny at the time, it's turned into a small issue, as his heel is still swollen. 

After spending a few hours at the Bay, we decided to drive back into town and get some shrimp. Halfway there is when we learned of how Giovanni's is actually closed for the day, and at this point we were left with no other choice than to go to Haleiwa Bowls. 

Given the man has never had an acai bowl, I knew this stop was a must. We went with the hapa bowl (a safe bet) and enjoyed splitting the large. 

By this time we had a few more hours left in the day, meaning we could still catch sunset if we hurried. Devouring the bowl as fast as we could, we immediately set off for Sunset Beach, supposedly a great spot to watch the sunset. 

By the time we arrived the sun had began to set, and by the time we got onto the beach the sky had already turned a dark grey. I actually don't mind having not seen the sunset, as it was still nice to just sit on the beach and listen to the waves come in.

After talking about what we should do next, it was agreed upon that we would go to a special hot pot place in Kaneohe. This ended up working out great, as the hotpot was amazing and the location was really close to Daniel's place.

This brings us to Sunday!

Sunday we enjoyed a long and lazy morning, taking special consideration in regards to sleeping in. On this day the two of us left around 11, and from here we ate breakfast once again at Cinnamons. 



After breakfast we left for the Outlet mall, but not before pulling over to the Pali Lookout and getting a couple cute pictures. The outlets were great, and I was shocked at how many places were on sale, but at this point in the day there was only one thing on both our minds: dinner. 

Treating ourselves, once again, we took to enjoying dinner at Cheesecake factory.

After dinner we had to part ways, but not without the promise of seeing each other throughout the week and again this coming weekend. Our plans will remain a secret, as I think they will make for a pretty amazing blog post. 

I hope you are all having a great week; enjoy the pictures!

Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey everyone!

This weekend was quite possibly my busiest one! Over the weekend I was lucky enough to go to the town of Kailua and see much more of the place I've only ever driven through. Stay sitting for this one, because this is going to be quite a long post!

The day begins Sunday morning, bright and early, at 7:00. The plan was for Daniel, who had spent the night as to allow us the chance to leave early, and I to wake up, pack a day bag, and head off to Kailua. Because we were both running on only a few hours of sleep, it's surprising that we were able to be up and out the door by 8. 

Our first stop was Cinnamons. Cinnamons is a very well-known hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Kailua that, supposedly, has the best pancakes. 

Pictured (L-R): Red Velvet half stack, crab cake eggs Benedict, Guava half stack

Needless to say, the pancakes were pretty good. Actually, they didn't really taste like pancakes but more so just cake. Daniel and I ordered a half stack of red velvet, a half stack of guava, and one half order of crab eggs Benedict's. Here's a picture of the breakfast. 

After breakfast the two of us agreed we should try and recoup in the car before heading off to our next destination: Target.

Now, I know what you're thinking. 'Aislinn, why in the world would you go to target when you could be going, quite literally, anywhere else.' Well, I'll tell you why. On Oahu, the nearest target to Manoa is a good half hour away-- by car. By bus you're looking at at least an hour- probably closer to an hour and a half.  So, while most people on the mainland take a trip to target for granted, I have come to accept the fact that unless I'm getting a ride, there's no possible way for me to go to target while on Oahu. Luckily for me, there's a target in Kailua that is conveniently located near the downtown area, meaning I was able to go inside for a bit and just enjoy being inside a clean, not-Walmart quality, store. 

After Target we parked the car and then began perusing the town. Kailua has tons of little boutiques and shops, many of which are places that carry overpriced clothing and trinkets. In addition to these hole-in-the-walls, there are also quite a few restaurants, such as Bee and Tee, a boba shop that doubles as a Chinese snack shop. We came here later in the evening to grab something to drink and eat. There is also a small bookstore and quite a few dive shops in this area. For those interested in window shopping, downtown Kailua is a great place. 

After spending some time in the town the two of us made a quick stop at his place before heading off to Byodo-In. 

As some of you may recall, when I first came to Oahu last year, one of the sites my mom and I had the privilege of seeing was Byodo-In. For those of you unfamiliar with the temple (or my post), allow me to briefly introduce it. 

Nestled in a valley at the base of the mountains, Byodo-In is a replica of a famous 900 year old Japanese temple. To get here, you have to first drive through a large cemetery that is broken down by both religion and ethnicity. Overall, the area is very peaceful and serene, with no chickens to be seen. Once arriving to the temple, you'll be asked to pay a $5 entrance fee. After that, and once you cross the bridge, you will find yourself in undoubtedly one of the most serene places on the island. 

Daniel and I spent about a half hour here (give or take) before heading out. There wasn't many people at all while we were here, so for those interested I would maybe suggest going on Sunday evening. By this time the island tours have ended and, at the very least, you will find yourself surrounded by a lot less tourists. 




After Byodo-In, we drove back into town to stop at a boba shop called "Bee and Tea". Carrying an eclectic array of both boba teas and light bulb teas, (if you've never heard of light bulb tea, google it now!) the shop is located along those same lines of stores in downtown Kailua. Bee and Tea also carries small Chinese snacks, like 包子, in case customers are also hungry. 



Realizing that by now it was starting to become late-evening, the two of us finished our drinks and buns, got back in the car, and started our commute back. 

Our day ends at Sandy's Beach, where we pulled over to watch the sunset. Fun fact, but the sun doesn't set on the windward side of the island, meaning all we watched was the sky change from a blue to a dusty pink. While we missed the sun itself, laying on the beach was still nice. Only downfall was leaving and realizing we were covered in sand from the strong winds. 

I included some pictures to help everyone get a better idea of what we did. If you made it this far, kudos to you! I haven't written a long post in quite a while, but it's nice to be able to come up with longer posts. 

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable week. 
Until next time,

Aislinn 

Hey guys!

And just like that- we're already going into our fifth week of school! I'll spare you the sappy "I can't believe we've made it" bit and will just jump right into it!

This past week has been nothing short of busy. From having study nights with my friend in Chinese class, to going to Waikiki to watch the fireworks and get dinner with my friend Jin, I have been growing increasingly busy!

While I'm thankful that it's the weekend, I have to say I miss being able to just come home right after class, or go to the beach. Isn't it funny, I haven't been to the beach in six days, and yet I feel like it's been weeks. I won't complain, it's been really nice having other things to do and meetings to go to. Let me break down my week for you guys. 

Mondays and Fridays are typically my free days, but one of them will be the days I'm going to see my friend Jin. Jin is someone who I'm helping improve his English, and we've decided that half  of the time spent studying will be studying English and the other half is studying Korean. As of right now I think it's difficult to study Korean, but I'm still happy to help with English.

A typical Tuesday night, however, consists of the Korean club meeting + dinner with other members. For those curious, this semester has been so much better than last year. The club feels so much more inclusive and I really appreciate the steps the leaders have taken to make sure that everyone is happy and feels included. Saturdays also occasionally have events, so I make sure to try and go to those, too!

Wednesday of this week is going to be the first HerCampus Hawaii meeting, and I'm very excited for this! I'm surprised that there's the amount of people going, because for a while the only people that were included in the emails were around 5 of us. Now online it shows theres a little over 10, most being girls from the same sorority. I can't help but wonder how cliquey this is going to be, or if it's going to feel weird not being one of the girls in a sorority. 

Thursday nights, as of now, are my days of rest! While I finish class at 4:20, I'm able to come home and just relax. Unfortunately I'm not able to go to the beach on this day, but I am able to go home right after class, and for this I am thankful. 

And that's what a typical week looks like! I'm still trying to make plans with people, and I'm finding it difficult to do. Again, I really can't complain! I'm thankful to be doing more this year and am happy that I'm not spending all of my time in my dorm. Once I start working I'm sure I'll have even less time, but it's all part of the college experience. 

In other news, I have been doing absolutely phenomenal in Chinese class! Seriously, 80 must be my lucky number because all of my assignments have come back with that grade. Compared to last semester, this is such an improvement. I can't pinpoint when I started getting better, and I really hate phrasing it like that, but I do know that my friend Kylin has had quite the help in my progress. A few weeks back we met almost regularly to study and do the homework. I think that studying with him, as compared to last semester, has been really beneficial to both my understanding and my time spent on homework. Seriously, I can't believe I used to spend three hours on the homework last year! And now I'm done in no more than an hour and a half! I'm also not going to class panic-ridden anymore. This takes the cake for being my biggest improvement. 

My other classes are going along fine, too. Korean is getting difficult, but I think this is more of a departmental problem and not a content problem. What I mean by this is that the teacher is now only allowed to teach in Korean. While I could understand doing this in the 202 and above classes, for those in the 100 level this makes little sense. Especially when you're trying to understand basic grammar. 


As the week goes on I will do my best to post more. 

Until next time,

Aislinn 

Hey everyone!


Wow, deja-vu much? I feel as if I've most likely started a post with that title before, but it's still relevant today so I don't plan on changing it. 

What do I mean exactly when I say "big things"? Well, for starters, I'm going to try rushing! 

I decided a little while back, back when I was going through my "Do I really want to attend Manoa?" period, that I couldn't leave Manoa without having tried everything that I want to. This, among other things that I will later get to, includes rushing. 

A couple posts ago, I made it a point to say that the Greek Life at UH is very low-key, and, from what I've experienced this week, I couldn't agree more. I'm going to document what happens each day of Rush Week, and I really want to keep this post as unfiltered and true as possible. This means I'm not going to embellish or change what has happened. 


As part of Rush Week, all Potential New Members (PNM) are assigned a sister who is going to act like their "mentor" and help them throughout the week. My mentor reached out to me shortly after I applied and introduced herself, telling me that all information regarding the process would come from her. After that initial text, I didn't hear from her the rest of the week, so I decided to go to their table and at least figure out where the first event (Panhellenic Fair) would be. I was told "It's going to be August 7th, 8:00pm in Campus Center. There will be girls out here making sure you find your way, so you don't need to worry!" At first I was relatively confident, and as the day got closer (and the lack of communication) led me to wonder if I was missing out on something. 

So come August 7th, it's a little before 8pm and I'm in Campus Center. There are no sorority girls outside and, in the room I was told to go to, there was a youth group singing worship songs. I reached out to my mentor and said, "Hey! I'm where you told me to go and it's a little before 8. There's actually no one else here, are you sure that this is the right place?" 

Unfortunately, while her response was immediate, it was not the one I was expecting. She told me that she was sorry but that I had actually missed the Panhellenic Fair. She told me that the location actually was different and that it had already happened, but because I had been told the wrong information, she was willing to meet with me before Round One and go over what I needed to know beforehand. 

I would say that overall I feel very conflicted. On one hand I really wanted to rush and I really wanted the "sisterhood" that so many people say sororities are like. 

It's also hard to wrap my mind around the financial aspect of it. While I understand that sororities are expensive, I assumed Manoa's Greek Life would be cheaper based on the smaller presence it has. After learning about the financial cost joining and becoming a member of a sorority would have, I'm beginning to have my doubts.

Other than sororities, I am also trying to get more involved with the Korean club called: Hanwoori. You might remember from a few posts last year how I went with them around the island and to a few club meetings. Since I'm taking Korean 101 this semester I decided that, while the club felt a bit like a clique, that I should at least try it one more time and see if it changes once you start learning Korean.

I can happily say that it does! Many of last years' members were not present at the first two meetings, and overall I felt a lot more comfortable this time. I really like how inclusive they're trying to make the club, and I was even added to their group chat on Kakao (something that I wasn't a part of last year)! I'm also registered to get a buddy, which is an exchange student they pair up with you who can help teach you Korean and who you can teach English! I think this is going to be a great way to not only improve my Korean, but to also make some international friends. 

Lastly, the other "Big Thing" I wanted to share with you all is that HerCampus is back up and running at UH Manoa! This is huge news, because I am going to be part of their team! HerCampus is an online collegiate magazine/website which talks all about the university. Schools all across the country are featured, and you can read about anything from what's going on at your university, to places to eat around campus. I reached out a few months ago to a girl who was petitioning for the website to come back, and I heard back a few days ago that I was more than welcome to be on the team, if I so wish. To me this is amazing news, because HerCampus is something that I read a lot when looking at potential colleges. It's also something I still read, and I think being apart of this collegiate magazine would provide me with an awesome opportunity to not only improve my writing but be apart of the greater Manoa campus. I'm extremely excited to see where this goes, and while it's still small, I know this can be great.

This is all the news I have for now. As the week goes on I hope to be able to update you guys with more of what I've been up to and what has been going on. 

As always, I wish you all a relaxing weekend and hope nothing but the best for this upcoming semester. 

Until next time,

Aislinn 

Hey guys!

This weekend has been great. It's been so nice sleeping in and I'm nearly addicted to the refreshing feeling that comes from getting enough sleep. Believe it or not, this semester I'm trying to keep to a tight sleep-wake schedule, and waking up after seven feels so good!

This weekend consisted of, as the title suggests, tailgating the WCU v. UH game, taking a trip to ARVO, and wandering Kaka'ao Street in downtown Honolulu. 

Since Saturday was the tailgate, lets start with that.

While Tammy had to go to work, Bella and I met up with some other people for a ride to the tailgate. I invited one of my other friends, Lara, to join us- since she transferred here and hasn't done much since arriving. 

We got to the Aloha Stadium at around 1:30, and didn't leave until close to 6. Surprisingly, this was our first tailgate since attending UH. The girls and I attempted to go to one last year, but it ended up getting shut down within minutes of our arrival. This was a big reason we decided to go with other people to the tailgate- because we wouldn't have to depend on TheBus getting us to the stadium. 

The tailgate was pretty low-key in the beginning, but once the lot starting filling up is when it got more energetic. Those around us brought speakers, grills, and tv's, and were kind enough to share what they had with us. I didn't take many pictures of the tailgate, but I was able to get one of Bella and I before the game. 


We weren't able to stay for the game since we all wanted to return to campus, but overall it was a lot of fun being able to hang out with Lara and Bella together. It's also good news to learn that UH still won, which now puts us at 2-0 presently. I probably won't go to the next tailgate, but I really hope to go to the CSU v. Hawaii game two weeks from now. 

The next day Tammy, Bella and I all decided we would go to Kaka'ao Street. This street is best known for it's street art, and I have been trying for so long to go get a picture with the really cute wall that has little "monsters" on it. Here is one that I think you might like:

In Kaka'ao

Myself, Tammy, and Bella

We were also fortunate enough to be in a great part of town that was also close to the coffee shop, ARVO, which I had also been wanting to go to for some time. The have a delicious lavender iced chai that, while very overpriced, is hard to find anywhere else. What I like about ARVO is the atmosphere of the entire shop. There are cute seats outside, with plenty of shade for those who choose to sit, and inside is a quaint plant shop. Interestingly enough, I have yet to see the letter board that seems to make several appearance online, but I don't go here for the "aesthetic". Their coffee is actually really good, and if you're comfortable spending upwards of $7 on a large, then this might be a place you check out. I won't go here for a while, so because of this I got the large and treated myself. I probably should have asked for light ice, though, because coffee shops usually give you more ice to balance out the lack of actual drink. 

We arrived home shortly after getting our coffee fix, and have since spent time relaxing, cleaning, and attending our first UH Volleyball game! This weekend has been a lot of fun, and I'm grateful everyday to be with my best friends. Tomorrow, while Labor Day, we're thinking will be a lazy beach day. I don't have as much homework as I thought I would, so Bella and I are going to take the bus down to Sandy's and just spend the day laying out. 

As always, I hope you are having a relaxing weekend. Remember to take full advantage of every opportunity that comes your way; this will make all the difference in your college experience. 


Until next time,

Aislinn