Hey guys,

This week, while it's only Tuesday, is thankfully going by much faster than the last. While I have a lot of work I should be doing (I'm writing this instead) I wanted to take some time out of my busy schedule and share with you all what has been going on throughout this week.

Let's begin with Monday. 



On Monday I was faced with completing homework and tests. In addition to that I also had work. Work has been nice, but I find myself always wondering if I should be working less hours. I'm finding it increasingly difficult to study for classes when I'm coming back from a late shift, so it's something I've been thinking a lot about lately. 

Thankfully this week is a lot less dramatic that last, and I hope I'm not jinxing anything. I think that because of the lack of "drama", I'm able to concentrate more on whats going on in classes. 

It sounds like I'm contradicting my earlier statement, but bear with me. 

My shift at work on Monday was from 3:15-7:15, and the more I work "rush" the more I like it. I like how I can go straight from class to the job and how I can go back to my dorm immediately afterwords. The only downside is that by the time my shift is over I'm exhausted and want nothing more than to sleep. However I would much rather work that shift than a closing one!

Today, Tuesday, was an equally eventful day; but just for a different reason. 

In my classes I've found that I'm not doing my best and I have decided to bite the bullet and go to my teacher's office hours. For those of you not yet in college, office hours are a chance for students to speak to their professors one-on-one and a chance for any questions you may have to be answered. So far I've only met with my Chinese teacher, but I'm hoping to also sit down with my East Asian professor and possibly my sociology one. 

For those curious Chinese class has been getting better. My homework assignments are scoring higher and higher and my retention of vocabulary is also increasing. I met with her today because I had concerns about speaking, but besides that I haven't had any reason to see her. She actually surprised me by having some lesson plans drawn up to help with tones, so I'm curious to see how my spoken Chinese progresses. It can only get better, right?

After Chinese was sociology and, after that, I was done. I took a brief nap today and ended my day at work. Once I return to the dorms I will finish my sociology homework and Chinese, if there is any. I'm hoping there isn't, but I doubt I'm that lucky.

The rest of this week looks pretty monotone. There's a campus club fair later in the week that I'm excited about, but besides that all I have to look forward to is work and the time after when I can relax. 

Oh! And I should also update everyone on how the roommate situation is going. So far there have been no complications, and I can't complain. We get along well and in the past week alone have spoken to each other more than my previous roomie and I ever did. I don't think we'll become best friends, but I'm glad that we get along and respect each others' spaces. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the week thus far. It's been pretty chilly here (68 currently) so for future reference I will probably forgo the shorts and wear pants to work. You live and you learn, I guess. 

One last point- in sociology today my teacher made it a point of his to highlight that life is "too short to look back on". He emphasized that we should all "Just do it" and I think that's what I'm going to do. His speech was pretty empowering, so I'm going to spend of my week doing all the things I haven't gotten to do yet. Please look forward to it. I hope you all can say the same. 

Until next time,

Aislinn

大家好！

Happy New Years! 

Chinese New Years, of course. This year begins the year of the Rooster, for those of you who don't know. All across the world Chinese communities have put on performances to celebrate, and I was fortunate enough to come across some today!


The girls and I decided to celebrate the New Year by also eating dim sum. I've never had dim sum before, but it's essentially a type of Chinese-like brunch, where the food is appetizer sized and served in little boxes. That's not the best description, but I'll post some photos as we go so that you can have an idea of the style. 

The restaurant the girls wanted to eat at was in Ala Moana, and by noon we had arrived at the mall.  While we waited to be seated we walked around the mall and were witness to some of the lion dances! Historically, lion dances are when lions chase away evil spirits and bring forward good luck and power to the people. They are most often seen during auspicious (i.e.: prosperous) holidays like New Years, where they are seen decorated in bright colors and covered in extremely intricate detail. In return the lions ask for money, but it's not required. Usually you can go up to them and just hand them the money (through their mouth) or they come to you. Jade gave one of the lions money and it head butted her, so that might happen, too. 




After the dances, which was throughout the entire mall, we returned to the restaurant and was seated shortly after. 
 The girls and I then ordered two plates each. Tammy went for some pineapple buns and beef chao fan, while Jade went for a shrimp dish and Shanghai buns. I decided to get some 包子 (bao zi) and shrimp dumplings.  The food came out very quickly, especially considering how crowded the restaurant was. The food was so good that I ordered a box of Shanghai dumplings to go. Here are some pictures: 

Finally having baozi again! Last time I had it was in China.

The dim sum we ordered

Overall I would say that the food was good enough to make me want to go back. It's relatively cheap and the setting isn't too formal. You can go in leggings and a tank top, like my friends, or in a suit like those at the table next to me and be fine. I don't think it's always that crowded, but I think that because we went on a Chinese holiday it was as crowded as it was. Also, I've been told that dim sum is a thing that should be done in large groups, however I would disagree. This restaurant is open to anyone, and there were parties of two and parties of upwards of seven. In this restaurant, and it may be this restaurant alone, I would say that you can go with as many, or as little, people as you would like. 

Afterwords the girls and I came back and, exhausted, we all took naps. We regrouped a few hours later and went to a basketball game where we were able to score some free Manoa Maniacs merch. I finally got the hat I wanted, too! I'm sure you'll see pictures of it to come.

Besides that my day was spent relaxed and well. I hope you all can say the same about your days, too.


Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey everyone,

Hey guys!

Today has been quite a day! 

Before I get too far into this post, I want to start by saying I hope everyone is handling the transition to spring semester very well. I hope it has been smooth for everyone and that over the next few weeks our teachers give us a little break!

Anyways, let's get into the post. 

Today I woke up very early to go to Hanauma Bay with Eric. We ended up leaving around 7:30 and stayed until noon. While the weather has been pretty awful this weekend, it seemed that today was our lucky day- as there was absolutely no rain! Sure, it was still very windy (there's a big wind front here) but the good news was that there was no rain. While at Hanauma we both snorkeled and I was able to swim a lot better this time. Thankfully the tide was higher (albeit not by much) which made the difference when swimming over the reefs. Compared to last time, I would say I even saw a few new species of fish. One of which was even an eel. Here are some more pictures of the Bay, although I don't have any from inside the water. I'm working on that!

The water in the morning

Notice how windy it was

View from up top

After Hanauma we went back to campus where I would then meet up with the other girls and get ready to leave for the Lanikai Pillboxes. 

The Lanikai Pillboxes, obviously located right next to the Lanikai beach, is a hike that's known for it's views of Chinaman's Hat and Rabbit Island. The pillboxes, little bunkers that are now abandoned and adorned with graffiti, have amazing views of the edge of the island. On the day that we all went, with the exception of Jade, the pillboxes weren't too crowded and we were privileged enough to see the pretty incredible views. Here are some photos I took for you all: 

Showing off the Colorado flag

Part of the trail

The view from the first pillbox

The path you walk to get to the boxes

The fog on the mountains

The view from the second box

This hike, compared to the other pillbox hike, is much easier. It is very steep in the beginning but once you make it up that first hill the rest of the hike is very relaxing. The wind makes it a little hard to keep your footing, but not impossible by any means. Also, the beach is only a 5 minute walk from the base of the trail, so consider wearing your bathing suit on this hike so that when you're done you can go swimming! 

Besides these things, I spent the rest of my afternoon running around Manoa. Because this post is being published at a much later date than preferred, I will try and post another one soon which describes my week thus far. 
Until next time,

Aislinn 

Hey everyone!

Today has been, quite honestly, a very tiring day. Actually, this whole weekend has been tiring. Let's start with Sunday, given that you are all familiar with what Friday and Saturday consisted of.

On Sunday I was finally able to hang out with the girls for the first time since being back. Even though I had to work from 9 to 1:15, I was able to see them for a few hours, which was a lot more than what I've had recently. Together we had dinner and then walked to one of the boba shops, a little place called Taste Tea, for a snack afterwords. We also spent some time at the neighboring college, Chaminade, where we went on a self guided tour in search of "Lokelani", where one of the girls read there was an exorcism. I don't mess with that kind of stuff, but the others were pretty eager to see firsthand the place where something supernatural took place. 

After running around Chaminade we walked back to campus and called it a night. A little after parting, Shannon and I made a quick trip to the store to buy some baking mix. As incentive for successfully going on the hike, we wanted to reward ourselves with a cake. We weren't going to do this originally, but we've been putting this hike off for too long that, at least for us, if we had made a cake it would be a reason to complete the hike. Needless to say we were up until one baking the cake in the kitchen. 

After the cake was made we went to bed and woke up a few hours later to head off. Ironically, we found ourselves in the same situation as a couple mornings ago when we were too tired to hike. However, this time around I was determined to stay awake so that we could     finally complete it. Because I was able to successfully wake Shannon up, we were able to be out the door by 6:00 and at Diamond Head no later than 6:30. 

The walk to the top was brisk, and we had to hurry past a lot of tourists to get to the top on time to see the sunrise. In what I consider to be a record, 20 minutes, we had finally reached the highest point. Surprisingly, no tourists were on the ledge to the side of the top, so Shannon and I were quick to crawl under the fence and make our way over to the cement slab. Here are some pictures of our view. The tourists were quick to follow, of course after watching us for a bit and deciding that we were safe on the cement. 





The hike was a lot of fun, and I'm so thankful to have finally woken up with enough motivation to go through with it. The views at the top make the walk worth it, and I would suggest to any and everyone that the cement slab to the left of the pillbox is worth going on. It's not exactly recommended, as I think there's a sign that says "Keep Off", but no one will stop you if you try, so take that for what you will. 
After the breather we walked back down the crater and caught the fastest bus to Waikiki where we would recoup with some coffee. It was still very early in the day, only 8, and so we had some time before we needed to be back. Once finished with our coffee we decided that we couldn't postpone going back to campus any longer, and soon we were on our way to the dorms. 
The rest of my day went on pretty normally after that. I had to work, again, and after brunch I had to leave the girls so I could go spend a few hours at work. After that I came back, had dinner, and began working on homework. 
The routine feels odd, after not having one for a few weeks, but it's a welcome feeling. I'm glad to be back in a routine and am excited for what the next few weeks will hold. I really want to manage my time better, and part of this involves me dedicating some time to the gym and friends. It is also a goal of mine to do a hike a month (originally it was to complete one hike a week, but I've soon come to realize this is a very difficult feat). I want my next hike to be one a haven't done, and I have a few in mind. However to keep some mystery to my future posts I will withhold telling you.

Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey everyone!!

Hey everyone!

I hope everyone is settling back into their routines nicely. I am happy to say that classes have gotten much better (and yes, this includes Chinese!) and I am slowly but surely appreciating my schedule. 

I won't lie, the first few days have been pretty difficult. I had quite a bit I needed to work on, and felt like I wasn't making any progress in my work. I also have an on-campus job now, and this takes up either 3 hours of my time in the morning or evening. My shifts these past few days have been in the morning, which I like because I get out of work pretty quickly, but the downside is that I have to go to bed at around 10 so that I can wake up by 4. This has been really hard since it means I have to try and get my homework done before 10, which is usually when I'm doing it, and saying goodnight to my friends a lot earlier than I would like. I'm hoping that as I get settled in that I will be able to manage my time better. I like my job, but I wish I had more time to see my friends and do homework. Unfortunately I've chosen homework over socializing, so I can only hope it pays off. 

Anyways! Like I said in the beginning of this post, my classes have been getting much better. Chinese, which I believe everyone could tell stressed me out, was actually a lot better yesterday. I think the teacher picked up on that only a few students were understanding her, so in class yesterday she acted out more of her speech and I feel like she "dumbed down" her vocabulary. I'm not too sure on the late, but I am positive I understand more of her yesterday than I did the day before. 

After Chinese was my long break (which I spent trying to nap) and then East Asian Studies. That class also went by very quickly, and the lecture was about classical China. So far my impression of that class is that it's going to be pretty easy. It seems like a lecture and a paper halfway through the semester. It really doesn't seem all that demanding, and the focus is on China, Japan, and Korea. His syllabus says Taiwan, as well, but he never mentioned it on day one so I doubt I'm going to learn much about that country. 

After East Asian was Honors Genetics. Truth be told I'm not entirely sure what science class this is, so I'm just calling it genetics. Yesterday my professor, who seems very laid back, told us to "not take any notes, just sit back and listen". He also ended the hour and a half a bit early, which I appreciated. What I like about this class is that there are no exams and no tests. There seems to only be a paper during the semester, and at that it's a topic of our choice. The class is pretty small, about 8 kids, and they seem to be upperclassmen. 

After that I went back to my room and tried working on some homework. I met up with the girls for dinner in Waikiki, at the udon shop, and then returned to finish my work. I'm about 30 characters down, but I need to memorize 50 for tomorrows Chinese test, and I also need to do some pages in my Chinese workbook. I'm thinking I may dip out of my math class early today so I can work on some of my Chinese. 

It's almost Friday, everyone! Hang in there.

Until next time,

Aislinn 

Hey everyone,

Today is one of those days! 

I woke up early, again, and decided to use this time to shower and get an early start on my day. I had my tea and was able to relax since I spent much of the night before finishing up my Chinese homework. The homework was surprisingly easy, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. With 50 new words I know I'm going to spend a lot of my time tonight working on character sheets upon character sheets. I'll attach a picture later so that you can see the kind of work I have to do for this class alone. 

Then was Chinese class. 

My Chinese class honestly stresses me out so much and I've considered switching to a different time just to try and calm down my nerves. However, I checked today and the class I would switch into has been removed, probably due to how few students are in the class. The fact that I would switch classes should tell you how worried I am about this semester. Additionally, my teacher was true to her word and only spoke in Chinese. She even asked me a few questions and I didn't understand most of what she was saying. I know that my listening comprehension is my weakest area, but in my defense she was also using a lot of the new vocabulary that we got yesterday. 

When the class finally ended I had to rush to the other side of campus in a record time. My calves were burning but I kept going. Then, after going to the wrong hall three times I finally found the classroom and went inside the room the exact minute it started. And, of course, the professor had already begun teaching by the time I walked in. He wasn't rude but he wasn't pleased that I was "late". I'm just glad I only have this class twice a week. 

Finally I had a break! I have, conveniently, a break from 11:45 to 1:30, and then I'm off to Math 100. I don't have much of an opinion on this class, just that I'm taking it to get the credit. I am glad, however, that I at least know someone in this class. As excited as I was a week ago to be in classes with people I don't know, I forgot that people sometimes pick classes based on their friends, and so they're gonna be more of a clique than a welcoming group. 

Update: Math 100, if I were to not go to a class , would be that class. The professor announced that attendance was not mandatory, and that we would be "okay if we didn't go" He showed us how all of his materials are online, and only asked that we get the access code as soon as possible so that we could begin our homework assignments, which are also online. So far everyone I have talked to about that class has told me there's no point in going, and for now I think I will go to a few lectures before deciding. 

After class I went to the beach with Shannon and later had dinner at the cafe. And then after that we then went back to my room to work on homework. I had about 15 minutes in doing my work where I was able to leave and finally swap christmas gifts with the girls, but I had to hurry back to Lokelani so I could finish working on my Chinese. As it is I'm not done with it yet, but I'm going to try and finish it tonight and Thursday night. The only problem is that I have 5:30 am shifts now at work, which means I'm waking up at 4 and going to bed around 10, so when you think about it 4 hours isn't giving me a lot of time to work on my Chinese class. My second, and last, 5:30 shift is tomorrow morning, so I'm hoping that after that I can come back, nap, and then work on my homework to prepare for my first vocab test. 

I'm going to end this post here, but as promised here is a picture of the work I have to do (only 10/50 of what I need to get done) for Chinese class. 




Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey guys!

So I'm gonna be honest here, I actually posted my earlier post this same day, but just at an earlier time. I ended up falling asleep yesterday and not getting the chance to post, which is why I posted it today instead of yesterday. However, as I said earlier, here is my first post regarding day one of class!

My first class this semester is Chinese 202. Unlike last semester, where I had it at 8:30, this semester I will be having class at 9:30. After arriving, the teacher introduced herself and was quick to tell us she's going to be speaking only in the target language. She also made it a point to tell us that today was the only day we would hear her speak in English. While this is a good thing, as only being exposed to Chinese will help immensely with developing the language, I'm very worried that I won't be able to keep up. This semester the class also has 12 students, about 5 more than last. I have a feeling most of them were in the same class last semester, too. There is a total of 4 (counting myself) from my class last semester who are also in mine. I wonder if the others are in the 8:30 class, too. 

After Chinese I have about a 2 hour grace period where I could either go to my dorm or find a study spot on campus. Because today was the first day of class I opted for the later, choosing to go to the bookstore and try and grab some used textbooks.

No luck. 

Instead I was greeted to an absolute mob of people. Seriously, there were so many students trying to buy books that the store had to open additional registers all throughout the store. I stood in line for probably 15 minutes and then forgot to get notebooks, but altogether decided to forfeit getting them because the line was simply too long. The prices for my two books (I gave the character workbook back, but that was around $35) came to be $103. That's right, one book cost $71 and the second cost $31. This was an insane amount, because last semester my Chinese books came to be around $50. I'm aware that the bookstore is going to be where my textbooks are the most expensive, but since I have homework already, I knew that I needed the books as soon as possible, and the reality is that you're paying for convenience. 

After buying my books I met with Shannon for a little bit before waiting in line to change out my bus pass. The line for that looked small compared to the bookstore, but still snaked throughout the campus center. Once that was done, as it's something that will be changed every semester, I headed off to my next class: Intro to East Asian. I'm probably most excited for this one because it will be pretty in depth about East Asia and I'm excited to learn more about China culturally. I'm also pretty interested in learning about Korea, so I'm hopeful that this class will be beneficial. 

Once that class ended I had another hour to myself before heading off to my next, and last, class for the day: evolution. 

Evolution fulfills my honors requirement for the semester, while also being a science credit. I took this class not because I like biology, if I'm being honest, but because the cutoff is at 15 kids and the teacher doesn't assign tests or quizzes. This means I'm able to enjoy class without taking tests and my grade is essentially me just talking to other people, as it's a lecture class with one presentation as my grade. I have a good feeling about this class, because my teacher had even said as long as we listen to him and follow instructions that he has no problem giving us all an A. I'm hoping he keeps to his word.

Overall I would say my first day went better this semester than last. A part of it is due to my class sizes (all less than 20!) and the times are great. The only downside to today was how stressed I got from being in Chinese class. The teacher has made is obvious she's only going to be speaking in Mandarin, and while I'm sure my comprehension of spoken Chinese is going to improve a lot, I'm worried that the class is going to be difficult. I think what I'm going to do is stay after class during her office hours and just practice my spoken Chinese with her. Not to get ahead, but just to review everything with her. I think I might even reach out to my Chinese teacher from last year, too, to see if she might be available to help me. I want to give it a while before I go to her, though, because I'm sure she's busy with the start of the semester. 

Besides all of this, I have work to look forward to later on and dinner with the girls. Because I work pretty late, I'm really going to try and push for dinner later. Or eat on my own. 

I hope everyone had a great first day and a relaxing break! Because I don't take a lot of pictures of class and my walking to and from, I hope this picture of the palms suffices. 



Until next time,

Aislinn 

Hey everyone!

I'm sure all of you have been anxiously awaiting my first post describing what my time back has felt like. Well, I hope this doesn't disappoint. If anything, I hope this lends some insight about what going away, and finally returning, to college feels like. 



Firstly, I left San Francisco bright and early Friday morning. I board the plane at 7:30 PST and didn't land until noon HST. For the first time, I was not able to sleep on the plane. I was actually awake the entire flight, and to make things even more uncomfortable I had to sit next to this Australian couple who would not stop eating! In the beginning of the flight I actually got my bag moved because it was too big (kudos to me for thinking I could fit two weeks of clothes into a carry on) and with it, went my food. This would not have been a problem, but Virgin America doesn't feed you at all, which means no snacks, too. This was very hard, and by the time I had gotten off the plane I had not eaten in a total of 12 hours. Needless to say by the time I made it back to my room I had successfully eaten all my Korean BBQ meat and a rice krispee treat. Not to mention I kept feeling like I needed to eat (and eat and eat), which was the complete opposite of when I was back home. Truth be told when I was back in Colorado I didn't feel the need to eat that much. I wouldn't snack at midnight and would typically only eat two meals a day (as I would often sleep through breakfast). I have found that throughout the days back I have often felt like I needed to eat, and never because I'm actually hungry. I'm hoping that if I can control this that I will be less likely to binge on food (not that I do that to begin with) and that I'll be less likely to gain weight I don't need. 

Since being back, there are also a few other things I have noticed. 

One of these things is that I completely forgot how utterly insane Waikiki is. When I was in my shuttle going back to the dorms, we had to make a few stops downtown. Well, without even thinking about it, I had no clue that I had arrived on the busiest day of the week: Friday. All up and down the block were tourists, and this explained the absurd amount of Australians on my flight and in the shuttle. In a way I myself felt a little like a tourist, but I knew that it would be short-lived. I also knew that I would very quickly feel annoyed at the tourists, so I have tried to stay out of Waikiki since being back. Of course when that beach is only 15 minutes away it's hard not to go. I actually went yesterday and was blown away at how crowded the beach is! I assume that it's either because people got trips as Christmas presents, or I really just forgot how busy life in Hawaii is. 

The second thing I noticed is that I'm waking up earlier. While this seems like an obvious one, the strange thing is that this has happened even after readjusting to the time. I keep waking up at 7 in the morning, and now that I don't have class until 9:30 I feel like I should be doing something, like running or working out. I guess we'll see what happens as the semester progresses. 

I'm going to end this post here, as it's late already and I'm posting this in-between classes. Later after work I will update you all on my first day. 

Until next time,

Aislinn 

Hey guys,

After a long and busy day of playing tourist, I am back at my hotel resting. Today is also my dad's birthday, and while we celebrated before coming here, where else would one rather spend their birthday if not in the beautiful Bay? 

For this post in particular I made sure to include a lot of pictures. My goal is that you all will feel like you were here on this day with us, too!


My dad and I started our day around 10:30, where we both decided to go to Chinatown and walk around for a bit. Besides needing to get my mom some new nesting dolls (We got her a red one last time, and she asked that we get her another one this time around) I also wanted to go into some of the shops and just look around. 



Even though I have very fond memories of Chinatown, I have to say that this time around it felt a little bit different. Maybe it's because we went on a Thursday, or maybe it's because I've already been here before, but this time I noticed some slight differences in the Chinatown today versus the Chinatown yesterday. The most noticeable of differences was the trash everywhere. Trash doesn't bother me, and I'm not saying it bothered me this time, but it was clear that the streets had not been cleaned in a while. There was food and garbage all over the sidewalks, and I could not believe how different this was compared to the time I had been previously, where there was little to no garbage on the sidewalks. Ultimately trash on the ground isn't going to make me not want to go back, but it definitely made me realize why San Francisco's Chinatown gets certain yelp reviews. 

After browsing through Chinatowns eclectic variety of shops, we then began walking towards the Embarcadero. Of course neither of us have ever done this, so really it consisted of us just walking down the same sidewalk until we felt it necessary to look at our map, which then confirmed that we had been going the right way. After walking for awhile we finally made it to where we saw Pier 9; from here we knew we were close. A little bit farther and we stopped to get breakfast, later changed to lunch as we noticed it was 11:30 and no place was selling breakfast anymore, at a place called Eagles Cafe. Located right on Pier 39 at the top left, parallel to the Hard Rock Cafe, we both ordered bread bowls with chowder. The food was delivered much faster than anticipated and, as a result, our time in the restaurant was brief. 



The bread bowl was, to put it simply, interesting. Obviously the bread is going to be sourdough (C'mon, this is San Francisco we're talking about) and the soup was clam chowder. Now I'm personally a big fan of sourdough bread, but I've never actually had clam chowder before. For $12, I would recommend that one order this. The bowl itself is very big, albeit very hard, and the soup is, for the most part, filling. The ratio of soup to bread is a little small, but I think you're paying for the bowl more than the soup. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I would definitely order this again, but for those of you who won't, the restaurant also had sandwiches and fish options to try as well. 


After brunch we walked some more of the pier. We watched the sea lions, saw Alcatraz, and even saw the Golden Gate Bridge. Contrary to our weather apps, the weather today was very clear and sunny. Out of all the times that I have been to the Bay, this was the only time the wind wasn't too strong and the sky was perfectly clear. I have never seen Alcatraz so clearly before! Not to mention the Golden Gate Bridge appeared very bright and long, the opposite of what I've seen of it before. I'm thankful the weather was so nice, and I was anticipating it being quite poor. But I guess compared to what we were leaving behind the weather here was near perfect. 




Once we left the pier we stopped at a nearby park to plan out the rest of our day. While the weather was nice, there was still a chill in the air, so we began walking to find a coffee shop where we could get something to, hopefully, warm us up. With our coffee in hand, we warmed up a bit and then head off to Coit Tower. I'm not sure why it's famous, but there has to be a reason, as once we got up to the tower there was a line wrapped throughout the inside just to get into the elevator. Because of how old the place is, my dad and I decided we wouldn't risk it and take an elevator to the top. I did, however, get some nice pictures from the viewing spots that could be found all along the base of the tower. 




By now the time was 3:00 and, instead of going back to the hotel only to then turn around and get dinner, we decided to get a ride to dinner early. I really like this one sushi restaurant called Sanraku, located at the corner of Sutter and Taylor St, and so we decided to eat there. I ordered the San Francisco rolls and my dad got the combo meal with salmon. When we finished eating we were once again given a fruit dish (I'm curious as to why they do this. Is it a desert or just a kind gesture?) and then on our way. 

Walking up approximately three blocks and to our right was the Grace Cathedral. I had wanted to see the inside of it, and so we walked up quite a few stairs to make it here. With just our luck, the time was 5:00, only 15 minutes before mass started. However, neither of us wanted to actually stay for a mass, so we quickly admired the architecture and were on our way. I haven't been to many cathedrals, in fact I think my last one was St. Patricks, but this one was, I think, one worth seeing. Forewarning, in case you decide to stop by, be prepared to 'donate'. The cathedral is a donation based building and they expect you to leave what you can before fully entering the building. 


This brings us to now, with us back in the hotel preparing for our departures tomorrow. Like I've said so many times before, I am blown away at how quickly time is passing. I am excited to return to school and see all my friends again, but I am reminded once again that nothing is permanent and life goes on. Being home was nice, but was another reminder that my time home cannot last forever and that I must return to the island and finish up my first year. I am very excited to be back, and can only hope everyone else is, too. 

Here's to what the next few months hold!

Until next time,

Aislinn