Hey everyone!

Today was The Manoa Experience, which I have been eagerly awaiting to post about since I've started school. The Manoa Experience is a time where all newly admitted students are able to come and learn more about UH.

The day consists of campus tours, Art & Flea, and a fair where the clubs and majors come together with booths and explain more about who they are.

The girls and I started with the fair, which began at the registration booth right outside of Campus Center. From there we passed Art & Flea and began looking at the different booths. Immediately upon entering you're greeted with tons of different things which range from the public safety booth to the financial aid booth. We choose to skip all of these given that we were already attending the school. However, they were very popular among the prospective students and their families.

Once past the initial booths you will begin to notice more signs regarding majors to pick from and clubs to join. We stopped at the JABSOM (Med school) booth, Marine Biology booth, and Chinese Flagship booth. We also made sure to stop at the photo booth and get a photo strip of us proudly showing off Manoa merch. I also want to share that at one of the booths (I believe Marine Biology) I was able to hold a chameleon! It was really cool but they were quick to point out that here in Hawaii chameleon are an invasive species. 




Of course, if you're not interested in these booths, don't get too discouraged. There were dozens of booths that included most every field. 

Here are some pictures that, hopefully, give you a good idea at how many people were in attendance. Keep in mind that I went at around 12, but this had been going on from 11-2. Also don't forget that there were tons of students in the dorms getting tours, too!












Afterwords I had to get to work, so unfortunately the rest of my day was spent in that regard. Once done, I made sure to rush back home and try lounging around. 

Then, as luck would have it, I was woken up at 4 am due to another fire alarm. This was the second fire alarm in a row and, needless to say, many students were upset. My roommate and I agreed that if it happens again we won't be leaving our rooms. 12 flights of stairs is just too much to walk down if it's not for a real fire. 

Once I went back to bed (and woke up a few hours later) I found myself preparing for my second, and last, RA interview. 

In short, this interview was in the form of a group, meaning myself and four others would be completing tasks together during our hour. Surprisingly, one of the four others didn't show up, which means he is automatically disqualified. This left the four of us (in total) to work through two activities during our interview. One was building a tower and the other was picking, from a list, who to give a heart transplant to and why. Once completed we were then dismissed.

By now it was 4 and I knew there was no chance of me making it to the beach before the sun went down. I was disappointed, as I haven't been sun bathing in what feels like so long, but I decided to make better use of my time and go to church. 

I haven't been to church since the Christmas mass back home, but lately I've been feeling like it's something I need to do. I arrived about 30 minutes early and attended the 5pm mass. I didn't go to the church on campus but back to the one in Waikiki. When mass was dismissed the sun was just starting to set, so Waikiki beach looked a beautiful dusty rose. 

I would say that this weekend was a very eventful one. I wasn't able to leave campus besides church, so I'm kind of disappointed in that aspect. However, this weekend I have Saturday off, so I'm really hoping to get to the beach that day. I really want to go back to Electric Beach, but I might just go back to Waikiki. 

I hope everyone is having a good week.

Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey everyone!

I'm writing this post to address some questions I'm sure you all have since reading my last post.

Yes, I am applying to be an RA. 

I want to start by saying that I do not know when I will hear about a decision. But just like everything else, I do want to walk you guys through the process, as I'm sure that this is something many of you will consider. 

I applied beginning of January, shortly after arriving back to Hawaii. The application was simple and straightforward- tell us why you want to be an RA and list your housing preferences. Of course there was also some what-would-you-do kinds of questions, but they were not meant to be lengthy, I believe the max was around 500 words per question? 

Once the application was completed you were then required to submit two teacher recommendations. I opted for my Chinese teacher and my Honors advisor. I would suggest that you pick teachers that know you well. That are either familiar with your work ethic (such as my Chinese teacher) or some of your goals (such as my Honors advisor). This is exactly the same as getting recommendations for college applications, only this time I would not ask teachers you had in high school. Don't even consider them an option- you are no longer at that school and you should not be reaching out to them for recommendations. 

Once you have your references your application will be ready to submit! The wait period was a little longer than expected, but around the month and a half (this all depends on when you submitted your application) you will receive an email if you've been given an interview. 

I would like to point out that, based on my understanding, not everyone gets an interview. This is the next step in the process, and just means that you stood out enough for them to want to inquire more about you. This is exactly like when you applied to your colleges and got offered an interview from a representative. 

I received my email about a week ago and scheduled it for today at 3pm. While every school will vary, my interview said it would last about 60 minutes. 

For the record, this is being posted immediately following my interview. 

My interview lasted about 30 minutes, give or take. I was on one side of a table and was faced with two women sitting across from me. They were both very kind and started the interview by asking me to go into detail about who I am. The questions varied in simplicity but were all pretty easy to answer. Then, when I had finished, they asked if I had any questions. They told me I was then free to go, and off I went. 

I think overall the interview is not something to stress too much over. Yes, it's important, but if you've ever had a job interview then you should have an idea of what to expect. They do ask you some 'what would you do' type questions, but there's nothing that they ask that you shouldn't already know. For example, you should at least know why you want to become an RA. 

From here the next step is a group interview on Sunday and, after that, I wait. The decision will then be released on March 20th (!!!) 

I will be sure to keep you all updated. Enjoy the weekend!

Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey guys,

The past few days have taken quite the toll on me. Looking back, I know that it can appear that I'm always stressed or overworked. Granted, there are times where I do feel very overwhelmed, but I should address the fact that this isn't a constant thing. I think lately, having been working in addition to attending classes, I have been sounding very stressed. I've been thinking about it, and I think myself is partially to blame, as I have a bad habit of overanalyzing things and reacting quite quickly. This was most prominently seen when I lost, and then gained, my job. I'm trying to take time to relax more, and hopefully things will smoothen out in time. For this week, I don't seem to have too much to do, so I'm going to appreciate the time I have! 

Today, being Tuesday, meant I had sociology. I haven't been talking about it online, but this class is one that I've given a lot of thought to. It's one of my two required honors classes, but is one that has made me very uneasy. I came very close to dropping the class and taking a W*, but wanted to talk to more people about what I should do before making any decisions. My biggest worry is that I'm overreacting and that I should just stick it out, but I don't want this to be a decision I will regret. From those that I've talked to, the opinions seem to be pretty polar. On one hand, there are those that are very set on me dropping the class. On the other, there are some that believe I should stick it out and not worry too much. I think that's my problem, that I worry too much and it's causing me to overanalyze a situation. When I have situations like this, and they're very few and far in-between, I find that the only thing I can do is pray and ask for a sign. I did that last night, as I was very torn, and today feel like I was answered. I still went to class, as per usual, and at the end was approached by my teacher. He asked me if I was dropping the class or "sticking it out". I told him that I am really considering dropping, but that for some reason I feel like I should give it a few more classes and feel out whether or not I truly want to drop the class. He then told me, "Well if you need anything please let me know. I will help you." This took me aback because he's never told me that he would help me, nor has he been the one to approach me (I've always gone to him). I really wish I had an idea of what my grade in the class is, as being able to see a current report would make this decision a lot easier. I don't want my GPA to suffer, but from the research I've done, it seems that the gpa you get in college doesn't carry as much weight as the one you would have in high school. That's not to say not to try, but maybe I'm trying too much. 

This week I only work Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday! I'm really happy with this schedule, because it will give me more time during the week to work on my homework. Obviously I'm not doing that now, but I plan on spending the time I have tomorrow wisely and getting a lot of it done. I believe that my only homework is in genetics, sociology, and math, so it shouldn't be too hard! 

I should also update you guys on what I did this weekend. 

On Saturday the girls and I went to Makapu'u and Matsumoto's. The line at Matsumoto's was terribly long, so I decided to get some mochi instead. We ended up going to dinner later in Waikiki, as one of the girls had homework and didn't want to be too far from campus. 

On Sunday I went to Chinatown with Jade and some family friend's of hers. We enjoyed some dim sum and then made our way over to the "food court" where I tried an interesting drink called Halo Halo! 

Halo halo is a Filipino drink that is an eclectic variety of gummy's, potatoes, and ice. Here's a picture (I just had to take one) :


From the top to bottom we have ice cream (potato flavor), bean paste, shave ice, red gummys, green gummys, slices of fruit, another kind of red gummy, and sweet potato. 

Now bear with me!

This all sounds crazy, but actually tastes very good. I had never heard of it before, but after trying it I wanted another one. I would warn those interested that this is not a drink you should have often. I feel like this is something I would get every few months, as it's chalk full of foods and sugary things. To put it into perspective, I had this drink no later than 2 and didn't eat the rest of the day. That's how filling it is! 

Once I got back to campus I wrote 3 pages of my genetics paper and then met up with Eric and some others to watch Lord of the Rings. I overestimated how long this movie was, because I ended up needing a break twice. We only watched the first movie and I feel like you'd be insane to want to marathon the whole trilogy. Of course I, before watching, actually thought this was possible. Let me tell you now: it's not. The first movie is so dense that I feel like I need to watch it again just to understand what I saw the first time! I haven't seen the other movies, but I hope it'll be soon because I don't want to forget too much of the first movie before watching the others. 

Overall I think this was a movie I would not have stuck out alone. I probably would have stopped watching after half an hour of trying to figure out what was going on. However I'm glad I watched it with the others who did know what was going on, because I feel like this allows me to ask questions whenever something confuses me (which was more often than I anticipated). I'm not sure if I would say it's a great movie, but I feel like I will have a better answer once I've watched the other movies. For now, my opinion on the series is relatively neutral. 

Something else I should mention is the status on my RA application! I don't believe I've mentioned it, but I am actively trying to become an RA for the next school year. The process, from what I understand it to be, starts with the online application, moves to an interview with two resident assistants, a group interview with 10, and then the decision. I assume the process is very competitive (the requirements to meet are not hard) so I was very surprised when I got the email congratulating me on making it to the interview stage. Thankfully that isn't until Friday, so I have some time to prepare! I've already reached out to my RA and another to see if they can help me prepare. I'm sure every school is different, but there are some very big perks to think about when considering becoming an RA. 


The free room and board is a huge thing to consider. In fact, I would argue that that might be the biggest reason students try to become an RA. I'm not sure exactly how much I'm paying for on-campus housing, but becoming an RA would take a huge load off of my payment. 
The next thing leads into the third thing to consider, and that is your monthly stipend. I don't know the exact number, you could look it up, but I do know that the school pays you to be an RA. Which, given that you can't exactly work as an RA, is understandable. If I could become an RA it means I could quit my job that I have now which, occasionally, is a very appealing offer. It also doesn't hurt to live where you work! 

All of this aside, I'm hoping that the time off this week will help me put things back into perspective. I want to really work on how fast I jump to conclusions without thinking through the problem in it's entirety. I keep telling myself that there's only a few more weeks until spring break, so if I keep up the good work then I can rest!

Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey everyone,

Yes, as the title implies, I went back. After repeatedly vowing never to return to the Leeward side, in a crazy turn of events I found myself there today after class. 

I was thankful enough to start my day by opening at work. The opening shift is at 5:30, and while that's an extremely early time to be out and about, I like it because I get my work over and done with for the day. Once done at 8:15 I quickly made my way back to my room and got ready for my day. 

My first class of the day was Chinese, and it was a quick review of our homework and some grammar structures. After class ended I went back to my room to study up on my last exam of the week. In my East Asian Civilizations class we would be given an exam with some multiple choice questions, two descriptive questions, and one essay question. For only being given 50 minutes, this appeared to be very hard to accomplish. 

However, thankfully I was wrong and was able to finish faster than expected. 

After the test, and since this was my last class of the day, I went back to my room to have lunch. I then heard from Eric, who said he wanted to go snorkeling. He was vague about which beach, but after getting lunch and grabbing a weight belt to assist with diving, he told me it was Kahe Beach Park.

That's how I ended up on the westside. 

We took an uber, about an hours drive from Kapahulu, and were greeted with a long stretch of beach and a very rocky shore. It was around 5 when we arrived, so the beach wasn't crowded at all. 

View from Electric Beach

View from Kahe (we were in-between the rocks and the wall)

Another beach picture. The sand was incredibly soft!

Our uber driver was actually kind enough to tell us that he would wait around for us. True to his word, he found us a few hours later and told us that he wanted to check up on us and make sure we were doing alright. From here he offered us a ride back--for no charge!

But before we went home, we snorkeled! 

The waves were very rough, and were nothing like Hanauma and Paradise Cove. No, this was, quite literally, open water, which meant we were literally swimming in the ocean. Hanauma and Paradise are both enclosed areas, but this area was wide open.  

Once we got past the rough shoreline we found ourselves swimming over reefs that had quite a few different species of fish. The water was a little cloudy, but not to the point where we couldn't see anything. Interestingly enough, there is a water plant across the road with pipes throughout the ocean, where supposedly they collect and release water. I didn't know it at the time, but at one point I was swimming directly into the bubbles from one. However before I could get too close Eric was quick to tell me that swimming over the pipes was not a smart idea. I made sure not to get too close to them for the rest of our time there. 

Snorkeling today was a much different experience than any of the previous times that I've been snorkeling. The water was pretty deep (I would estimate anywhere from 15-20 feet?) and being so open didn't make me feel claustrophobic at all. I really only struggled getting into the water. What came afterwords was quite easy. 

I believe the time of day played a big part in what kinds of fish we saw, but supposedly if you go in the mornings your chances of seeing dolphins are relatively high. While we didn't see any dolphins, we still saw lots of fish, and for that I would say it was a successful trip. 

We were also witness to an incredible sunset! By this time we were out of the water, but some people chose to stay in and enjoy riding the waves. This area, where we were, was nowhere near crowded, but did have a few others enjoying the surf. 

The sunset featuring Eric

The water was stunning during the sunset!

Once the sun set we regrouped with our driver and proceeded to head back to campus. The man was extremely kind and told us that the ride back was on him!

Now we're back and I am utterly exhausted. While I don't have any pictures of me snorkeling (they're out there- I promise!) as always I will update when I receive them. 

Happy aloha Friday, y'all!

Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey guys!

I have had quite the day. Today was a whirlwind of tutoring, meetings, and work. I feel like I've been running around so much today (it's only 4!) that as I sit down to type this I feel as if I'm on almost a caffeine rush. Let me walk you through it. 

I woke up at 8, as per usual, and started my day pretty routinely. I had oatmeal for breakfast with banana, an effort on my part to eat healthier. I then went to class and proceeded to spend the next hour learning Chinese. Afterwords I ran off to tutoring and then made a beeline for the admissions office to pick up some scholarship paperwork. 

Tutoring went pretty well. The first session was writing, which was us composing an email of a fake scenario, and the second was reading, where I read two passages and discussed them with the tutor. There's never any homework, thankfully, so once the session was over I was able to leave with the notion that I would return and finish the lesson next week. 

After my reading session I had just enough time to run to the Starbucks in campus center and grab lunch. I got an iced coffee and egg muffin (so much for eating healthier) and a chocolate muffin for breakfast the next day. Then, to my surprise, I saw my friend working, who came over to me with my muffin and asked if I would like anything else! I said sure and she gave me my two favorite things- the lemon pound cake and another chocolate muffin! I think she must've been able to tell how hectic of a day I was having, as I had no idea she was even working. It was an extremely kind gesture and I made sure to thank her for it. It doesn't hurt to have friends that work in cafe's, because, in her case, she's able to get food and drinks for free (which means I'm able to get meals for free)! 

After grabbing my food I made it to my next class, Intro to East Asian history, with a few minutes to spare. I got some weird looks walking in with 4 bags of food, but I think they were all jealous. 

Class went by smoothly and before I knew it I was running to the other side of campus in 10 minutes to make a meeting with my genetics professor. For visual purposes, I had to go from the Pacific Sciences building to BioMed at 1:20 to make an appointment at 1:30. In some weird way I was able to make it to the building in less than the expected time. Granted I couldn't feel my legs when I got there, but I still made it before the appointment. 

After the appointment, where we discussed my powerpoint and paper for the class, I went over to one of the resident halls to pick up a package. Naturally, there was confusion and the information I had been given was incorrect, meaning my package was in a completely different building. At this point I only had about an hour until my next meeting, so I knew it was best for me to just go and wait for the professor I would be seeing, instead of going home. 

The time in between was spent at my favorite spot on campus: the Japanese garden. I first saw this a few days after move in, where Shannon and Tammy introduced me to it. Located right behind the East West conference building, the Japanese garden is a tranquil area that was constructed by the Japanese themselves. When I first got a tour of the school, during welcome week, our guides told us that when the garden was constructed it was done so in a strategic way, putting a lot of emphasis into "feng shui" or, the process of creating harmony between the environment and it's objects. In their words, the garden was constructed to mimic that of life. The beginning starts out strong and quick, then progresses into a rocky path that twists and turns over many protruding rocks. Then, about halfway, the stream calms down and begins to flatten out. It twists a little bit more, and then finishes by being drained and recycled to start the process all over again. To complement the garden is a nice collection of beautiful koi fish and pagodas. The only times I have truly been to the garden have been at night with the other girls, so it was nice to sit down in the shade during the day. There was a few other people there, but the garden is relatively spacious, so we weren't close to each other. I would like to come out here more, but I found out today that the range of the wifi doesn't reach the garden, so I wouldn't be able to do any computer work out here. I guess that's the point of the garden; to disconnect. 





Another unique aspect of the garden is the teahouse, located to the left of the garden. Supposedly there are representatives of Japan that come out anywhere from once a year to every few years and hold tea ceremonies for students to take part in. I haven't been to one, nor have I seen any information on them, but according to the guides they are really interesting. Also worth mentioning is that the tea house was actually built in Japan and sent over to the States. It's one of the only tea houses outside of Japan, according to articles online. 

I guess that's something to look forward to if you're planning on doing something with Japan, but if you're like me and that's not on your radar, than it could be something you just appreciate the school having. 

I then went off to my meeting with the head of the Flagship program at Manoa. Immediately I was hit with many questions, in Chinese, about myself and my studies. When she was done, we talked more about study abroad opportunities and how the next few years will look. She told me that one of the perks of studying over the summer is that when I come back I won't need to take a placement test; they'll just override me in the system and place me right away into the 400 level class. It's something to really consider, because that would mean that I'm done with language classes as a sophomore instead of junior or, if I went about it traditionally, a senior. But I'm still thinking about it. I applied, and will apply to another one, but it's something that's not at the top of my radar right now. 

After the meeting, which went very well, I was finally able to go back to my room and just relax. Of course I was then interrupted by Eric, who seems to be making it a priority of his to get me on board with watching the Lord of the Rings movies and The Hobbit trilogy. I'm not sure if I'm completely on board with the series, but I guess it's worth giving it a shot. I'll keep you guys posted. 

And now we've made it to the later half of my day. I have work from 7:15 to closing, which ranges anywhere from 10:45 to 11:15. Then I'll come back, do some translation work, and then compile a series of cheat sheets for my math exam tomorrow. Interestingly enough, my professor says we can use: 5 pages of notes, laptop, calculator, and our phones. So is there even a point to coming with five pages of answers? We'll see. I'm probably going to just copy his slides and call it good, but I'm still going to make sure my laptop is fully charged before class. Then afterwords (or even before) I have to run to the post office to mail some stuff. So again, I have another busy day ahead of me. 

Regardless of the fact that it's Monday, and like every post, I hope everyone is having an enjoyable week. 

Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey guys,

Today I was finally able to do something that I had wanted to do for weeks!

I finally saw the sunrise at the beach!

I woke up this morning at 5:30 and met up with the others no later than 6. We walked down the road together and took the bus (number 19) straight to a place called "Diamond Head Beach Park". While it wasn't Waikiki, the beach we went to to is called Cromwell's. It's not my favorite beach, it's arguably my least favorite, but we were limited on beaches based on where the sun rises. However we did get some pretty pictures out of it, like the one below. 

I'm standing on black rock holding the rising sun. The time was 7:30 AM.

I would like to mention that we didn't exactly end up at the Cromwell's we were at last time. 

For some reason, and maybe it has something to do with who got us there, this time around we were not at the same spot as we were last time. Where we ended up today was a much rockier area where the tide was extremely high. Here are some pictures as proof:

The moon was really bright and looked amazing with the palm tree

The rocky part of the beach

We stopped here for a quick minute and then kept walking

I've posted about Cromwell's before, but it was a long, long time ago. I wouldn't recommend going here if you want to sunbathe or if you don't plan on fishing or surfing, as that's all anyone out there was doing. It's a nice spot to get away, as there's many locals that go to this beach, but not one I would go back to. 

This beach isn't all that bad, however. In fact there was a lot of coral here, which was really cool to look at. Some of the coral was white and some of it was a sandy color, and after talking about it with Bella (the marine bio major of our group) I learned that it was all dead. It's really sad, especially considering the amount of coral that's down there. 

Besides the dead coral, you will find coconuts, shacks for surfers, plenty of wild mongoose, and even a working lighthouse. 

After the sun had risen this is what the lighthouse looked like

Even though we were unable to officially see the sun rise I would still call this morning a success. It was very hard waking up as early as I did, but the pay off came in the form of spending time with the girls and being surrounded by the sea. The ocean is absolutely breathtaking in the morning, and is one of my favorite times to be at the beach. Few things compare to how lively the sea is when there's so little people outside! From taking our shoes and relocating them across the sand, to splashing us as we tried to balance on rocks, I absolutely love being at the beach in the mornings. I read something the other day about how much life the ocean has, and after this morning I have to agree. The only other way to describe how the beach was like would be calling her playful, or possibly even magical. 

It's weird thinking about it right now, because it seems like something that never happened. Or, if it did, than it's something that happened a long time ago. 

As always, I hope you have had a great weekend and are looking forward to a good week. 

Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey everyone!

I can't believe it's already Saturday and that it has been an entire week since I posted. Unfortunately I don't have any crazy plans this weekend to share with you all, but what I do have is some updates about school and this week!

Lets start with Monday and work our way to Friday. 

On Monday I had my first day of Flagship tutoring (writing + reading). For those of you that don't remember, I am a member of Manoa's Chinese Flagship Program. This is in addition to my Chinese major, and is essentially a way to achieve a much higher language level than just simply majoring in Chinese. It is a federally funded program which encourages students to study abroad (or intensively) as much as possible. Additionally, the Flagship can be achieved with any degree. There are three ways to use the Flagship program. For some they major in Chinese in addition to their other major, and, in my case, you can major in Chinese with recognition in the Chinese Flagship. The third way is simply getting a certificate in Chinese. 

Tutoring was very interesting. In my writing section there are two other girls. My teacher for this section is also my reading one, interestingly enough. For writing we were told that throughout the semester we would switch between typing sentences and writing sentences. He said we won't have homework and that he will meet with each of us every session to help us write. After writing I had my reading session, which was just a little bit different. 

In my reading session there was only myself and my tutor. I was given a piece of paper with a passage on it and some questions. He instructed that first I would read the passage very quickly and then he would ask me questions (in Chinese, mind you) and then, once I'm done answering, I would reread the passage slowly and look for important details. Once reading he would ask me some more questions about the passage. 

Thankfully after tutoring I only had class to go to. I didn't work this day so I was able to go back to my dorms and begin working on my homework. I ended up staying up extremely late preparing for my first Chinese exam, but by 2:30 I was exhausted and needed to sleep.

Tuesday came and I was met with my first midterm of the semester. A cumulative exam covering chapters 11 and 12, the Chinese test was surprisingly better than I thought it would be. There was fill in the blanks, translation, listening, true & false, and some reading passages. Thankfully there was no writing portion, as that would have been too much for me to handle. I don't want to jinx anything, but I think I did fairly well on that test. Let's hope for the best!

Tuesday was also my sociology midterm. I won't say any more than that. 

Lastly, Tuesday was the day I had my first speaking session with my speaking tutor. My speaking tutor is a different person who spoke rapid fire Mandarin with me the second she walked in the room. It was very intimidating and I won't lie, I struggled with keeping up. However, I found that at the end she was very kind and even found it funny how I told her she speaks Chinese much faster than I anticipated. I don't expect her to slow down, as the point of the Flagship is to get you to the highest degree possible in such a short time, but I hope that I made her more conscious of the fact that I had trouble keeping up. I think that speaking with her and my Chinese teacher will prove to be two very helpful things in effecting my speaking proficiency. 

Unfortunately I worked on Tuesday, so the rest of my day was spent working. Afterwords I went back to my dorm and proceeded to stay up late, again, and finish my Chinese homework for the next day.

Sleep deprived and already over the week was how I greeted Wednesday, except this time there was no test I had to take and no tutoring. Because of this the day went by pretty quickly, except for when I had to work the closing shift. 

Thursday came and I wasn't able to sleep in. I had tutoring with my Chinese teacher in the morning and afterwords went to my sociology class. Sociology was interesting because I was finally able to meet with him and talk about this semester. Sociology is one of my honors classes and probably the one I'm doing my absolute worst in. He seems to think that I'll do fine, but we'll see. I don't like uncertainty when it comes to my classes. 

After sociology I went to work and then my dorm, where I was able to get some homework done relatively early and, for the first time all year, even had time to read before bed. Right now I'm reading a book Eric gave me called "Black Island". It's a comic-book with lots of Chinese dialogue. I've taken to keeping a notecard on each page where I can write down any words or phrases I don't know. So far the book is pretty interesting, but I've gotten lazy and haven't been translating as much, so I'm sure there's some important pieces of the plot that I'm missing. 

On Friday I didn't have work, so I woke up feeling more relaxed and happier. I also only had two classes, so my day was over at 1:20. I even took a nap, which is becoming a reoccurring action. Before college I never napped, now I seem to take one once every few weeks. 

After class I hung out with the girls and later applied to my first summer program. My teacher recommended that I look into the summer program at one of the Flagship colleges, so I did. I would much rather study my Chinese in China, but my teacher said she thinks Indiana will be best so that I can solidify a strong grammar foundation. The application was surprisingly quick, and I was able to complete everything in a matter of hours. I'm looking to apply to a few others, but I know that my teacher would like to talk to me some more about them so until then I will only look at these programs and not apply just yet. 

And now we've made it to Saturday! Unfortunately the weather is horrible and has prevented me from leaving my building. I really want to go to the beach, but it looks like I'm going to have to wait. I also really want to see the sunrise, so I might go to Waikiki tomorrow morning and watch the sun come out and take in the beach before it's covered in tourists. The girls don't seem too apt to coming, so it might just be me out there. I'll keep you updated. 

Besides all of this, I don't believe that I have any plans for the weekend. I brought up hiking Crouching Lion to the others, but with all the rain that we've gotten it might be too dangerous to hike it. Maybe I can convince them to do a waterfall hike instead. Maybe I'll finally go to China Walls? 

Lastly, because I know that this post is getting to be pretty long, I have some good news! Just yesterday I found out that I've been awarded a new scholarship at Manoa for $5,000. The only condition (and I'm not exaggerating) is that I continue to attend UH. The email was short and concise, and told me that because I have been in good academic standing that I have been awarded $5,000. It goes on to read that "In case you're considering leaving..." and explains that the award will be dispersed in the fall and spring, if I continue to live in Hawaii. The sender actually sounded worried that I was considering leaving the school, as I could tell in the subject and throughout the email that they were trying to persuade me to stay. I can't find any of the requirements online that explain why I was awarded the scholarship, but because this is their first year with the scholarship I'm sure more information will be released as more people are given the award. Regardless, I won't ask any questions. I know this is going to help a lot next year and am glad that my handwork is paying off. If I'm honest, I have been thinking what would have happened had I gone to another school instead of Manoa, among other things, and getting this email is not something that would have happened at other universities. 



I hope you all have a relaxing rest of your weekend. I should have more time to post in the coming week, so hopefully more exciting things will happen that I can post about. 

Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey everyone!