Hey guys,

I don't know how to start this post, and I'm not sure how many times I'll have to re-write it before I'm settling on which draft I prefer.

In short, things have been weird.

Things started to get weird with the girls two weeks ago. Once I told them that I was dating Daniel, they began to act really weird around me. First it was saying things like, "hows that kid doing" (this one confuses me the most because he is older than them), then progressed into not including me in as many things, then turned into just being mute around me.

I understand that when I'm gone that the other two are going to spend more time with one another, but yet I didn't expect to go from being close to them to feeling like I'm being excluded in my own home. So of course, when I'm feeling this way, why would I spend more time at home? That's just it; I wouldn't.

So I spent more time out of the house. I got out as much as I could and came back as late as I could. While this certainly doesn't help anything, it does make me realize how busy I've been. I've been going out nearly every night, and while I feel exhausted at the end of the day, I realize that this is only temporary. I can always sleep in on the weekends, and usually thats what I end up doing. I just wish I had a better idea of why things got so awkward and how things became so awkward.

With my birthday coming up, I can only hope that things get better. It's annoying constantly feeling like an outside in your own home. 

-

On another note, Daniel and I spent this weekend with each other. Similarly to last, we began by waking up very early, getting breakfast at a nice restaurant, and heading out for North Shore. However, unlike last week, the two of us began our trip at the Koulua Ranch, where we made a quick stop for breakfast. The Ranch is about halfway between Kaneohe and Haleiwa, and is a nice stop to take if you have the chance. Once having filled up on eggs and english muffins, we were back in the car, not even 30 minutes later, and driving only a few short miles to the Crouching Lion hike. 

This hike, which I have been wanting to do for months is one that is a little difficult to find, but can be found on the side of the highway. Again, it's not easy to find, in fact we didn't find it, and you have to be sure to hike with another person. Trust me when I say attempting this hike alone is dangerous. Daniel and I made the mistake of making a wrong turn, and soon it led us up the Pu’u Manama hike. Little did we know, this hike claims title as one of the "most dangerous hikes on Oahu, one which takes many lives every year". Naturally, you can assume that coming down was the scariest part, and under no circumstances will I hike there again unless it's with someone who has already tried hiking that ridge before. 

The view behind Daniel

The view behind me

The view of Crouching Lion from where we were

The Bay

Blue as far as you can see

After taking twice as long to get down as we did to get up, the two of us took a break in the car and then were off to our next destination: Giovanni's.

It's hard to picture it, but 30 miles fly by when on the scenic highway. I will never get tired of looking outside and seeing the ocean just feet away from me, no other islands as far as you can see. I have come to appreciate, even more, that I should not expect more time than I am given. What do I mean by this? When Daniel and I go places, even if it's to the library, time flies. And so, when I say that it's a 30 mile drive to the food trucks, you better believe it when I say that it feels like no time has passed, when in reality you've lost an hour driving (however, with the views the Kamehameha Highway provides, did you really lose time?). 

Giovanni's was amazing. It was a nice break from the adrenaline that the hike provided us, and what made it even sweeter was enjoying it with a coconut smoothie and a black coffee. 

After devouring the lemon butter shrimp, Daniel and I took a quick break and drove back to Haleiwa Bowls. Once again, we went with the hapa bowl, and this time we got extra blueberries on top. Delicious!

One of our last stops was Turtle Bay Resort, where we spent a couple hours swimming and laying out before packing our bags and getting ready for the main event: Our luau. 

With two hours left before our dinner, Daniel and I agreed to get ready at the resort before heading off. 


Now comes the exciting part of this post!




The Polynesian Cultural Center is huge! The cultures, people, and places represented are done so in such a way that it is guaranteed to leave you speechless. I've included a picture of the map below, but just keep in mind that, in addition to this, there is so much more to see!




Also worth pointing out is that, in each location, the people here were speaking that language! That means when you are walking around Hawaii you're going to hear Hawaiian, and when you're walking throughout Samoa you're going to hear Samoan! This was an immediate discovery for me and I can only applaud the Polynesian Cultural Center on how they are doing such a good job of making this as "immersive" as possible. Before getting dinner Daniel and I made it a point to get our picture taken next to the river. 



From here on out I'm unfortunately not able to include pictures. The dinner was good, an overall well-rounded dinner consisting of: prime rib, fried chicken, spaghetti and meatballs, fruits, deserts, salads, etc. 
Once done with dinner, we enjoyed some more of the things to be seen around the center, such as Tahiti, and made our way back to the platform to take our seats. 
The show itself was about an hour and a half. I shouldn't even refer to it as a "show", but more like a "production". Every culture had representation, from their traditional clothing to speaking in their respective languages. It was funny, entertaining, awe-inspiring, and more. I wish I had a picture, as I'm sure the luau you're picturing is nothing close to the show we got to witness. 

Honestly, if you're considering going to this luau, or are hesitant because of the price, just go. Seriously, this is the best luau I have been to and is definitely one that you get the most out of for your money. Daniel and I both agreed this was one we would revisit, if given the chance. 
And that was my week! It's hard to put into words how much I've been up to, but I can only hope that these posts give you a sort of glimpse into my busy busy life. I often catch myself wishing I had more time, or just begging for a night without homework, but I have to remind myself that this is all temporary. And that's what is scary! None of this will last, and if I'm busy because I'm taking advantage of Oahu, than why am I complaining? As it is, I'm close to being halfway done with college. Isn't that crazy? But yet, here I am wishing for time off?! I am trying to be better about not taking things for granted, or not asking for more time, as this is all temporary and I need to enjoy these busy days. 

I hope you are all having a great day. Study hard, everyone.

Until next time,

Aislinn 

Hey everyone!

As promised, I wanted to make a post dedicated to everything that took place over the last weekend. I wanted to get this done as soon as possible, so while posting this on Sunday would have been ideal it simply was not an option. Thankfully I found some time and am able to share with you everything I did!

Firstly, Friday was the Korean club's fundraising night at a place called "Honey". Surprisingly, the other girls were interested in going, which mean that the 4 of us were able to go together! We ended up getting ready and leaving shortly after 10 to arrive close to 11 pm. Honey, the club, ended up being very fun and the girls now want to go back. They're talking about going again this upcoming Friday but I'm not sure if it's going to happen.

Saturday the girls and I got together for a bit in the morning before some of them would leave to go to the "Rock the Troops". While we were all hanging out people from my floor actually came by and invited us to go with them to a place called "Pounders Beach". If you're at all familiar with Oahu, or maybe you just like looking at cool instagram pictures, than you might recognize this beach as being the home of the ocean trampoline. If you don't know what I'm talking about go look it up-- it's seriously so cool. One of my friends agreed to go, and the other two had to stay behind as they had already committed to going to the Rock the Troops. Needless to say they weren't too happy with us leaving. However, my friend and I went and soon ended up at the beach- all the way in the northern part of the island! What makes this even better is that one of them had a car and was able to drive, meaning we weren't stuck on the bus for multiple hours that morning.

After arriving we quickly swam out before realizing one huge problem: the trampoline was broken! Go figure, the trampoline that looked so cool in pictures, just so happened to be broken, and recently at that. We asked some people that were sitting on it what had happened and they were quick to say it was "some local guy". Whether or not they were telling the truth is still a mystery, but the fact is as soon as we all jumped off they immediately started jumping again, leaving me to believe it might not have been a local guy that broke it. But again, we'll never know.

Once we got back on shore we all thought it would be best if we went along and drove to a different beach. After all, it was only a little past noon and we had the whole day to do whatever. After driving around for probably a good 20 minutes we agreed upon Waimea, someplace that we were all at least familiar with. As luck would have it, the weather was great and the water was a very pretty blue, something that was not the case the last time I had been here. Getting a parking space was difficult, but after that the rest of the time was very smooth. We grabbed our bags and picked a nice spot right between the water and the grass and immediately went swimming. Not long after, it became obvious that a good half of the people at the beach were also the ones jumping off the huge rock. If you don't remember, the last time I was here we weren't allowed to jump off the rock due to "poor weather conditions". While I thought it wouldn't be too much of a jump, I didn't realize how wrong I was until I climbed to the very top. At about 20 feet, the rock is very jagged and wet. It's not as hard a rock to jump off like the one at Nanakuli, but the height difference is very evident. The guys we were with were quick to jump off, of course after making sure Bella and I knew what we were doing. This left the two of us alone on top of this huge rock, and we both knew there was no way we could walk down this thing. Taking a deep breath, I decided to go for it, and I soon found myself hitting the water.

What's interesting about this jump is how I completely underestimated the height. I thought it would be a quick splash, but about halfway down I realized one thing: I didn't have enough air to last me the whole drop. Now I know how utterly ridiculous I sound, but hear me out! When I first jumped I didn't expect to be in the air for as long as I was. Even at 20 feet it felt much longer than the jump at Nanakuli, and for a split second I had that sinking feeling in my gut where I felt utterly helpless. Of course this was not in a bad way but in more of a, "What am I doing?!" kind of way. However as soon as I landed I knew I wanted to go again. I probably went up at least five more times which, for me, was a lot. Even better, I was able to get a video of myself jumping off! So here's a little video of me jumping off for the last time, curtsey of the guys who took us:


Hopefully it looks as cool as I've made it out to be.

After that the four of us relaxed for a little bit before one of the guys asked us what we wanted to do next: "Hang out here for a little longer or go hiking and watch the sun set?" Now if you know me you know I absolutely love hiking. Immediately I said yes to hiking, and thankfully Bella was equally as interested, which meant we were for sure going hiking.

A short drive away led us to the parking lot of an elementary school. The guys told us they had yet to hike this trail, so we were all in the agreement that this would be nothing if not interesting. Of course, as soon as we started up the side of the mountain we realized just how utterly wet the trail was, making it hard to hike in the Jesus slippers. In fact at one point someone was using a walking stick to help give them leverage against the smooth mud! The hike took a good half hour, at least, and when we finally made it to the overpass, with the help of some Australians, it was clear the struggle was worth it. The little slab of wood we were at overlooked the edge of the Northern part of the island, and for as far as you could see there was nothing but blue water. It was times like this that I'm reminded I live on an island. Can't say I don't mind, though. Here's just a little bit, albeit not the best quality, of what I saw:




It is absolutely breathtaking in person, so I apologize that my pictures aren't good at conveying that. 

After that we drove back to campus and parted ways. I won't lie, this was one of the few times I've been in my building (as I'm usually in another freshmen tower) and ever since then I've been urging the others to hang out in my building more often. For a while now I've had this feeling of "I need to be home" in which home is my tower. I feel like I don't know that many people on my floor, but in the past week of being in my building I've talked to so many more people. I love it, but I'm finding it very hard to be in my building and get to know others when my friends would prefer to stay in the other tower. If this past weekend was any indication of what could happen if I stay on my floor then by all means will I be staying in this building more often. My last point I'll make is that throughout the day one of the guys kept saying this, "Just go with the flow and say yes. If it's meant to be it will happen." and I couldn't agree more. The fun I had on Saturday equates nothing to what "fun" I would have had in my room studying for midterms. While I hate not planning things, just going with the flow and saying 'Yes' led me to some pretty amazing places. I can only hope this happens again. 

I'm realizing now how long of a post this is becoming, so I will keep the rest short. On Sunday one of our friends' dad was in town and offered to take us wherever we wanted to go. Piling into the car we agreed upon going to the pumpkin patch and taking our "squad pic". What was supposed to be a 20 minute drive turned into an hour thanks to a delay on the Pali Highway, and by the time we arrived the whole patch was absolutely bare! We managed to take some pictures, but like I've said before I refuse to post any without their explicit consent. Also it's an invasion of privacy on my part and I simply won't do that to them. After seeing the dirt the girls and I also walked through part of a sunflower maze. I can't tell you the last time I saw sunflowers. Here's one looking standing tall and looking pretty: 





After that we ate at Fatboys (I had a tuna melt!) and returned to campus. This weekend, while busy, was a really fun one. I did study, for those of you curious, and can now kick back and relax. I hope you are able to do the same. 


Until next time,

Aislinn

Hi guys!

This weekend I had the opportunity to visit the North Shore, Matsumoto's Shave Ice, and try shrimp from a truck! I took lots of pictures and will share them as I go.

Firstly, this was something I was able to do thanks to a club. A few posts ago I posted about a club called Hanwoori Hawaii which holds meetings and events with hopes to connect students interested in Korean to Korean exchange students. Yesterday was their second event, their first I had not gone to. With about 30-35 people in attendance, we were split into groups and left shortly after 10. Originally, the plan was for everyone to take a bus, but we ended up having to ride in cars due to all the buses being booked for this weekend. Personally I think this was more fun because you were able to get to know the people in your car, if they talked. The first car I was in was fun because the guy driving was playing various KPOP songs and one of my friends was beside me, so I had someone to talk to. It took a surprising 30 minutes to get to the trucks, which was a lot faster than everyone thought it would take. In fact, we made such good time that the trucks hadn't even opened yet! However that didn't stop the tourists, because the line for Giovanni's shrimp was already (at 10:30) very long. I think only a few people actually went and waited for shrimp from that truck, whereas the rest of us ate at a place called Hono's. I got the pineapple shrimp and shared with my friend who got the Kalbi. Here's what you can expect your plate to look like if you order the pineapple shrimp:

Doesn't that look so good? It tastes even better, but I guess I should warn you all to peel the shrimp before eating. I didn't know you had to, so I actually ate almost every piece before someone told me I wasn't supposed to do that..so yeah peel the shrimp. 


After the trucks we got back into our cars and began driving to Haleiwa, the town where Waimea Beach can be found. Here is where we would hopefully be able to jump off of the big rock and into the ocean. Well, as you could have guessed, things didn't end up that way. 

We arrived at Waimea and immediately set up camp. In front of us what a slight drop that led into the ocean, which coincidentally happened to be some of the roughest waves that day. The ocean at North Shore is nothing like Waikiki, Cromwell's, or even Kailua. This water is a deep dark color and can get very deep very fast. Never in my life have I stepped into the ocean and then swim into 20 foot deep water! I'm not sure why, but on Saturday the waves were also very big and pretty rough. Like I said, you begin walking into the water and are immediately pulled into 20 foot (at least) deep water. Our group was actually approached at one point and told that if we "didn't have on flippers" than we weren't allowed to swim. Now naturally when you're telling this to a group of 30 something college students do you really think that's going to stop us? It didn't, and they didn't say anything to us again, so that should give you an idea of how much they enforced staying out of the water. 

Even with the rough waves and deep, dark water it was still very cool being at another beach. I'm telling you- no two beaches are the same! Here's some pictures of North Shore. 



I know the waves look still, but they definitely weren't! They were so rough that we weren't even allowed to jump off of the rock, something that disappointed a lot of people. Personally I think that with or without the rock everyone still had a lot of fun. 


After the beach we got back into our cars and drove to Haleiwa where we would find some shave ice. 

Real quick, have you noticed anything about what I've been saying? In Hawaii, no one says "shaved ice" but rather "shave ice". Don't ask me why they say this, but just know that everything, even signs, say "shave". At Matsumoto's this is also the case. It's also a huge tourist destination, with the line being out the door and wrapped around the courtyard outside the store. To give you a better picture, here's the line when I hadn't even entered the store.


Not sure if you can see, but the line goes all the way behind the guy in the aloha shirt. The stores across from the shop are little gift shops and tourist traps. 


Once inside, Matsumoto's is a cute little shop with over 30 flavors to choose from. Attached to the shop is, naturally, a Matsumoto's gift shop where you can buy some cute (and relatively cheap!) shirts for those back home. When you get to the front (which is surprisingly fast) they will ask you what flavors and/or toppings you want. For 50 cents you could add condensed milk and for $1 you could add 5 balls of mochi. I ordered the Hawaiian, a blend of coconut, pineapple, and banana. Additionally, I got the milk and mochi. After ordering you're then ushered to the side where you can watch them make the ice! Here's what my ice looked like: 


The condensed milk made it all the more sweeter, but next time I think I would hold off on the mochi. Besides that the shave ice was so sweet and so good. If you have the ability to, I would definitely suggest going. I got all of this for $4.25, and the large isn't much more than that so it's very cheap considering the name of the place. 

After we ate we began the long drive back to campus. To put things into perspective, UH Manoa is located on the southern edge of the island, while Matsumoto's is located on the northern part. Driving can take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, but taking the bus (which I don't recommend) takes over two hours. I won't attach a map, but lets just say it's far. 

And that was my day! We got back at 5:30 and went our separate ways afterwords. Hawaii is such a unique place that in those 7 hours I learned so much. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how quickly people become like family. During the trip, while they were primarily upperclassman, there was no "I'm better than you because I'm older than you" mindset or attitude.  People here are so friendly and inclusive. Even more than that is how open people are with their food. At 10 I didn't know any of the members, and at 4 I was sharing food with them. In Hawaii, and I'm sure college all over the country, people share everything. If you ask someone "What's that?" when they're eating, I guarantee you they're going to offer you a bite/sip. At Matsumoto's this was exactly the case. People would ask you what flavor your ice was and then say "Want to trade?". Fun fact- they're not asking if you want their food (like I thought) but if you want to try their food.  And no one gives it a second thought! If you're coming to Hawaii and have a problem with sharing food, get vaccinated because I can tell you right now you're going to end up sharing food with somebody in college.



I hope you guys enjoyed this post. One of the best things about this club is that you don't necessarily have to be in Korean to be in the club. I'm really going to fight to be in Korean 101 next semester, but right now I'm not in Korean and I'm still allowed to be in the club. If you're planning on taking a Korean class then I urge you to join Hanwoori. If you're not planning on taking Korean than I might recommend not joining simply because this club is for those interested in language and culture. Right now I will say there's been times where I feel awkward not being in Korean but being in the club, but I'm hoping that will change soon. 


Until next time,
Aislinn