Hey guys!

So yes, the title of this post is pretty ambiguous. However, I wanted to set a place-marker as these next few weeks are surely going to fly by. As it is there are only 5 more weeks until the semester ends! The reason I titled this '32 More Days' is because that's how many days there are until I fly home. I have some pretty mixed feelings about going home, but overall I am very excited to be in Colorado for a bit. I think it's going to be hard leaving, but I'm already excited to return. 

So, back on topic. With all things considered, I wanted to share that at this point in your college applications you may begin to feel discouraged, stressed, or panic. As common as all of these emotions are, it's important that you are smart these next few weeks as application season begins to end. Personally, and I've said this before, I was not going to apply to Manoa. In fact, this school wasn't even on my list! I applied because I panicked. Now as glad as I am to have ended up at such a great place (I mean I'm living in Hawaii...) I am constantly thinking about what could have been. I really encourage students to look over their list of colleges and be sure to understand your odds of getting in. As pointed out to me, I applied to a lot of "reach schools". While I got into some, there was undoubtedly no way I would have gotten into all of them. My entire college career would be different had I not panicked. 

Again, I am not encouraging you to panic. There are countless other schools that I looked at instead of UH (Georgetown, UConn, UGA, and George Washington, to name a few) that I came close to applying to. If you're one of the students out there that has even a little bit of doubt in their choices and still has time to apply...now would be a good time to look into more schools. Making the decision to apply to even one more school now and not later (like I did) could save you more money if you choose to go to that school. I can't say I made the mistake of not applying to Manoa earlier, but I wish I had given the school a chance. I know now that had I applied earlier my chances of getting a better financial aid package are much higher. 

Ultimately, what each student needs to remember is that things will work out. There is no way I would have ever guessed I would be in Hawaii, yet here I am absolutely loving it. However, a year ago I would have laughed and told you there was no way I was going to Hawaii, it had always been San Fransisco or bust for me. 

Granted, the academics (and school spirit) aren't top notch, what I've found make up for that are the experiences I've made. I'm very thankful to be in a place that has the beach and mountains, a place with the most beautiful hikes, and a place so diverse. I think these are the things I will miss the most when I am back home visiting. 

To end this post, I want to leave a last regard. I knew before applying to UH that, if I decided to go, I would be very far from my family. The distance was the only thing I was concerned about. However, what I didn't consider, and what I've been thinking a lot more about lately, is how life doesn't stop when you go. In the past four months there have been three deaths in my family, and they have all completely blindsided me. The first one I wasn't very much effected by, and I say that because I simply did not know him. The second was the hardest, as I could not fly home to say goodbye. That, and I was made aware that I originally wasn't supposed to know of her passing. The third, and most recent, has left me conflicted. I am thousands of miles apart (now granted Colorado is still thousands apart from the states the rest of the family is in) but it is still family nonetheless. I'm often left wondering how I should feel and how I should grieve. Is it alright to be upset? Am I allowed to feel sad? The passing of family members was not something I had ever considered, and may be something that you consider, depending on your families situation. Ultimately, try and remember that these things are going to happen whether or not you stay home. While they might be unexpected, this is not something you can control. 

However, if you choose to apply to a school faraway, rest assured that it could turn out to be one of the best decisions of your life.

Until next time, 

Aislinn 

 Ahh! Is that a picture?! I'm so happy to be posting some more for you all. My posts have been kind of dry lately (for lack of a better word) and as a result I've found myself not including pictures. While this has messed with the overall theme of my blog, I am relieved that I have some to share with you. In the midst of all this college excitement, here is a few I've taken over my weekend. Let's start with the one above. Taken this past Saturday, it was shot right after I attempted surfing. Also worth mentioning is the time I spent on the water. Never having surfed before, I paddled out expecting no more than an hour. Quite possibly a perk of being a college student, the company I rented the board from let me borrow it for over two hours for only $10! However that's besides the point. What I really want to talk about it how difficult surfing is! Before arriving I joked with my friends that, "Anyone can stand on a surfboard!" But I was so wrong. It seems that the ocean was in a playful mood, as I was tossed, turned, and dunked underwater numerous times. But throughout all of that I can't discredit the fact that being on the water, on that huge board, was nothing short of amazing. Sitting on the still water, with Diamond Head in clear view and no one around, allowed me some good time to reflect. As I've said before, I was originally not going to come to Hawaii. Believe it or not there was a time where I seriously considered rescinding my acceptance and going to California, instead. Since being here there has never been a time (except move-in day) where I have regret my decision. Being on the board, looking at one of the prettiest landmarks I've ever seen, really reminded me of how lucky I am to be in Hawaii. 

Let's move on. 

Below are a few pictures I snapped (with some help) of a hike my friends and I did on Sunday. I won't lie, I woke up completely sore and bruised from surfing. My elbows, hips, and even torso was bruised. Beginners luck, I guess? Granted, even with as sore as I was I was still up for a good hike. We settled on the Lighthouse Trail and I was not disappointed. 


 At the beginning of the trail, at more specifically the first lookout, if you decide to off road your hike you will find yourself faced with a huge boulder that provides one the opportunity to see some great views. Fun fact: you can actually see another island, Kauai, from the trail. While you can't see it in the picture above, what you can see are miles upon miles of endless blue. As small of an island as Oahu is, only when I'm on the edge of this rock do I recognize how disconnected I am from the rest of America. I can't complain, though, as I love being so close to the ocean yet also surrounded by mountains. 

 End of the trail. Again, I off loaded it with Shannon and ended up on a rock on the side of the island. With my feet dangling off the side, all I could see were the foaming blue waters and side of the island speckled with houses. The lighthouse is accessible, but only by those willing to trespass. While my friends and I decided not to (as we also hiked down to the Makapu'u Tide Pools) it was still an amazing view from all the way up top. Additionally, it's worth noting that as I was hanging out I ate a panini. A great sandwich with a great view. 



Enjoy the rest of your day, guys!

Until next time,

Aislinn 

Hey guys!

So now that you've applied to your colleges and have gone through the interview process you might find yourself thinking, "Now what?"  well, as appealing as kicking up your feet and relaxing sounds, you can't take a break just yet. Rather, it's time to polish your remaining applications and get ready for decisions. 

If you're anything like me, you went through the infamous "relaxation" phase of senior year. This was when I wanted nothing more than to just relax. Motivating myself to finish my applications and do well on my school assignments was like trying to wake my brother up for school...NOT going to happen. Ultimately, it took a lot of pushing, but I was able to scrounge up that little bit of motivation left in me to finish the semester pretty strong.

But we can't get too ahead of ourselves. 

After your interview(s), you're going to want to take a break. You're going to want to relax, stop thinking about schools, and just sleep. However that cannot, and should not, happen. I used this time to focus on my school work and submitted the rest of my applications. Any schools that I was uncertain about were looked into a little more closely, and occasionally I would check on the status of my Cornell application. I italicize Cornell because its important to remember that I only applied to one school early. The rest of my schools were applied to in late November, with the exceptions being CU Boulder and UH Manoa. 

I don't have much else to add here besides the repetitive "Don't give up!" My next College Post will be about the decision and how you should handle the news. You won't want to miss it.


Until next time,

Aislinn 

Hey guys!

I'm very excited to be publishing my first official post for the college-bound. I haven't come up with any clever name for these kinds of posts, so if you think of something please leave me a comment down below!

Like my last post said, I will not be discussing what colleges to pick or how to pick them. I think that process is different for everyone and the guidance should come from people like parents or teachers. Instead, for this post, I will be telling you guys a little bit about my college experience and what happened after I applied to my schools. 

First, I want to share that I did apply early to a school. Applying early, in my case, meant that, if I got in, I was bound to that school. There are two ways you could go about this: early decision and early action. While these two appear similar, they're actually drastically different. For starters, applying early decision means you will get you will be bound to that school and blacklisted if revealed you applied to more than one school. On the other hand, applying early action means you're allowed to apply to other schools if you get in, but are still given your decision early. To make it even more complicated, some schools even have multiple rounds of early decisions! Because my school was early decision I was left with no choice to apply to only that school. 

For the sake of the rest of this series here is the list of schools I applied to:

1. Cornell University
2. University of California, Berkeley
3. University of California, Davis
4. Stanford University
5. Rice University
6. Middleburg College
7. University of Colorado, Boulder
8. University of Hawaii at Manoa

Out of these schools, the one I applied to earliest was Cornell. Their Chinese program is great and they seemed to match up greatly with my statistics. 

While your situation may be different, here is what happened to me after I submitted my application. 

I submitted my application, supplements and all, to Cornell no later than mid-October. From there, I knew I would be waiting about a month and a half before hearing of my decision. I wasn't nervous at all. I knew Cornell was a reach school*, but I was confident that I had what it takes to get in. The deadline, October 31st, came and went, leaving me to move onto my next few applications. 

To students out there who have decided to apply to a school early, do not stop here! While your chances are, historically, higher of getting accepted if you apply early, there is still that chance that you won't get in. Obviously you can still apply to other schools in this time, but the biggest no-no would be applying to more than one school early. You are not, under any circumstances, allowed to apply to more than one school for early decision. If you do and your college finds out you will be blacklisted and your admission will most likely be revoked. Instead, while you wait, use this time to work on your other applications. Maybe refine your essay or go to another teacher for a recommendation. 

It was about a week after the Cornell deadline that I received an email from the school. It stated, 


Not exactly word for word but you get the gist!

I was floored. For those of you that don't know, or that aren't familiar with Cornell's application process, let me start by saying they do not interview just anybody. In fact, only the College of Engineering holds interviews for their applicants! I did my research for days and found nothing of anyone from the College of Letters and Sciences being offered an interview, so I was over the moon believing this was a good thing. I was able to schedule the interview for that coming Saturday and spent the days leading up to it rehearsing with my dad what I should say when asked certain questions. 

Now, while this scenario is highly unlikely, I wanted to share it with you all. If this happened to me than I by no doubt believe it happened to others, so I want to prepare you as much as possible. Interviews, especially for early decision schools where so much is on the line, is crucial in the application process. Schools will try their hardest to make you believe otherwise, but trust me when I say they matter! I was nervous my entire interview, and while I don't think that was the takeaway, I certainly think it was noticeable. I'm not telling you to go in after taking some chill pills, but go in with a set of answers you have prepared and a set of questions you're ready to ask. For me, the interview was, for the most part, formal. I was given a brief overview of the university, asked a little bit about my major choice, and then had to answer some questions. A few you can expect to hear are, "What will you bring to this College that no other student has/will?", "Why this school?", and, "What do you know about this University?". These are all questions you have a high chance of being asked, so I would come up with a general answer for all of them and then build upon it throughout the interview. 

While an interview isn't something most early colleges conduct, it's imperative that you are prepared for it. After my interview, which lasted about an hour, I was further instructed to "wait" for my result. Obviously you're not being graded on the interview, something the interviewer will stress, but you are told to wait it out and hope for the best. 


In the case of Cornell, I had no other contact with my interviewer. As a common curtsey, you should email them a thank you and highlight something of importance or interest. Do this no later than a day after your interview. 


After this is the waiting game, so continue to work on your essays and, if you need to, continue researching schools! I found researching the schools to be the best part, as you lose absolutely nothing by going to their website and clicking around. Start with their website, then check other social media, like instagram (a personal favorite!), to get an idea of the social side of school. I did this for Cornell a lot and even spent a good amount of my time looking at what merch I would buy if I was accepted! Needless to say I did this with all of my schools.



Students, I know the waiting period is tough but do not lose sight of the end goal! Keep looking at schools, read up on yours, and don't stress out too much. The hardest part, picking and applying, is over! If you applied early, like me, remember that you are not done yet! Keep working towards polishing those applications and I promise it will pay off. 


Until next time,

Aislinn

Hey guys!

Agh, I can't believe how much I've been slacking on this blog! I'm not going to make excuses, but I will share that school has been very busy lately and, as such, I am left spending all of my free time either napping or socializing. It's funny, all of my friends talk about how "jealous" they are at how I "fall asleep nearly anywhere", but in reality I'm very busy and usually can only nap on dabus (which is gross and I'm not sure why it puts me to sleep) or at the beach (where I usually don't know I'm sleeping until I wake up).  

Moving on. 

It has gotten to the point in the year where, for you seniors, you will be submitting your applications and moving forward in your college admissions process! I've been wanting to talk about this for a while now, so for the next few weeks all of my updates will be about navigating the admissions process, interviews, and what to do once you've received notice of your decision. As always I would like to preface all of this by saying I am not an expert on any of the things I talk about nor will I claim to be. I have experience with 9 colleges and universities and will use my experiences to simply guide you. 

To start, I will skip the college selection part of this whole ordeal. By now, if you haven't already, you should have a narrow list of schools you're applying to. My biggest piece of advice is to apply to at least three. Out of these three, one should be a "reach school" (i.e.: that school that is a little over your qualifications), an "ideal school" (i.e.: one that matches up with your statistics), and a "safe school" (i.e.: one that is a shoe-in for you to get into). It's always good to apply to a few schools just in case you don't get into one. And, chances are, you won't get into them all (conditions apply, of course). For the sake of my readers I will save the schools I applied to, as well as their relation to me, in my next post. 


I know this was a shorter post but I did want to give y'all something to read as well as look forward to! I hope you're excited for the next couple of weeks - I know I am!

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

Hey guys, 

This week is going to be quite the busy one. Thankfully, it's not as packed as my first week of tests, but this is another very busy one. This week I have a total of 3 tests, and they're all pretty big parts of my grade. 

To put things into a better perspective I'm going to go ahead and give you a layout of what my week will look like: 

Monday: 

Chinese 201- Oral Midterm
Religion 100 - Major religions of China and Japan test

In addition to these tests, I also have an ACE cluster study night that I will be attending. According to one of the leaders we will meet and study for our psych test together and they will order us pizza. I'm hoping that I will be able to get a lot done since this is my third, and one of my last, tests in that class. Thankfully I have a B in the class, but I don't want to chance anything by not preparing. 

Tuesday:

Chinese 201- Written Midterm
Psychology 100- Quiz 3

After classes I have a Nordstrom interview and a Korean club meeting. As far as the interview goes, I'm actually hoping that I don't get the job. I know that I should get one, but at this point in the semester I just feel like it's going to do more harm than good. I am fine working over breaks, but during the semester I would rather have free time to hang out with my friends and travel the island. Unfortunately I know that doing these things are near impossible if you don't have money, so for now I'm going to keep applying for jobs and hoping that something works out. 

The rest of my week, as of now, is pretty open. On Thursday, supposedly, one of the frats are throwing a party at one of the clubs downtown and some of the girls want to go. I'm not too sure if I want to, given that I have class on Friday. I know that the Korean club is going hiking on Saturday, too, so maybe I'll go on that trip with them. I'm glad that my week is pretty open, but it's too bad that I've got to go through a number of hurdles just to get to a relaxing week.

I've got another post on the way soon that's about my weekend at North Shore, so be sure to look out for that. I'll post it when I have time, so no promises that it's going to be soon, but I'll try to get it posted as fast as I can.

ALSO- as promised, here is a picture of the infamous Jesus-sandals that everyone here on the island seems to be wearing.

For the record they're pretty comfortable. They might tear up your toes but just make sure you wear socks and you'll be fine. They're also very cheap; at Walmart you can buy them for $5.99 and the support is great, meaning the chances of them lasting are long.

Until next time,

Aislinn