Week 2: 1/8-1/14

Week 2 has been a really busy week. I have gone on so many adventures and done so many really neat things that I can only do in Hawaii!

Sunday: Rainbow Falls Hike

My friends and I decided that as a fun last day before classes’ start that we wanted to go see Rainbow Falls. A local told us that it is really pretty and if you go all the way to the back behind the falls there are cliffs you can jump off of, a water fall that you can go sliding down and boiling pots (Natural Boiling springs) you can swim in. Since none of us have a car and like to save money by not renting a car for only a 15 minute drive from campus, and we all like walking so we decided to take the hour long walk to rainbow falls. However, it ended up being longer due to the fact that we were having so much fun exploring and getting to know each other that we missed our turns a couple of times, and it ended up taking 2 hours to get there. But along the way we went and climbed through a jungle and walked all the way through downtown Hilo. When we got to Rainbow Falls we took tons of pictures at the front and then walked up the hill to the back of the falls! It was just as pretty as the falls, there was tons of water and deep areas to go swimming. The water was freezing but felt amazing after walking 2 hours. After a little while we saw some locals jumping off of rocks and we followed them up the cliffs to the back of the swimming area. We were at the top of a 25 foot cliff looking into a royal blue lagoon and what’s more fun than to jump from the 25 foot cliff into the water? That’s right nothing! I was honestly scared jumping into the water the first time. I had never been cliff jumping before and it was way out of my comfort zone, but that was one of my goals for Hawaii, to escape my comfort zone and do things I can’t do back in South Carolina! So I did it and the rush I felt from jumping so high in the air into the water was incredible. The feeling of air rushing past you and then hitting cold water was SO MUCH FUN! The hardest part about the whole thing I thought was having to rock climb to get out of the lagoon, which was easier said than done. I fell a few times but I managed to do it and it only took a few minutes for me to figure it out. I can now say I have rock climbed without wearing a harness! J After jumping off the cliffs we decided to dry off and head back down the island towards the Bay where we took pictures and then made our way back to campus to get dinner and some much needed sleep! All in all we ended up walking 14 miles! I told you we liked to walk!

Monday: First Day of Class

This was the best first day of classes I have ever had! I wasn’t super anxious, but instead super excited. The day started off my waking up at 5 am to go sign up for the Outdoor Edventures at 6:30 am. They do not have tons of spots so it is important to wake up and get there early! My first class of the day was my Hawaiian ‘Ohana class. I think that is the class I am the most excited for because I am getting to learn all about the Hawaiian culture, learn how to speak Hawaiian and I get to learn how to make Hawaiian food and different types of Leis. The other class I had was Aquaculture: water quality and products class. This one is neat because once a week I get to go to different aquaculture ponds on the big island and do different chemical tests; I get to put my chemistry background to good use! YAY! After that I was done with my classes for the day at 10:50 AM, so I grabbed lunch from the dining hall, went back and put my swim suit on and went swimming for the rest of the afternoon! While I was there I also took my swim test for Open water scuba diving that way I can sign up for the class in a couple weeks. Later that night, my friends and I went to dinner, read my food blog for all the details on all things exciting about the food I am eating here, just to warn you I will talk about the fresh fruit a lot cause it tastes so good. I then went to the BCM ice cream social and watched the National Championship Game, it was a sad hour for me but was I quickly cheered up when we got to make ice cream sundaes with all sorts of fresh fruit to put on top. It was a lot of fun and I met a ton of sweet locals and a great group of people from Texas!

Tuesday: Luau

Today was the second day of school and the first day for my other three classes. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Global Change, Volcanoes and Earthquakes and Coral Reef Ecology. The professors for all three of these classes are great teachers and super friendly. Out of these three, I am the most excited for the Volcanoes and Earthquakes class because I get to go on a field trip to the Volcano and the lava tubes! I am so excited, I can’t wait for February 12th to be here just for that reason! After class I went and swam in the pool and then helped BCM set up for the welcome back Luau. It was a lot of fun helping set up! I helped cook the vegetables, made poi, set the tables and cleaned rice. When that was done, I went back home and relaxed for a little while and then came back to the Luau. The food was so good! I had Kona Pig, Coconut Pudding, Spam Mitsubishi-which is sushi with spam, fruits, vegetables, macaroni salad, rice, purple sweet potato salad and so much more. Also at the Luau they had authentic Hawaiian drummers and a hula girl come and preform. It was a really neat experience and I hope I get to go to another luau before I leave!

Wednesday: Police Station

Wednesday was a very interesting day. In my Hawaiian ‘Ohana class we started to learn a Hawaiian chant that we are supposed to say every day before class, it’s a little hard but with a little practice I know I will have it memorized by the end of the semester. After that I went to Aquaculture, lunch and then had to walk to the police station, but don’t worry it wasn’t for anything bad I just had to get fingerprinted for a scholarship. But let me tell you, it took a long time to get those done and to walk to the police station. I must say by the end of this semester I bet I will have walked over 500 miles or close to it. It was an adventure and a half trying to figure out my way around Hilo without using my phone, but I got eventually got there! After that I went and sat in a class I have been trying to get into and went to dinner with my friends and then slept.

Thursday/Friday: Relaxation

Both Thursday and Friday were pretty much the same day. I woke up went to class, went swimming, ate dinner with my friends and went to bed. Friday night we hung out for a little while talking, but decided to go to bed early since we were leaving for A-bay early in the morning.

Saturday: A-Bay and Ho’olaule'a

Today start off as a great day! I woke up at 7 am; that way I could pack and get ready for my day at the Beach! This was the first time that I would get to travel across the island to Kona side. It took about 2 hours to get to the other side. The difference between the two sides of the island is astonishing. The Hilo side is like a tropical Rainforest with tons of trees and water, but the Kona side is like a desert except by the water where there are palm trees, sand and a breeze. We spent the day swimming and relaxing on the beach. A couple of my friends and I even went on a hike along the shore! The amount of Calcium carbonate, dead coral, on the shore was incredible! It was all over the place! When it was time to go, all of us packed up and got on the buses to leave. This did not going according to plan though. My bus wouldn’t turn on which meant I got to spend an extra 3 hours at A-Bay and got to explore some! My friend Hannah and I decided to go look at the shopping center nearby and found some amazing locally made Ice cream. I had the mango cream which had real pieces of mango in it. After that we walked around for a little while and then decided to go back to the beach and watch the sun set. Right before the sun set our new bus showed up, and we headed back to campus. Hannah and I met some of our friends at Ho’olaule’a which is a family friendly festival that has authentic hula dancing and music, foods, vendors and Hawaiian Reggae. We ended up dancing to the music for a long time and then separated and went to bed for the night to get ready for our other adventures in the morning!

#RainbowFalls #Luau #ABay #Hoolaulea