Week 10: 3/5-3/11

Sunday: Tour of Hilo

To start the day off I showed Ashley some of downtown Hilo. My friend Emma drove us through Downtown Hilo on our way to Paddling. I wanted to show Ashley one of my favorite things that I do in Hawaii. I was in Makana Aloha and she was in the double hull. We paddled out past the breaker wall and were having a ton of fun!!Then all of a sudden, the weather changed! It became a dark and stormy day. The wind was howling and the waves got bigger and bigger and we were being pushed by the waves towards the breaker wall. Then all of a sudden, we look down and see a shark in the water. As we all looked over into the water and a wave pushed the canoe and hullied (flipped) us into the water with SHARKS!! Nahhh just kidding J!! That didn’t actually happen, well the part of us flipping the canoe did, but that was because we were all stupid. I was trying to get a picture of Ashley so she could have one of her canoeing and then Andrea our steersmen asked if we wanted to take a pictures and we said yea and well….we all leaned the wrong way and fell into the ocean. Personally, I was SOOOOO EXCITED and was having a BLAST. I had wanted to flip the canoe from day one. But it is hard to flip the canoe back over. We spent about 45 minutes and had to try 2 different times to get all the water out of the canoe. One person was in the canoe scooping water out while three of us held on to the amma and two people held on to the sides of the canoes. We eventually got the water out and we were all able to get back in. And don’t you guys worry… my PHONE is AOKAY! Andreas was holding it and shot straight up with it in his hand. According to some friends, that was the first thing they saw come up. When we all were ready to go, we had drifted a lot and paddled back into the Bay to get the canoes out of the water. It was a lot of fun! Emma then drove us all to Seven-11 to get lunch. Ashley grabbed some sushi and I got a sandwich and a slurpee! Then Emma drove us back to my dorm. We ate lunch in my room, changed and got ready to go on our next adventure to Rainbow falls.

We left for Rainbow falls and went a different way then I went with my friends earlier in the semester. We went up through campus, down a street and cut off 5 miles from our trip. We still walked around 7.5 miles but it was so worth it. We walked up to the falls to take pictures, and then we walked to the back of the falls to go swimming. We decided not to swim because the water was freezing! But we did sit on some rocks and got our feet wet. We sat there for about an hour or so, then put our shoes back on and made the walk back. When we got back to my room, we got ready for church. Emma took us to her church which ended up being game night and pizza night. We spent a couple hours playing games and eating food. When the night was over Emma dropped us back off and we watched some of Jane the Virgin, which is a really great show I highly recommend watching it! Then we stayed up, talked for a while and fell asleep!

Monday: Homework Day

We started the day off bright and early. We went with Alexa, Zion, and Frankie to Richardson’s Beach to see the sunrise. The original goal was to go and learn how to surf but the waves were not really good and their usual spot was closed for the morning. So, we went to Richardson’s and watched the sea turtles; we saw 5 of them! They were so cute. We also had a little photoshoot for Frankie and Alexa. Frankie was leaving on Wednesday and they wanted some photos of the two of the so I helped them out. After that I had to go to class. The sad part about it not being my spring break is that I still had to go to class when Ashley visited. I spent my morning in my classes while Ashley slept in and did some of her work. That afternoon we didn’t really do much either. I have a midterm exam tomorrow so Ashley and I moved around campus studying and doing homework. We did some at campus center, and then ate some Thai food from the Thai food truck on campus. IT was soo good; we had Padi Thai and Spicy chicken and rice with Thai Ice Tea, which is bright orange but so good. Then we moved to the library for a little while. Then we decided to take a little break and walked to Seven-11 to get some snacks and a slurpe. About that time, I noticed my keys were missing. And as most of you all know I don’t lose things so needless to say, I started to freak out. We spent about an hour looking around campus; Ashley looked around seven-11 and I walked around campus. I was about to give up I saw them at the edge of a bush. A BUSH! I have no idea how that happened, but I was glad I found them. After that, we went to my dorm to go eat dinner and study some more. Frankie made some tuna and offered us some. I had never had raw tuna before it was actually pretty good! The rest of the night I studied for my exam for the morning.

Tuesday: Midterm/ Bike to Richardson’s

I had my exam today and I think it went pretty well. I knew most of the material and I felt pretty good about it. My other two classes went well, and we didn’t do a lot. We talked about a paper in my coral reef ecology class and we talked about marine debris in the ocean. When I was done with classes, I ate lunch with Ashley and then we borrowed Alexa and Raymie’s bikes. The two of us biked to Richardson’s beach, which was the same beach we went to see the sunrise. We packed everything we would need and all of our snorkel gear. We biked the 6 miles to Richardson and then spent about 1.5 hours snorkeling and it was the best snorkeling I have experience on the island. There was so much stuff! We saw all kinds of fish, corals, sea urchins and SEA TURTLES! We actually got to swim with the sea turtles! It was amazing! They were so pretty! Three different ones were swimming around me! It was so much fun. When we were done snorkeling, we got back on our bikes and rode back to campus. The way back was harder just cause my butt hurt from sitting on the seat for so long. Before we got back to campus, we stopped by Seven-11 to get another slurpee because we were so hot and sweaty! Then we finished the bike ride back to my dorm and cleaned up. We decided not to go anywhere for dinner because we were tired from our fun day in the sun so we ordered a coconut prawn pizza from Big Island Pizza! It was so yummy! Then we finished catching up on Jane the Virgin and talked. It was a really really fun day!

Wednesday: Market!

After yesterday both of us were a little sore so we decided to take today a little easier. We woke up early again to go watch the sunrise and to surf. Alexa, Ashley and I didn’t surf but watched Zion and Frankie surf. I got some pictures for the two of them, mostly the wipe out ones because they are the best ones. It was fun to just relax and spend time with my friends. When we were done surfing, Zion dropped me off at my classes and dropped the other three of at our dorms. When my classes were over, I met Ashley at campus center and we walked down to BCM to get free lunch and to introduce her to more of my friends. When we were done eating, Alexa, Ashley and I walked down to the market so that Ashley and I could get souvenirs for some of our family and friends. I got a couple pieces of jewelry and some other things. When we were done shopping, we grabbed some homemade ice cream and talked. While we were eating ice cream it started to drizzle so we decided to walk back before it started to pour. Along the way, the rain got harder so we called Anita who graciously picked us up from the Starbucks and took us to Walmart so we could get the ingredients for banana pudding for cultural night. When we got back from the store we made our banana pudding and walked over to BCM for cultural night. It was so much fun and we had so much good food. We had poke, banana pudding, curry, fried plantains, spring rolls, fried chicken, sushi, a Mexican dish, and Hawaiian pizza which was not the pineapple ham that everyone things of Hawaiian pizza as it was PEPPERONI pizza! We all started laughing it was so funny! It was a great time to just hang out with friends and get to know new people.

Thursday: Kona Side

This was probably my favorite day of the week! I went to my three classes. In my first one we talked more about marine debris and started to talk about ocean acidification. Then in my Volcanoes and Earthquakes class we started to watch the introduction video to the Earthquakes unit. Then I met with Ashley, grabbed lunch and then went to my last class in Coral Reef Ecology where we started to talk more in depth about different algae’s. When I got out of the classes I ran over to my room to change and get ready for our exciting day! My friend Allison offered to drive Ashley, Alexa, Deb and I to Kona to go to a white sand beach. We took the long drive along the Hamakua coast so that we could show them the north part of the island. We stopped at Tex along the way so that we could all try their malasadas. They are said to be the best on the island and they are right they were SOOOOO good! Ashley and I got ours filled with Guava which was to die for. Then we continued the drive along the coast and decided to go swimming at Mauna Kea Beach Resort. We spent the next 3 hours swimming, taking photos and playing in the waves. It was so much fun. While we were there we even saw whales off the shore. They when playing and flipping their tails up and down. It was so neat to see! I am so glad that Ashley got to see them! Allison, Ashley and I were just enjoying splashing in the waves and jumping in and out of them. When it started to get dark we sat on the beach and watched the sunset. It was so pretty and pink. When the sun went down we walked to a board walk where a light was shining into the ocean and saw other people standing around it. Alexa had gone and asked someone what the light was for and she found out that sometimes you can see Manta Rays there. So, we walked over and waited for about 30 minutes just watching to see if we could find a manta ray. We didn’t have any luck but it was still worth a shot. We changed and got back in the car and went to Bubba Gumps to get dinner. We walked around downtown Kona looking for food and some shops to buy a few more souvenirs. Ashley and I split macaroni and cheese and three different types of fried shrimp. It was so yummy. When we were done eating we walked back to our car and made the 1.5 hour drive back to Hilo over saddle road. We made it back to my dorm around 12 pm and we crashed as soon as we went to go to sleep.

Friday: Bye Bye Ashley L

Today was Ashley’s last day here in Hilo with me L. I spent my morning in class. We talked about Pele in Hawaiian ohana and then talked more about pond soils which I already knew some about. After class, I met Ashley in Campus center and we ate lunch. We had loco mocos which are a favorite dish of locals here. It is rice, hamburger patties, eggs, and gravy poured on top. We also had POG which is my favorite juice now. When we were done eating, we went back to my room so that Ashley could finish packing. We looked at some of our footage from this week’s snorkeling and beach days. They were so cool! Later that afternoon when she was done packing we just hung out and talked for a little while enjoying each other’s company. Anita also texted me and invited us to go to Carlsmith beach on Four mile to go swimming. When we got to Carlsmith we went snorkeling and had a fun time splashing around. We even saw some sea turtles. When we were done swimming, Anita took us and all the other girls to K’s drive-in for twists. I had a mango one and Ashley had pineapple. They were soo yummy! Ashley and I got dinner there as well before she had to leave for the airport. After we got twists, Anita drove all of us up to Rainbow falls for one last hurrah and to see the sunset. It was so pretty the sky was pink and orange and yellow. It was a great way to end my week with Ashley. When Anita dropped us off at my dorm Ashley took a shower and did some last-minute packing and we walked over to Emma’s room. Emma, Bell and Melonie gave us a ride to the airport so I could tell her goodbye. I hate saying a hui hou. It is so hard. And we all know that I cried, I couldn’t help it. I am a very emotional person. To make me feel better Emma took us on a drive around Hilo. It helped but I still miss her. I wish she could come back and spend the rest of the semester with me and go on more adventures, but I know when I get back to USC we will go on some in the Fall. I can’t wait to see her in August and plan more trips! (Ashley if you are reading this I miss you and hope you are having fun and going on some fun spontaneous adventure!)

Saturday: Relaxation and lava Hike

After the amazingly fun week I have had with Ashley I was so tired that I slept in until 11:30! I never sleep in! When I got out of bed I ran over to the dining hall to grab some breakfast. Then I came back to my room and did some homework and just laid around relaxing. Around 4:30 Elaine texted me saying she was able to get the car for the weekend so Julia, Vickie, Hannah and I could go with her and explore the island. We met in front of their dorm so we could leave on our first adventure but we first stopped at the dining hall to get dinner to go. When that was done, we got in the car and set off for the lava flow! We arrived around 6 PM, and walked our way to the lava flow. We went to the left first so we could see the lava spewing into the ocean. Then we added an extra three miles on to our trip so we could see the new lava flow. It was so cool!!! I literally got a FOOT away from the lava, a FOOT. ISNT THAT AMAZING! Where else in the world can you do this? It was so neat. We ended up walking 14 miles total and got back to campus around midnight. It was a great but long night! I hope I can do this hike again it is one of my favorites!

#Market #BananaPudding #Surfing #Sunrise #RainbowFalls #Canoe #LavaFlow #MaunaKeaResort