Sunday: Coconut Island
It’s hard to believe that I am leaving Hawaii tomorrow night. It feels like I just yesterday I arrived in Hilo but now I am leaving. I didn’t have anything planned for today so I decided to go on one of my adventures to Coconut Island. One of the first places I visited in Hilo was coconut island so it made perfect sense for one of my last trips around Hilo to be to Coconut Island. I woke up early and started my walk to Coconut Island. On the way, the rain started to pour down so I decided to stop at Hawaiian Style Café to get breakfast. There was a 30-minute wait so I decided to sit outside at one of the tables and wait for my name to be called. The rain is really peaceful. When they called my name, I went back inside and ordered Haupia Pancakes which are my new favorite breakfast. When I was done eating, I paid and then headed next door to the fishing shop so I could get some stickers for my water bottles and laptop. The rain started to finally clear so I continued my walk to Coconut Island. I sat on the beach for a little while and went swimming. When it started to rain again, I grabbed my stuff ran to the Japanese garden and sat under a covered walkway until the rain stopped. When it cleared I walked back to campus so I could shower and change out of wet clothes. I had about a 2-hour gap and was able to get ready for my last day of church. John picked me up at 6:20 as always and we went to church. I had to say goodbye to a lot of my friends which was really hard. Pastor John even gave me a candy Lei. I am going to miss them so much. When church was over John took me back to my room and I hung out with my roommate Maddi. She was so sweet. We had a class together this semester and I wish that I had gotten to know her better, but we had a great time together. We were up late talking about boys, school and our summers. We also ordered a pizza and chocolate lava cake things and hung out for hours. It was a great last night in Hawaii.
Monday: Mahalo Hawaii
Today was my last full day in Hawaii. It’s hard to believe that I am leaving tonight but let’s not think about that at the moment. I started my day bright and early on a not so bright and sunny day. Today was actually very rainy in Hilo and to me it seemed like it was Hilo’s way of telling me it was sad I was leaving. And if we have learned anything from this semester it is that the rain doesn’t stop me from doing anything. I woke up around 7 am so that I could tell Maddi goodbye. I helped carry her stuff from our apartment to the bus that she was taking to go on her scuba diving class over the next two weeks. When I got back to my room, I cleaned up everything and got all of my stuff packed, or at least a good portion of it. Some of the stuff I would be using today. Around 10:30 am, John picked me up and we went to Walmart so I could get a neck pillow for my flights, and I know what you are thinking, why am I just now investing in a neck pillow when I have already been on 20 or so flights for the semesters? Well I will tell you why….there is no reason I just didn’t think about it :). We also ended up getting lots of stuff neither of us had planned to get. After shopping, we got in our car and we drove to Richardson’s Beach. We were supposed to meet Anita and her niece there but the rain was so strong and the waves where so big we switched it and decided to go to Carlsmith Beach Park, which I didn’t mind because it is one of my favorite places. John and I decided to go ahead and start swimming because Anita is usually late so we got in and started swimming with the sea turtles. John was so excited! He was just loving swimming with the sea turtles. He was just laughing and smiling the entire time which made me smile and laugh along with him. We were just having a blast. Anita finally arrived and we played around and talked for the next three hours or so. What was great about the whole things was as soon as we got to Carlsmith, the rain started to clear out and the sun came out for a little bit and we were able to stay warm and have fun. Around 3 we were all ready to go so we got in the cars and drove to downtown Hilo so we could get lunch. We were going to try and get food at Pineapple but we forgot that it was closed on Mondays. Pineapples is like Chickfila. When you want it the most its Monday and its closed. But it was all good because we ended up going to the amazing Thai food place I went with my aunt and uncle before they left. I got Chicken curry and rice and a Thai ice tea with coconut milk. It was delicious!!!!! As we were eating, the rain started to come again and it poured and poured and poured! When we got outside it started to pour even more and I was soaked to the bone from all of the water. I said goodbye to Anita in the pouring rain and then John and I went into the little store next to his car for a few minutes hoping that rain would stop and when it didn’t we made a run for it. John dropped me off at my apartment so I could clean up and shower, clean the apartment, and finish packing. When the place was all clean, I checked out of the apartment and John picked me up and took me to Ken’s Dinner for diner. Ikaika joined us for dinner and told me to eat a loco moco for one last time, which was a great idea because you are not going to find this anywhere else and it is one of my favorite meals. When we were done eating, they drove me to the airport and dropped me off. I am going to miss the two of them so much! I hate saying goodbye. I made it through security without a problem and then got on the plane. I watched collateral Beauty and Moana and tried to sleep but wasn’t able to get more then 1 hour of sleep.
Tuesday: Back in Charleston
Today was a really long day. I landed in Los Angeles and then spent most of the day sitting on planes and in airports relaxing and making my way home. It took me 27 hours between flights, layovers, and the drives to and from the airports to get home; I didn’t actually make it home until 2 am on Wednesday morning. To enjoy my time on these long long long flights I watched tons of movies and relaxed. I wasn’t able to sleep because I was so tired. For some reason, I enjoy taking all of the convoluted ways to get home but I am just excited to get a chance to come home for a week before I leave for my internship in 9 days. It maybe a couple days until I get a chance to write my final post but I think it will take me a while to write the final one since I am very sad about leaving Hawaii.
