Check!

So you know how in my last post I wrote down a list of things I wanted to do before I left? Yep, I can now cross one off :) Here's proof:

Thanks Swap Meet!

Too close for comfort

Well, it seems as though it's been a while since I've written last, although I feel like there is nothing much to report...there probably is, but I just can't think of it. ALTHOUGH, last thursday in our lab, I saw sea turtles! They are so cute. The first two we saw were swimming far away, but then this one came into this whole carved out of the reef we were on that had an outlet into the ocean, so he was swimming around in there, and that is the closest I've been to a sea turtle so far! Even though he didn't come up to greet us, he was still swimming around only feet away from us. I get so excited every time I see a sea turtle, and my goal is/has been to see one on the shore so that I can get close to it. It would also be cool to swim near one too. But anyway, this is the pic I took of it, it's not that great but here it is anyway.

Oh, and Wolfgang just reminded me of other good news that I should share as well...

I ORDERED AN UKULELE ONLINE AND IT SHOULD BE HERE ON WEDNESDAY!!!!

It's about time! I've been wanting to get one for months now, and I finally ordered one. Now when it comes in, I'll just have to find someone that can teach me how to play it...I might resort to the 'ukulele lessons' they give at work (Polynesian Cultural Center) to the guests...I'll let you know how it goes.

Ok, so now for an explaination on my post title. As of right now, I only have 17 1/2 days in Hawaii. Sad, I know. Then, I'll be off to San Francisco for about a week to stay with my roommate from last semester, then i fly into Vegas the 25th. SOOO, I've got a lot to do before I head out! Here are just a few things I want to do before I leave:
-lay in a hammock
-drink from a coconut
-lots more snorkeling (and Hanauma Bay)
-go to Waimea Valley
-get a Hukilau Cafe shirt
-go to the pseudo "hukilau cafe" where "50 First Dates" was filmed
-eat a delicious shaved ice and (and an acai bowl)
-beach, beach, beach..... etc.

whew! I better get going on that! So much to do, so little time. So when are you going to come visit me before I leave? You're all still invited anytime. I'm sad no one has taken me up on the offer yet. I guess that just means that you'll have to come visit me IF I come back in the fall, or we'll just HAVE to plan a trip next year or something... anyway, plan on seeing pictures soon of my ukulele :) if you're lucky and I learn fast, maybe I'll even send a video of me playing it.

Playing tourist for a week

Well, I promised to give the low down on my wonderful "spring break" from a couple of weeks ago, so here it is....finally.

Since the winter semester was finally over, Wolfgang and I decided that we needed to play hard for the week that we had off from school....so we did. First we rented a car (for super cheap!) and headed down to Honolulu with our friend Janelle to the zoo and to the beloved Cheesecake Factory...Mmm, then sent Janelle on her way back home for the summer. The following day we went back down to the Honolulu area to a place called Hanauma Bay with our friends Scott, Ben, and Jessica. Hanauma Bay is this awesome huge bay (go figure) GREAT for snorkeling. We saw all sorts of fish of different sizes and colors, it was great. I was wishing to see a sea turtle, but no luck.

In the morning a few days later in the Honolulu airport getting ready to depart for Maui, Wolfgang and i were confused as to why we couldn't find our flight number on the departure screen, and why our terminal looked so empty. After looking closely at our ticket, I found that Wolfgang had accidently made the reservations for 9:58 PM instead of 9:58 AM....

Apparently he's still learning English. ;)

Luckily, there was another flight an hour later so we just hopped onto that one. So for 2 nights and 3 days, we toured the whole island, quite literally, with an exception of one road or two. Good thing the rental was very very good on gas mileage, because the gas prices were at $4.21/gal. yikes. Plus, islands are only so big anyway, but we still put about 400 miles on it...

Some of the things we did there were go to several beaches, (of course), went to a beautiful nature park called "Iao Point,"

drive the scenic/well known "highway to Hana"(which includes 57 small bridges, windy roads, and some places large enough only for one car to fit through),

and also visited Haleakala National Park. Mom and Dad, I think you should transfer...?!

(Two of the "seven pools" at the NP, we swam around in the pool of the bottom waterfall)

In one part of the park, it had a peak at 10,000ft where we were told to watch the sunrise;

I hadn't been so cold in several months! it was about 43 degrees! simply ridiculous. Not knowing we would be experiencing such temperture change, we were definitely not prepared for that, but it was fun nontheless. Here are a few more pictures from our great vacation:

Wolfgang's first Krispy Kreme experience; he's converted.

Great sunset pic that Wolfgang took

If you would like to see more pictures, go to:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2083630&l=b73a6&id=193309198

crabs, sea cucumbers, and the occasional octopus...

Last year after I decided to change my major to biology, it didn't take long for me to question, "What was I thinking?" Well, classes like the one I'm taking now, Marine Biology, help me to remember why I chose the path that I did.

A big reason why I decided in the first place to stay for the spring term, was so that I could take this marine biology class that I am currently enrolled in. I am so glad that I did! (Plus, being in Hawaii for only 4 months turned out to not be long enough anyway...) It will definitely help me to know whether I really do want marine biology as my emphasis.

So far the class has been great, the reason being that we have amazing labs to go to each week! All of them are out in the field and we go somewhere new each week. Last week we had two labs, first at "Kaena Point" on tuesday and the other location at "Kahuku Reef" on thursday. Both were pretty similar, but it was great to spend a few hours exploring and collecting animal "specimens" from the tidepools with our nets, buckets, and jars.

Kaena Point

Me with my jar full of goodies- A sea cucumber, a few cowry shells with snails in

them, some marine plant later identified, etc.

Looking in on someone's bucket: Contains a sea urchin, convex pebble crab,

marine plants, cowry shells, and probably some hermit crabs.

The best part so far on the lab trips, was what I, myself, found at Kahuku reef....an OCTOPUS! Can you believe it? I hardly could myself. When I poked at the portion of its leg sticking out from under a small coral shelf, I thought it was just a crab or a shell, but once it moved and I looked closer, I could see its succors! After that some girls and I were determined to get him out, but after harrassing it for a while, we were unsuccessful. I then told a guy by the name of Adam about it, so then he took a turn at irritating the poor animal, and eventually he got the octopus mad enough to start inking like crazy and latching on to the stick that Adam was using to feel around under the coral that the octopus was at, and eventually he got him into a pucket where we kept him for a little while so that we could "Oo" and "ahh" at him, then later released him back to where we found him. A little bit of this adventure I caught on video:

* for some reason the video is unable to load, I'll work on that...

(No animals were harmed in the making of this video...)

And here's a few pictures of him in the bucket:

What a great way to start a class! I'm excited for the several more labs to come. The lab tomorrow includes rafting on a river (don't worry mom and glenna, its not even close to white-water rafting), and later labs that require snorkeling... :)

Good News, Bad News.

So the good news is, I don't have a virus! Bad news is, something is most likely wrong with my hard drive.

great.

I got some somewhat computer help (more of just advice) from these people on campus from the computer department, and they basically told me the only thing I can do is just backup all my important info on cds, external hard drive, really anything, just in case my computer does decide to die on me. Now the dilemma is that I only have one cd, and a limited amount of space on one USB drive, and no Wal-Mart nearby. Hopefully my computer doesn't decide to kill over before I get that taken care of.

I'll just have to hope for the best, and probably call and see when my warranty is up...

Moody Blog

I am pleased to announce, that my blog is no longer being tempermental and is now letting me see my own blog again after a couple of weeks! YES! I'm not quite sure why it thought it was funny to do that to me. whatever. But now that my blog works for me now, my computer decided to trade that in for a virus. potentially. I'm hoping that it's not anything too serious...

what to expect soon: pictures and summary of my amazing "spring break."

Catch up

Ok, so I didn't keep my promise of updating my blog the same weekend I started it, but I'm not too worried about it, considering I haven't told too many people about my blog yet. :) So last time I mentioned that a lot has happened in the last few months, and that I was going to update everyone just on the highlights, right? Well, that's what I'm going to do now, and I'll do my best. Instead of doing different posts for each event, I'm going to try to cram them into one post...I hope this goes well. Here we go..

Culture Night

This was a huge campus wide event that went on probably a little over a month ago. It consisted of two nights of all the culture clubs from the university performing their own cultural dance. Anyone can join any of the culture clubs, and I kind of regret not joining one of them. It was amazing how much time and effort everyone put into their performances, and was even a little ridiculous in some cases, yet the outcome made it worth it. Some of the cultures that were represented through dance were Tonga, Samoa, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Africa, Taiwan, Tahiti...to name a few. Then for those of us who have no culture, nor can shake our hips at ridiculous speeds and still look good doing it, there was the swing club. Our performance turned out real well, but unfortunately I don't have a video clip of it right now to prove it, but once I get one, I'll be sure to post it. At least I've got some pics to prove it though...

This is my swing partner Wolfgang from Austria, a.k.a my boyfriend... :)

To see more pictures that I took, go to:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080288&l=f6a36&id=193309198

And here are some videos to give you an idea what it was all about:

Winter Ball

This was kind of like prom all over again, but more laid back and not as formal. The best part about it, was that it was on a mini cruise ship! We boarded the ship at Honolulu which then cruised along a portion of the coast of Oahu then turned back around, which was a total of 3 hours. There were 4 floors, the top being the deck with a beautiful view of Oahu, ocean and stars, the next floor contained the actual dance, the next was a the kareoke floor/games, and the bottom floor had a live jazz band to dance to. It was a lot of fun, especially to be able to experience it on a cruise ship!

The "Star of Honolulu" (not the balloon, that's the ship's name... :) )

Tracie and me with the captian

Me and my awesome date...

(Thanks mom for paying him! :) )

That's my roommate Evelyn

A close-up of my cool hairdo, my friend Janelle did a really great job

I hope you've enjoyed my little update! There will be more posts coming shortly. REALLY.