4 weeks and 6 days left...

Ok, so I MAY be pathetic. I've accepted that, and I'm officially ok with it...
This count down is for the day that Wolfgang comes to visit me! He will be flying into Phoenix late Sunday night, August 17th. Then on August 26th, we will both be flying back to Hawaii to start school the next day; we even get to sit next to each other on the plane! I'm really excited for him to come, in case you couldn't tell. Not gunna lie, I am sort of nervous for him to meet the parents (don't be offended mom); I've never brought anyone home before. It'll be exciting to see the ladies in church talk too- My parents and I will have to get ready for the interrogations. I'm excited to show him the little good ol' town of Page, and the surrounding areas. The funny thing is that he has actually been to Page before, when he was about 10 or so. I'm convinced that pretty much every European will at some point in their life come to Lake Powell...
Nontheless, I am ecstatic for Wolfgang to come and visit. :)

Playing catch up: Best last weekend in Hawaii

Ok, so I lied about catching you all up the other night, but, here I am! So the last weekend I had in Hawaii, I was very determined to see some sea turtles! Throughout the time that I was in Hawaii I saw quite a few sea turtles swimming around, but I never did see them up close on the sand or anything. I had been told by my previous roommate that there was a beach up kind of near the north shore area called Lankiakea Beach, nicknamed "turtle beach." This beach was somewhat small, but well known for the many sea turtles that chill out in that area. So, Wolfgang and I and our friend Sam decided to head up to this beach and see for ourselves. We first accidently ended up at a different beach, but we were told by a local that the beach we were looking for was just the next one over. So instead of going back and walking on the highway, we decided to stay on the beach and walk over. The area we had to cross was very rocky and very..."boulder-y," and while we were heading to the other beach my friend Sam says, "Look! sea turtles!" and there they were! three big ones! I couldn't believe it.

It was definitely a good thing that Sam spotted them, because I would of walked right past them without even knowing. There they were, just laying out on the beach basking in the warm sun, in a little rocky cove. The great part about it was that we were the only three people to witness this, so we were able to get really close. They are such beautiful animals! so cute, I was way too excited. In fact, I think all my excitement might of scared them or irritated them just a little bit, and they ended up taking off. You think I would be a little bit better at this, considering I'm going into marine biology... but if you know me well, you know that sometimes I can't contain my excitement very well; it's as if I turned into a little 5 year old. (proof: ...)

So needless to say, I am really grateful that I was able to accomplish my goal of seeing sea turtles up close. After the turtles left we continued on to Laniakea Beach which was still cool, but nearly not as exciting as what we had just witnessed, because there were a lot of tourists. Although it was fun to see the sea turtles swimming around really close to shore. I guess technically, you could say that we "swam with the sea turtles," but not real close by any means, especially with the sea turtle patrol team or whatever keeping a close eye on anyone getting too close to the turtles. Even though they were annoying, I'm glad they were looking out for them.

I couldn't of asked for a better last Saturday in Hawaii.

Time for an upgrade

So I was informed last night by Jessica that my blog layout is...plain (boring). Ok, yes this is true. So the only thing I've figured out how to do is to add that pic off to the right hand side. Like it? I hope so. Bare with me as I struggle to make it a little more exciting; I'm not good with these kinds of things! Thanks for keeping me cool though Jess ;)

Back on the Mainland

Well, I'm officially back in Page! I've got a lot of catching up to do on my blog, and now that I don't have to deal with finals/packing/moving anymore, I can finally play catch up. I'll do a blog post tonight.

I'm getting school credit for this?

Well, now that the spring term is coming to an end, this means saying goodbye to my marine biology class. I really enjoyed it; there was assignments to be done, and beast-like tests to be taken (one more to go, wish me luck), but it was all worth it with all of the great labs that we were able to participate in. The second to last one was at a place called "Shark's Cove," which is a big tourist spot at north shore for snorkeling. Don't worry there are no sharks there, supposidly it got its name because when looked at from the sky, the rock cove looks like the shape of a shark. whatever. Anyway, this particular lab was a NIGHT, yes, NIGHT snorkel. Uh, no thanks! I was a bit scared. Before even arriving to our destination, we were told that we were going to see a lot of "interesting things..." I was a little skeptical of this word "interesting." I was later told by a class mate that last year they had seen big eels. When I say big, I mean BIG. Several people on our trip came across these large eels, and they were approximately 4-5 feet long! and big in diameter! This is even with the 25% magnification factor taken into consideration (when you see things underwater, especially with your snorkel gear on, things are 25% bigger than they really are). Anyway, I was very grateful that I did not see anything of that sort, although I stayed far away from those places that would potentially have creepy animals.

I don't have any amazing pictures to share with you from the trip, but here are just a few that I thought turned out pretty of the place where we did snorkel at:

Aloha 'Oe Marine Biology 212.

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.