jellyfish, underwater caves and 20 mile bike rides

This past week has been an adventurous one. Tuesday was my friend Paige's birthday, we went to shark's cove a local snorkeling spot, there are a few opportunities for cave diving here. The boys talked me into diving the "blue room". It was scary but pretty amazing. Thursday, Christie and Nicolette and I decided we wanted to go for a little bike ride, we ended up riding 20 miles. It was one of the prettiest bike rides I have ever experienced. Friday started with a morning surf session that ended with me having 8 jellyfish sting. EIGHT! I have been stung before but this was extremely painful, more than past encounters. After surfing a few of us went to the reservoir, it is this place that is like a giant slip in slide, it was a blast, after that I went to town with a few friends for Emma's birthday festivities, karaoke and sushi, it was entertaining and a blast. And Saturday was what students here call a Super Saturday. We woke up, made some waffles, all packed into Gideon's car and headed to the west side, here we went to the tide pools. When everyone told me we were going to the tide pools I was imagining something simple. These were amazing, we could actually swim in them and snorkel, it was awesome. We did have to scale a mountain to get to them which added to the adventure.

Simply put, life is blissful. Don't worry mom and dad I am getting my school work done in the mornings and evenings. My sister Elle got in today. She is visiting me for 8 days and I could not be happier about it!!

sharks cove

sharks cove 

this is a picture I stole online of the blue room it was sweet

our 20 mile bike ride found us at ted's bakery (with Nicolette)

Ted's Bakery

going to the tide pools (my roommate Senecca)

tide pools 

scaling the mountain to get there

picnics and views

On Sunday, my roommates and I had a nice picnic at kavela bay. it was such a peaceful spot. probably one of my favorite spots on the island so far!

roommate picnic at kavela bay

the majestic path to the bay

Here are the views I experience everyday. The beach that is our backyard.... and beautiful sunsets out our front door.

This the path to the library on BYU-H campus. Now do you understand my struggles to go indoors and study?

Spiritual Awakening

the past few days have again been wonderful. however it is heating up fast here on the island. my cute home does not have air conditioning so trying to go to bed is like sleeping in a sauna, especially if your on the top bunk! ha but i still love evey sweaty moment.

i have been working hard on my class and luckily the library has nice cool air conditioning. it gives me motivation to go and work haha. anyway today i found this...

12 Symptoms of Spiritual Awakening

1. An increased tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen
2. Frequent attacks of smiling
3. Feelings of being connected with others and nature
4. Frequent overwhelming episodes of appreciation
5. A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fears based on past experience
6. An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment
7. A loss of ability to worry
8. A loss of interest in conflict
9. A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others
10. A loss of interest in judging others
11. A loss of interest in judging self
12. Gaining the ability to love without expecting anything.

..... and i realized that in this past year of my life, i have gained spiritual aawakening. from my travels to israel and now my residency in hawaii, these "symptoms" have become part of my reality. i have really gained insights that have allowed me to appreciate life and take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way. man i am a lucky girl!

adventures

another week has flown by here on the island. my favorite way to remember things is thru pictures so here are a few from my week.

this was actually when asia picked me and cort up from the airport our first few minutes in hawaii (this explains our pale skin), asia made us homemade head leis

lanikai beach

manawili falls hike

my new car, also known as the "wild thang" thanks to trent and the weird bumper stickers

this is called chinaman's hat. there is a reef here that you can walk on all the way to the island. it was awesome!

riding my new bike

the bike path to kahuku is so lush

 ok so there is this hike called stairway to heaven that is so intense. you have to wake up at 2 am to get to the top in time to watch the sunrise. it is straight stairs up the entire mountain. some parts are a straight up ladder scaling cliffs. well those who know me understand i have a HUGE fear of heights. well the majority of our climbing was in the dark so i couldnt tell the intensity other than my throbbing legs and racing heart, but when we got about 2/3 of the way up the sky got alittle brighter and i couldnt go any further, my fear took over and i waited for the group at a platform. haha. i was alittle embarassed but pretty impressed with myself that i made it that far.

looking down, up in the clouds.

view from the platform i waited at. still pretty high right?

me very afraid waiting in the rain.

well cort left yesterday and i am feeling settled and taking on my responsibility with more organization. i have already conquered so many fears and done so many cool things on this little adventure, and i have alot more in store.



snorkeling at sharks cove as well as a jerusalem friends reunion
(courtney, asia, nick, kaleb, me)



the famous chocolate haupia pie at Teds Bakery

Waimea Bay

tin-foil dinners at the red house

after church temple walk

aloha

ive moved to hawaii till june and i have found my place in the world. the aloha spirit is a real thing and i have been soaking in it with a huge smile on my face. many tell me that i take advantage of my youth. i take this as a huge compliment. yes, i know that i have been unbelievably spoiled these last few years, traveling all over the world, but i see this time in my life as possibly the only chance i may get to see the world, i dont have any major responsibilities on my plate, so this is my chance and i am taking it!

so i moved in with my good friend asia who i met on study abroad in israel. we are living in laie on the north shore. we live in an awesome little house right next to the canal, and just a few steps from the beach. my other roommates are from paraguay and hawaii. there is so much culture and diversity here and i love it.

so my friend courtney is visiting for the week and so we have been doing fun things everyday. I have been putting off all responsibility till she leaves on wed. since i arrived on mon afternoon has been full of non-stop fun. we have beached it up, hiked to waterfalls, gone to the beautiful laie temple for baptisms, kayaked, snorkeled, cave-dived, volley-ball, shave ice, bon-fires, skate parks, the list goes on.

but our greatest adventure so far was yest. so there are boats near makaha that bring out paying customers to swim with wild dolphins, usually they are taken off shore of electric beach. so naturally as the cheap college students we are, we decided to find the boats and swim out to them to be able to experience the dolphins. (in case you didnt know dolphins are my all time favorite animals, i literally dream about them i am so obsessed). anyway we woke up yest at 4 am to get to electric beach early enough for the dolphins, we drove about an hour there and when we arrived at the beach there was nothing. we waited awhile and searched the coast a bit but never saw the boats or any fins so we decided to swim out to where they are normally located. we strapped on our snorkel masks and headed into the water around 6 am. 3 hours later and after about 3 miles of swimming we saw nothing. i have never swam so far in my life but i wasnt discouraged, i have heard magical stories of hundreds of dolphins and i will definitly be going back until i have that experience.

hawaii has been a dream and i am really loving every second.