It's Week 7?!?

Well, I haven't been keeping up with this like I thought I would :( It's Week 7 already and the time is winding down! I can't believe I didn't write this entire time, considering I wrote all last summer! This summer has been so much more busy and jam packed with awesome activities! I won't be able to go into detail for all of the things we've done, but I'll list the major things and hopefully my pictures on Facebook will give me enough memories to hold onto (after all, I'm pretty much only writing this for myself considering I haven't been linking anyone to this blog and last summer only 4 people or so read my blog :/ but oh well, it beats writing in my journal by hand!). Okay here goes:

--Went to Waikiki Beach

--Had a REU beach day at Fort DeRussy beach (a bit west of the main part of Waikiki, or Waiks for short)

--Hiked Diamond Head crater

--Went to Tiki's Bar & Grill for food, drinks, and live music

--Shopping at Ala Moana Mall, the biggest open air mall in the world!

--WENT SURFING!!! Took lessons the first 2 times, and all times after that have been just renting the boards and going out on our own! (One time the swell was HUGE and we got wrecked a bit but it was fun...some guy told me "This isn't for you" and told me to go toward the shore more..he was right but it was slightly embarassing)

--Ate and drank coconut drank at Da Big Kahuna (got to keep the coconut it came in!)

--Watched a parade down in Waiks for King Kamehameha day

--Went to Lulu's Bar & Grill with a live R&B/reggae duo..soooo good! They did a rendition of Imma Be by the Black Eyed Peas that was awesomeeee..it was a woman singing/rapping and playing the bongos and a guy playing guitar with her. BEST EVER!

--BOUGHT A UKULELE!!!!

--Went to a reggae show at a sketch-tastic bar in Chinatown. The first sight we saw as we got off the bus was some lady stumbling down the street with her bra and underwear hanging off..good times. We were three of 10 total people in the whole bar, and 15 when the band got there. COOL.

--Went boogie boarding by the pier in Waiks (the guys did at least..earlier that morning I had gone surfing and was hella sore by the afternoon so I didn't boogie that day)

--Ate dinner outside on the patio overlooking the beach at Duke's Canoe Club Bar & Grill! With live music and tiki torches :)

--Crashed an Asian wedding! Well, we were at a restaurant called House Without a Key at this hotel and there was a wedding reception being held across the lawn from the restaurant. We were there to watch hula dancers (apparently it was a great place for hula) but there was one lady and she danced to one song :/ Fail. I'm sure we'll find another place. (My parents want to take me to a luau when they get here! They decided to take advantage of me being here and come for vacation!)

--Went to the Honolulu Zoo! There was a Volkswagen car show outside the zoo so we checked that out first (saw some awesome VW hippie vans and buggies!). THE ZOO WAS AWESOME! Saw some incredible animals, lizards "gettin' it on", and my friend Nick stole a peacock feather off a restricted area and later threw it over the plexiglass wall to a lonely looking monkey (we called him "The Thinker" because he looked deep in thought) which proceeded to eat part of the feather and then later ate his feces. VOM.

--Went to a restaurant called Indigo (?) to hear jazz music and have food and drinks...got a Bloody Mary-tini and a Saketini!

--Went to a hookah bar called The Burning Tree to listen to live music...we went back later that same week to participate in Open Mic night! I sang the Paramore acoustic cover of the Kings of Leon song "Use Somebody", and Nick sang a few songs ("Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind, "What I Got" by Sublime, and a few other randoms the backup band was playing)

--Went back to Da Big Kahuna and split a Fishbowl with my friend Irina and her twin sister Natalya who was visiting...it was 82oz!

--Hiked up to Manoa Falls! Saw the beautiful waterfall and great scenery!

--Caught a few minutes of "Sunset on the Beach", an outdoor concert/movie they were putting on for 4th of July weekend...they played "Soul Surfer", the movie based on the life of Bethany Hamilton, the surfer girl who got attacked by a shark and lost her arm...earlier that day WE SAW HER ON THE BEACH! My friend Steve and I were walking down the beach and saw some little girl and people taking pictures of her..we almost walked right in front of them! Then we saw a tall blonde girl walk over to the little girl and hug her. I knew she looked familiar and then I saw her missing arm and knew exactly who she was! We stood watching her and the girl for a while, and figured the little girl was from Make-a-Wish or something..the little girl looked so happy and gave Bethany a present. More and more people started showing up so we left, but I wish I had my camera with me to take pictures! Lesson learned.

--On 4th of July, we went to the beach and swam and played lots of Driftwood (this game Nick came up with where you act like a piece of driftwood and just let the ocean do what it wants to you..soooo funny! There's also a variation of the game called "Arms Only", where you can only use your arms to swim and get yourself out of the ocean...good times hahaaha) and we buried Nick in the sand as a mermaid and gave him both male and female genitalia! Later, we went to Ala Moana to watch the fireworks. They were a little disappointing but we overheard this guy's conversation on the phone (RUDE) who was probably from NY or NJ..he was trying to get his friend to come meet him and was like "Dude, you just walk across the bridge..not the car bridge, the FOOT bridge...then you walk across the asphalt...yeah, just walk on the asphalt...not the car bridge, the FOOT bridge!!" haha it was funny, you had to be there.

--Went back to Ala Moana for fireworks the next weekend (they have them every Friday night) but we were eating dinner when they went off and they only last 10 minutes (that's what she said....been doing those jokes all summer, they never get old ha!)

--BOOZE CRUISE!! We took the Mai Tai Catamaran in Waiks...we thought the drinks were complimentary but it turns out that's only the case on the sunset cruise (we went at 1pm cause it was the cheapest)..so we all bought a drink and then these 30-somethings bought a few rounds for everyone on the boat (who were of age) and it really turned into a crazy party! We shotgunned a few beers also (I did one round, Irina did 2 and Steve did like 4! The guys kept wanting Steve to shotgun cause he never did before and he's from NJ so he had to prove himself haha)..After that, we drunkenly got more booze and played Kings near the beach and then went swimming (dumb) and ran around the beach like idiots..but it was a blasty blast!

--Took a looooong trip to the east side of the island to hike down to the tide pools at Makapuu, near the Makapuu lighthouse. It was a long walk/hike to the edge of the cliff and then we had to HIKE DOWN the rocks (scary! but it could've been worse..people do it all the time so I knew it had to be somewhat safe) The tide pools were so clear (and a bit chilly). When the waves hit the rocks nearest the ocean, they sprayed water up so high and the white water filled the tide pools. Later on, the waves got so strong that they washed me and my friend Ben over a rock ledge separating 2 pools and we got cut up and bruised a bit. That was super scary cause I thought I was going to break some bones or die haha. Then we HIKED BACK UP the scary rock wall (which made my legs hurt SO bad for the next 3 days [today is day 3 and they're feeling better but still hurt like a mother]) After that, we walked about a mile and a half (ouch) to Sandy Beach which is one of the best boogie boarding places we've heard about. The waves were INTENSE and not for beginners but we just chilled on the beach and watched a boogie competition that was going on. Those kids are CARAZYYYY and ripped so hard on those waves man!

Anyway, that's all I got so far! I probably left out some of the little things we did (visit a used bookstore with soooo many books, get Frostcity, going to the Varsity club [and later, Steve getting denied entrance and the bouncer thinking his ID was fake so we called the cops to get his ID back but he still got denied cause I sorta maybe talked shit in front of the bouncer about how I didn't want to pay for drinks cause the situation was bullshit...]), trying Pho (Vietnamese soup with rice noodles and veggies and tofu or chicken or beef...NOM!), meeting Steve's friend of a friend and her crazy boyfriend who told us to eat the black mushrooms and not the white ones but then told us to eat the white ones and not the black ones and then told Nick he hated his pants and wanted to stab them with a sword of some kind haha (he was schwastey), seeing Crazy Guy in the park tripping on something crazy (he played the "cymbals", cut off his own hair and then his head exploded, told invisible people "Shhh", etc), and probably so much more that I'll remember and then go "I should write that in the blog"..hopefully I'll remember to write more down.

Starting tomorrow, my parents will be here! They will be here around 4pm and we will be going down to Waiks for dinner (I'll probably take them to Duke's or Lulu's..most likely Duke's cause it's on the beach and at their hotel: The Outrigger Waikiki!)..then later on a bunch of us are going to the midnight showing of HARRY POTTER 7 PART 2!!!!!! SOOO stoked! It's going to be a late night though, we probably won't get back until 3am-ish if we can get a cab back..the walk is super long so we are going to try to avoid that as best we can. On Saturday, we are going to Haunauma Bay to go snorkeling with the whole REU group and Dr. Brown, the program director. My parents will probably come too and meet us there. On Sunday I reeeeeally want to drive up to the North Shore! Hopefully that'll happen :D

Okay, I really have to go...I have to get up early to go to a little something called WORK! I haven't even talked about that yet, as it's kinda sorta in the background of all the fun stuff we've been doing haha!

So on that note, goodnight and aloha <3

Day One

Aloha again! Today was my first full day in Hawaii and also the first day of the REU. We started at 9am with introductions and a Linux/C++ quiz (which I didn't really do too well on) to gauge our knowledge of both of those. We also had a group exercise dealing with the types of computing systems which was slightly confusing. For lunch, we had a student/faculty potluck with a traditional Hawaiian chicken dish, salad, and some rice. After lunch, we had a few lectures from some of the professors and some computer logistics to take care of. We left at 4:45pm and headed back to the dorms. Shortly after, we all decided to go to Waikiki beach which is a mile or 2 away from campus. We walked there and it took a lot longer than we thought! We finally got there and a few of us went in the water, which was very warm but the ocean floor was rocky and unpredictable at that spot. Hopefully we will be able to find a part of that beach or another beach where there is soft sand in the water. I would definitely not want to learn to surf in that spot of the beach because I know I would fall and scrape myself on the rocks! After we left the beach, we walked to a grocery store to shop for some food and then headed back to the dorms. It was a fun trip but very tiring! My feet hurt so bad from the rocks at the beach and my sandals, I can hardly stand for a long time! Hopefully they will feel better in the morning. Tomorrow is day 2 and we have to do lunch on our own, so I will probably go to the union on campus and see what they have over there and explore the campus a bit more.

I haven't really taken any pictures yet (I forgot my camera when we went out to the beach today, durp) but as soon as I do (probably tomorrow) I will post them up on facebook for you all. Goodnight!

Aloha!

Aloha! I am in the beautiful state of Hawaii for 10 weeks this summer! The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa is focusing on computational fluid dynamics (CFD). I will be doing research on micro-thin pin heat exchangers. As of now, I only know about 50% of what that means! My first day is tomorrow from 9am to 4:30pm and will probably be filled with introductions and logistics, which is perfectly fine with me considering I am super jet lagged and exhausted from the 12+ hour total travel time.

Today started off by boarding a flight to Phoenix at 10am EST. This was a 5.5 hour flight and we got in at 12:30pm PST (Arizona is on PST during this time of year because they don’t do daylight savings time, so they are continuously 3 hours behind EST). I had about an hour layover in Phoenix to get lunch and relax before my next flight at 1:55pm PST. The next flight was about 7 hours long and got me into Honolulu at 5:15pm Hawaii time (whatever that abbreviation is). So basically I traveled back in time haha. But seriously, I arrived in Hawaii at 11:15pm EST which is 13 hours later than I left! Needless to say I was burnt out and exhausted by the time I got there. I went to baggage claim and met one of the REU professors and one other intern and we waited forever for our bags to come. Once we got our bags, we waited for the director of the program to pull up in the University van to take us to the dorms. We got to the dorms and checked in and headed up to our rooms. I am staying in a suite with two single rooms that share a bathroom area with another girl in the program. Each of us have our own rooms and we have a sink in the middle of the common area and a separate room for the toilet and another separate room for the shower (which I thought was pretty sweet). I unpacked my suitcases and then we went to knock on the guys’ room down the hall (4 guys sharing 2 double rooms and the same bathroom situation that we have) to go walk to dinner somewhere. We ended up walking to this Thai restaurant a few blocks away from campus. We had a good time talking and getting to know each other and I feel like we will all become good friends very soon! We are planning on going to the beach after we get out of work tomorrow at 4:30pm, so hopefully the weather will permit (which I’m sure it will!) It was a bit humid tonight, and someone earlier on the flight into Honolulu was saying that it had been raining a few days before he left for Phoenix for 2 weeks. Hopefully it will stay nice and maybe it won’t ever rain while I’m here (knock on wood!)

Anyway, I should really get to sleep. It is 10:15pm here but really it is 4:15am at home! It is definitely going to take some time to get used to the 6 hour time difference…but hey, it’s Hawaii!! Aloha!

PS. The picture you see in the background is of Waikiki Beach looking toward Diamond Head crater. You can hike to the top and get a 360 degree view of Waikiki, Honolulu, and some of the inland parts of Oahu!