Valley of the Temples

I tend to post every weekend, because that's the only time I end up doing stuff.

So Halloween is Kell's last day in Hawaii which really sucks honestly, so he really wanted to do something fun on Saturday. BUT Saturday I was a hot mess stu(dying) from 8 in the morning to about 4 in the afternoon. So by the time I was done, it was too late to go to the Valley of the Temples which was the last thing he really wanted to do. So we went after church. And we know we shouldn't have done it lol but it was the last day we could do anything together.

So we went to sacrament meeting, and then changed and went straight to the bus stop. The ride was at least an hour, and we had to make a transfer, and I felt so street smart when we actually got there haha! 

I was expecting it to be a pretty quick little walk around the Buddhist temple and then just talk a little and for it not to last long, but I WAS SO WRONG. It was actually so cool and so interesting! We ended up spending a lot more time there than I had anticipated. There was a lot of really interesting stuff. 

This picture is probably really confusing. But basically people leave food and drinks for their ancestors. I don't know what culture really does that, but it's interesting haha! We saw some alcohol, full Hawaiian plates, and on one headstone thing was like a whole bag of candy dumped out! I'm not going to lie we were hungry during this whole time and came to the conclusion that if we were homeless we'd probably come and take the food. And if it were Valentines Day, you could just take some really really pretty flowers... we are awful lol!

There were a couple of these little shine things, for REALLY rich people

There were some that were so prestigious they were locked up. And there were some with like a whole house tomb thing. They were all up on the hill and most had a gate around it and were locked. Some of them we trespassed anyways, and others we just couldn't get up to.

THERE WERE CATS EVERYWHERE.
I think there were like 20 orange cats, but none of them would come to us ):
We are like the biggest cat lovers on campus. Borderline obsessed.

I was so pumped to get to light one of these! Whenever I go to Catholic cathedrals they always have these but you are supposed to make a donation (I don't which is awful I know...), but this one you didn't! So I didn't have to feel guilty haha

This accurately describes how walking through muddy forest is. TERRIFYING. I was really trying to be brave.

IT'S SO PRETTY RIGHT

**not pictured the koi fish that were absolutely terrifying because they were giant and I was so scared of falling in or dropping my phone.

**also not pictured, our initials carved into the bamboo tree in the bamboo forest...I'm pretty sad about that...because that's adorable and I didn't know that Kell had done that till we had like left...

Kualoa Ranch

On Saturday Kell took me on a date to Kualoa Ranch. I've actually been wanting to go here for awhile just to see what it was and see where they filmed so many movies and TV shows! I am not going to lie, I didn't know all the movies haha BUT I had seen the most important: Jurassic World, Lost, Starships (Nicki Minaj music video--don't watch it mom lol), and 50 First Dates. There has also been filming of new movies (Jimanji) so students have tried finding the Rock, Nick Jones, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black. I have only seen one person who successful found someone though. 

Hey Tyson, check out this drone competition. The winner got $100k.

Our tour guide tried taking a picture with a plastic dinosaur and it definitely didn't work lol. We were going to try and be super dramatic and show the old white people and asian tourists how these pictures were done, but I couldn't stop laughing haha! Fail.

Prettiest place though, am I right?

(Can't you just imagine dinosaurs running through the valley???)

Update

Just some random things and thoughts throughout the week:

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Basically the 8th book right? Well I finished it in a day and now I am so motivated to go back and read all the old Harry Potter books! I'm afraid I'll have to wait till I come home though so it doesn't interrupt my school studies. Once I start reading something I just can't stop, so that would be bad to start as I am approaching finals week. 

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We finally saw someone get engaged....they've been dating 2 months and she just turned 18 last month... CRAZY. CRAZY MORMONS. I guess congrats though...? I don't know, it kinda freaked me out!

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Finally went to a haunted house! It was pretty cheap and short, and not that scary haha. My friends were all screaming though and Scott and I laughed throughout the entire thing! My stomach hurt so bad from laughing haha

After, we decided to go see a scary movie: Ouija. I am terrified of ouija boards because I totally think they work, but I still went. It was pretty scary, but not like too scary. Like it was fun getting scared and jumping and screaming, but it didn't leave me scarred or anything, so we are good lol

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Rented a car for the first time, that was a stressful adventure. Not necessarily the car, just having to rely on other people for directions and having to get gas because in Hawaii everything closes at midnight! UGH. We were searching for a gas station at 2 AM...

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Tried taking pictures of the meteor shower, but it was too cloudy, so tried taking a few night photographs instead. They aren't the best, but it was still fun to mess around with the setting and see what I could get.

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SAW THIS FELLA ON THE SECOND FLOOR

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And met this cute little study buddy in the library! 

I also found one in my room, but he disappeared......

Lanakai Pillboxes

It's been awhile since I have actually done something which is not how I like living my life. So fortunately, my plans last weekend DIDN'T fall through! That almost seems like a miracle at this point! Anyways, we hiked the Lanakai pillboxes with Outdoor Adventures club. We were expecting a lot of people since the club is giant, but fortunately I knew pretty much everyone! There were only about 20 or us. It started out looking like a dessert. I didn't even know there were parts of Hawaii that looked like this! The way up wasn't too bad at all, but one the way down it was so steep and dry I found myself falling. A lot. I am honestly so happy my camera didn't break. I would cry. But I seriously fell so many times I was preparing myself for the worst.

I didn't take this picture but ended up with like 30 pictures of it when I got because everyone thought it was artsy and insisted they get a picture of the beer can haha!

Apparently mini shakas are a thing now. They are adorable though.