Monoa Falls

Mona Falls is one of the most tourist-y waterfalls on Oahu, but because of that, it is well maintained and not dangerous! (as opposed to a lot of the other hikes I've done that are sketch) It's super short and easy (like 30 minutes, and there were people doing it in flip flops), but beautiful! There is so much lush green, a little bamboo forest, lots of places to watch the stream run down, and a pretty big waterfall! 

When we got to the top, there was tape all around it that you weren't supposed to pass, because rocks could fall from the top and kill you....but oh well! We went and swam in the bottom anyways! 

After, we got acai soft serve from Banan--isn't it just the prettiest thing you've ever seen????

Definitely worth checking out!

Chinaman's Hat

Hawaii is deep within the "wet season". The past three weeks have been pretty cold, rainy, and miserable. It doesn't help that the sun still sets super early here! I was hoping we would get more daylight here, but nope! So those three weeks were so draining. I honestly just slept most of the time and couldn't function. But last Saturday, WE GOT SOME SUN. 

So I texted Scott and was like okay, we NEED to do something. And neither of us had done Chinaman's hat, and he doesn't like waterfall hikes (UGH), so it was pretty easy to decide. I had talked to David about going previously that week, and he invited Garrett, so we all met at the bus stop. We tried just using our student ID's and hoping they'd let us on, but it didn't work ugh. So we paid the $2.50--the only money I think I've spent in 2 weeks???? So it was okay. 

We got there, and quadruple zip blocked our phones all together and then I put them on top of my boogie board. I didn't know if it would be super far or not, and I didn't want to die, and we were swimming over Hammerhead shark breeding grounds, so I brought the board. But I turned out not needing it because it wasn't too far to just swim. So I ended up like pushing the board the whole way which made it a billion times harder ugh. You can walk out part way during low tide, but we were swimming during high tide, so we couldn't do it that much. But since you walk on coral, you get CUT UP. I got cut up so much--worth it though.

Once you get there, the terrain is kind of weird. There's everything. Like desert-y, beach (secret little one), palm trees, jungle, but mostly rocks.....

If you fall back, you honestly would just die.

But don't worry, WE MADE IT.

slightly out of breath #outofshape

 

 After, we waited for the bus for like an HOUR and it didn't show up! And by then it was starting to get cold... but all of a sudden this minivan flips a U-turn, and my chemistry professor was like "Hey guys want a ride???"

So then we didn't have to pay the bus fare back lololol

Update

Another week gone by. They are flying by. But also dragging on! It's such a juxtaposition, but I'm sure everyone has experienced it. It's such a happy/sad feeling! And since I'm in school, STRESSFUL. The weather here has been pretty crappy...not as bad as the mainland though haha! It's just been kinda rainy and cold (75 degrees). But there have been a couple sunny days within there to keep it bearable though. I am afraid I am losing my tan though. School is really starting to pick up which really sucks...this week is really nice weather-wise, but lots of midterms and tests before Christmas break... and with 21 credits, that means LOTS of studying and homework.

I got not one, but TWO adorable packages from my mom which was super fun! They have individually wrapped presents for each day of December, which is really exciting--especially since I'm one of those people who actually just takes it a day at a time.

My drawing class is STRESSING me out, because we have a project due on Friday and I don't know what building to draw, and I'm just bad at drawing in general..... but here are some of the projects I did in sculpture and digital tools. I really like sculpture because we learn the anatomy of the head and face, so we learn a lot of the bones and muscles, and I will actually get to use that in my future! 

I was finishing this off pretty late one night (procrastinating to the max...oops), and made a couple major mistakes. If you can point them out, extra points to you haha. Luckily, it's a beginner class, so she's a pretty easy grader.

With the food plan I'm on, we get $200 of spending money a semester which is WAY more than we need (but I mean the food is super expensive at the same time), so I tried stocking up on food for over the break. My food consisted of ice-cream, burritos, frozen pizzas, and milk haha. I'm so pumped to go to BYU and buy my own food and stuff! I eat SO much healthier and cheaper when I get to make my own food (I am going to be buying 40000 eggs. That sounds weird, but they are cheap and I really like them hahaha.)

Thanksgiving Break

Well Thanksgiving was last week, but I've been so busy(lazy) that I'm just now getting to writing this post. I probably should be studying and doing homework, but I just can't do anymore. I just can't. Not right now.

Thursday/Thanksgiving:

Not going to lie, it did not feel like Thanksgiving at all. I still can't believe Fall is pretty much over! It never even transitioned to Fall here! I also just realized that I won't be experience Fall for three years.... that's crazy to think about. 

Anyways, I went to my ward's Thanksgiving lunch that they provided us. It was actual American Thanksgiving food! Haha I didn't know what to expect! But it was really good and it was super nice of our bishopric to provide it all...they seriously do so much and it is amazing to me because it's not like BYU Provo. I feel like a lot of the bishops there are crazy rich and kinda older, but here, Hawaii is so expensive and all of them are young and have young kids, so it's a huge sacrifice for them to be our bishops.

For dinner I'm pretty sure I ate a whole bag of Doritos and a whole bag of chocolate....so there's that.

Friday:

I wanted to find the secret sunflower fields SO BAD. So Sammy and I dressed up cute and went to go find them. We took the bus to the end of the line and started walking.....and then it started raining....and we never found the fields. SO DISAPPOINTING. By this point we were pretty upset and hangry and I was stressed out because we had to be back by a certain time. We ended up standing at the bus stop for like 20 minutes and it never came! So we hitch hiked with another girl who was standing there with us.

We hopped off at Matsumoto's to get their famous shave ice. We both got larges. Because we needed a mood lift.

AND IT WORKED

After we were both super happy in great moods again! 

Lol note to boys: if I'm ever in a bad mood, FEED ME

We got back in time! AND we only had to pay for the bus one way. It was pretty great.

Once we got back we piled into the car (really though, there were way too many people in the car...but then again I don't think I've gone anywhere without squishing in the backseat) and drove like 2.5 hours to the opposite side to camp.

We made a campfire (illegal), and played too loud music (stupid), and slept on the beach (also illegal). I mean you're only young once right?

We tried cooking--epic fail, and then talked for a long time, and then went to bed at like 2:30.

Me, being stupid and not learning from my mistakes, only brought one sheet to sleep with LOL.

I just didn't want to worry about bringing stuff and I was lazy and I didn't want to do laundry...

I strategically slept by a friend who had like 5 blankets though haha. It was great! I was so warm! He ended up telling me in the morning that he was freezing all night....oops.

Does it get much better than this???

Oh yes it does get better.

Because we got to SWIM WITH DOLPHINS.

This wasn't even on my bucket list, swimming with sharks was, but this was probably way better! Because we didn't have to worry about them biting us, and they WANTED to swim with us! They kept showing off--they were spinner dolphins, so they kept jumping out of the water and spinning and it was adorable. So that concluded a perfect Thanksgiving weekend. 

(well actually we got McDonalds after and that was a close second since we were starving lol)