Thanksgiving Break!

Happy (late) Thanksgiving! Or, as I've heard it called a couple times "Mahalogiving". I will admit, Thanksgiving is a little odd when it's not a home. All the students wards each put together a big meal and event for their members. I definitely missed the Costco rolls, haha, but everything was great! I got some Ted's chocolate haupia pie--soooo good! After we ate and watched some of our ward's escapades, Kent and I headed for the beach! It was a perfect day for it--the weather was great. We went to Shark's Cove and did some snorkeling. The water was really clear and there were tons of fish. It's amazing there--the colors of the coral and the fish are incredible. We climbed over the rocks to watch the waves too. We then walked to the next beach over to see the waves there--they got pretty big! Right up until we sat down to watch. After waiting in vain for more big ones, we walked down to Waimea Bay- my favorite beach! There were some waves there too; we saw a couple surfers up there.

Looking out over Waimea

On Friday we decided to brave the crowds and go to the Ala Moana shopping mall in Honolulu to try and get some warm weather clothes. We caught the bus shortly after 7am and got to town at about 9. We nabbed some sweaters and the like at Old Navy and hit up a couple other stores before heading back. Our venture was very successful! We ended up taking the bus around the Leeward side of the island to get back. Since we went to Honolulu on the Windward side, we ended up seeing the whole island in one day! Luckily we had brought homework along with us, so the three hour ride was somewhat productive...

This week coming up is the last week of classes! Hooray! I've really enjoyed my classes this semester, but I'm ready for some new ones! This week is also finals week (for me). Most of my teachers decided to give their students a break and have their finals early. For me, it just means that my finals week comes sooner :/ But it's only two weeks before I get to go home! I'm really excited!

Here I Go!

OK, I'm still not sure that this will work out, but I thought I'd give it a shot (again). I'm really committed this time, I promise! This semester has been amazing so far, I can't believe it's almost over. Some highlights have been the weekend in Maui with Kent, his mom, and Janelle for the Maui Marathon, taking Kent's mom around O'ahu (especially swimming with sea turtles), my Hawaiian language class, participating in BYUH SongFest with the Hawaiian club, being admitted into SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise) and working on the Color the World project, working at the Reading/Writing Center, and so much more!

This weekend alone was a blast! Our English class was cancelled Friday afternoon, so Kent and I took advantage of the free time and went to the beach! We wanted to get to Waiamea, but my work schedule didn't really give us enough time to get down there :( So we just hit up Hukilau,. We made a sandman in full island regalia! Pictures should be coming soon. That evening we watched the end of the BYUH University Chorale Christmas Concert. It reminded me how much I love Christmas music! I've been playing it in my room for almost a month now, but it hasn't been quite the same as when I would listen at home. I felt right at home at a choir concert! I'm really looking forward to coming home in three weeks, even if it is cold!

I worked in the morning on Saturday and then chilled and worked on some homework during the afternoon. That evening Kent and I went to the "Semester Ball" that is hosted by the Social Dance class. The event is a Practicum for the students in the class and an opportunity for the rest of the campus to try to pick up some ballroom dancing techniques. It was a lot of fun- we cha-cha'd, tangoed, and swing danced our way around the floor! We also got to catch the end of "PS I Love You" that night. I love the book and hadn't ever finished the movie, so it was nice to finally watch the end! It's pretty different from the book, but still cute.

We have an extended weekend this week for Thanksgiving, which I am looking forward to. However, it seems that the teachers are still trying to cram a week's worth of assignments into three days :/

And to finish off: Happy Birthday, Mom! I'm bummed I couldn't be there this weekend to celebrate with the family, but I'm sure you managed to have some fun without me :)